Rock-It at Work: Figure Out What Makes You Want to be a Workaholic

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• June 27, 2011
• By Jaclyn Schiff
• 7 Comments

Here at Brazen, we’re all about giving you tools to help you move ahead professionally. So we’ve started a new series where we ask awesome people for the single thing that has helped them get ahead at work. We’re starting close to home and for the next few days, we’ll feature advice from members of the excellent Brazen Careerist team. Enjoy!

Name: Whitney May Parker

Age: 31

So what do you do at Brazen?

As vice president of user experience, I’m listening to feedback from all sides to guide and improve your experience on Brazen, as well as improve overall website aesthetics.

What you did before Brazen?

I’ve designed and built websites for a variety of clients as a freelance professional, I’ve held senior management positions in Washington, D.C., in a communications and marketing capacity and I’ve worked as a fellow for a national security research group in New York.

Tell us something unique about you.

One of my first jobs was for the Wilderness Society in Idaho — I had the opportunity to “ground-truth” a proposed off-road trail in a remote area of the state and document potential threats to endemic wildlife and habitats. Translation: I spent three days in a 4×4 pick-up with a photographer friend in one of the most remote areas of the country and took pretty pictures. It was amazing!

What is one thing that has helped you advance in your career?

Love what you do. Love talking about what you do. Love sharing what you do. You can’t compete against other people in your field and really get ahead unless you truly enjoy it and literally have to make yourself stop working and “go home.”  I’ve tried going down a couple career paths where the work didn’t fit and I struggled to want to learn more; in the end I realized that success really starts to “click” when you figure out what that subject is for you, and you just can’t get enough. Figuring out that my true passion was for websites and design helped solve my frustrating experiences of feeling like everyone else knew what they wanted except for me!

Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, we offer edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work. Be Brazen!