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SNAP Isn’t a Handout: How Food Assistance Helped Me Breathe During Unemployment
A compassionate guide to SNAP: eligibility, application tips, system glitches, and why food assistance can stabilize families during job loss and major life transitions.
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Healthcare in the In-Between: Understanding MAGI Medicaid When Your Income Drops
A clear, compassionate guide to MAGI Medicaid after job loss—how income, severance, and pregnancy affect eligibility, plus real-world lessons from navigating delays.
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WIC in Washington, DC: A Compassionate, Practical Guide
Part 2 of the series: Navigating the Safety Net There are moments in life when the ground shifts under your feet—job loss, pregnancy, a new baby, a health scare—and suddenly the systems you once understood in theory become very real, very fast. Applying for WIC was one of those moments for me. As someone who…
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Unemployment Insurance in DC: From Policy to Practice
Part 1 of the series: Navigating the Safety Net I’ve spent most of my career inside large, complex systems—working in foreign assistance, public sector programs, and institutions designed to respond to crisis. I understood, intellectually, how safety nets worked. What I didn’t fully grasp—until it happened to me—was how destabilizing it feels when your own…
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Setting Up a Baby Registry and Nursery When You Don’t Even Know Your Zip Code in Four Months
Preparing for a baby is supposed to be joyful, intentional, and maybe even a little Pinterest-worthy. But what happens when you’re doing it while unemployed, navigating DC’s high cost of living, and genuinely unsure what city—or continent—you’ll be living in by spring? That’s where I’ve found myself. When I bought my DC rowhome, I imagined…
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C-Section vs. Induction vs. “Natural” Birth: What I’ve Learned About Advocating for Myself as a First-Time Mom at 40
When I learned I was pregnant at 40 with gestational diabetes, I assumed I’d have a low-risk vaginal birth. But reality reshaped everything — from how I think about labor positions and induction to how I plan for my child’s safety. After a consultation on MAVEN Clinic, I began asking my care team hard questions…
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Relearning Joy Through Travel: How a Job Posting Reminded Me Why I Fell in Love With Exploring the World
The other week, a friend shared a job posting with me from an upscale luxury travel company. My first reaction surprised me: This actually looks fun. I don’t think I’ve felt that spark since applying for my very first job at USAID—back when the idea of traveling the world, experiencing new cultures, and helping shape…
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Networking in a Changing Job Market: Why Who You Know Still Shapes Your Career
Networking has always been part of how careers move forward, but stepping into the professional world again—outside the government—has made me realize just how brutally true it is: it’s often who you know, not just what you know, that opens doors. The days when DEIA initiatives kept hiring conversations somewhat balanced feel like they’re on…
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Finding My Way Back to Joy: How My DC Community Carried Me Through a Year of Change
This past year has been one of the hardest—and most beautiful—chapters of my life. It was a year filled with seismic shifts: the dismantling of USAID as I knew it, the uncertainty of unemployment, a pregnancy that tested every part of me, and the fear of stepping into motherhood without the stability I had once…
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Relearning Confidence — Imposter Syndrome Outside of Government
For most of my career at USAID, I lived by one quiet motto: fake it till you make it. And for a long time, it worked. Not because I was pretending to be qualified, but because I trusted myself to learn fast, adapt quickly, and build the right relationships to fill in any gaps. I…
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Bureaucrat to Baby Steps 