Post #3: Aaron, from Queens, NY
"Even with everything this year, I don’t think my ambitions have changed."
Dear reader,
How are you?
Tonight’s story is close to my heart. It’s from Aaron Hutcherson in Queens. We spoke in late October.
Aaron and I have been friends since our days at Merrill Lynch. He quit a few years before I did to pursue his passion for food and cooking. In doing so, he showed me it was possible to give up a sure thing to pursue what you love.
If his name sounds familiar, I’m glad. He was just named writer and recipe developer for The Washington Post. Congratulate him here.
The journey that he’s been on the past decade has taught him how to weather downturns -- lessons he drew upon in 2020 as he experienced two layoffs, months apart.
Aaron was a website editor and social media manager at Michelin Guide this time last year. In January, the company laid him off after a restructuring. He looked for and landed a part-time job at a test kitchen a few weeks later. The job required him to be on site. His start date was March 17.
When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on March 15 that schools, restaurants, and bars would close starting that week, Aaron’s first thought was, “I guess I have no job now.”
But, as I said, there is reason to congratulate and celebrate him. Not only did he persevere and gain another job that he’s always wanted for his career, he did so while keeping cool, calm, and collected.
There’s another component to Aaron’s story that makes it special — the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on his career.
Read on to discover how perspective can help refuel our emotional reserves and how a society’s collective focus can promote overlooked talent.
Thank you, Aaron, for being a friend and inspiration, and for sharing your story.
Thank you, reader, for being here.
Take care of yourself and others around you,
Hope
Post #3: Aaron Hutcherson, from Queens, NY
It’s hard to put myself back in the mindset of mid- to late-April. I tried to block it out. But I don’t think I really felt that bad about it in the beginning.
I remember feeling that everyone was in the same boat, not working, so I was no worse off than anyone else.
I don’t think I was ever too stressed either, at least financially, because I still had income from freelancing, writing, and recipe development. I knew I would be able to pay rent and once they announced the stimulus stuff -- hey here’s a check for $1,200 -- I thought, OK, great.
I’ve been through worse. I’ve been laid off before.
In 2014, I was let go from a job sort of unexpectedly and then spent a few months unemployed, and then got an internship making minimum wage.
I was in a worse financial situation, much earlier in my career when I didn’t have the connections I have now, and I was able to survive that somehow so yes -- this time sucks, but it’s not as bad compared to then.
Fast forward to now: Things have worked out well and it’s not because I have a new full-time job.
My work saw a drastic shift in visibility as a result of the anti-racism, Black Lives Matter movement this year.
In May, I had just broken the 10,000 follower mark on Instagram after NYTCooking’s Instagram page featured me. Then George Floyd happened and all this attention focused on Black creators.
I reached 23, 24,000 followers -- more than doubled my account size in a few months -- and that’s just absurd.
It feels like my inbox is constantly filled every day with at least a couple of messages from people looking to partner.
Some of it I definitely know is because they’re looking to diversify and some of it could potentially be because I now have a bigger reach so I’m more on their radar.
With all this, I’ve been able to charge a lot more now for the sponsored work I do with brands to the point where in the past few months, through the contracts I’ve signed, I’m making more than I was at my full time job last year.
While all of this is great, I don’t know if it will last.
Working for myself has always been a goal, but part of me wonders if this is going to go away because people will stop caring about diversity, or if this is just the second half of the year advertising spend.
At the same time, I’ve been thinking it’s great that people are finally now giving me the attention and recognition... but I’ve been doing this for a decade plus. I’ve been doing this just as long as some food bloggers that are household names with multiple cookbooks.
They have super huge platforms and I’m only now getting this much attention… Definitely looking at people sideways.
And then overall, in terms of the worry I have for the ongoing impact of BLM -- I mean someone was just shot and killed this week.
It’s maddening to think: there are protests and yet it’s still happening. It’s ongoing. Will it just never change?
For people of color there’s this thing about joy as an act of resistance. Even amid all of the craziness and attacks against our very livelihoods, we’re still able to find moments of happiness and joy in our daily lives, which I think is a very positive thing.
And how am I taking care of myself? Haha, I don’t even know -- am I even taking care of myself?
On the days I’m feeling good, I try to maximize them to be as productive as I can and work on assignments. On days I’m not, I try not to beat myself up too much for staying in bed and watching Netflix all day.
Watching some random light-hearted stuff on Netflix to take my mind off of the real world helps me to stay positive. That and trying to maintain a stocked bar cart… 😂
I am interviewing for some full-time jobs right now -- positions that would actually be great career opportunities.
Even with everything this year, I don’t think my ambitions have changed much. I think they’ve become more realistic actually.
I feel like years ago when I decided to quit working in finance and go to culinary school, I wanted to be a big food personality who teaches people how to cook, about food and culture, and maybe even become a household name.
Back then it seemed so far off, but now it seems that much more attainable.
I’m in all these publications, like People and The New York Times, and it feels like it’s right there.
It’s closer to happening.
-- Aaron Hutcherson, 32, Queens, NY on Friday October 30, 2020