Stephanie Loleng is not where she thought she’d be, but this is good.
I met Stephanie when we both worked for Federated Media in Sausalito (just before we & the company moved to San Francisco). We shared an office (along with the rest of our department) in a funky little office building within walking distance of the Bay. Stephanie was so patient with me while I was learning the ropes, and something about her presence was really calming as I adjusted to a new job in a new city. Since leaving FM, I’ve been so grateful that we’ve kept in touch as she’s gone on to New York and I’ve bounced back to So Cal. I’m delighted to get to feature her today as the latest in this series!
When you were 17, where did you think you would be by your current age?
When I was 17, I didn’t know where I was going to college, so I didn’t really have any sense of what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be at 39. I do remember watching When Harry Met Sally with some high school friends, and we were kind of obsessed with the idea of being in our 30s and living on our own in a cool city like New York, having interesting jobs, and finding the special someone to spend your life with. I do remember wanting to write books and travel to far-off lands, but beyond that I really didn’t have a clear goal or image of who I would be in my late-30s. Some things I was interested in were writing and photography, and part of me really wanted to become a novelist, and another part of me really wanted to become a photojournalist. I also had this interest in becoming a war correspondent.
Where are you in actuality?
Well, I did end up in a cool city such as New York! I moved out here with my boyfriend three years ago from San Francisco. Although it was really tough the first year finding a stable job and making ends meet, not to mention a snowy winter and a muggy summer, I really love living here. I haven’t finished a book, although I’ve started two, and am embarking on a third attempt that will hopefully turn into a full-fledged novel. I work in the interent industry, which is something I couldn’t even imagine when I was 17, but I really like the people I work with and the environment in which I’ve landed career-wise. It was a bit of a windy road getting to where I am, but I feel good to have gotten here. Also, I did end up traveling to remote places such as Nepal, Cambodia, the Philippines and Eastern Europe, and I lived in Japan, the Philippines and Prague, Czech Republic.
What’s great about where you landed instead?
As I got older, I realized that I needed to have a lot of other things going on in my life in order to sit down and write for hours, so becoming a full-time novelist just didn’t interest me as much. Also, I like working with people and on a team, so I leaned towards finding jobs that involved a lot of team work. Sometimes I still kick myself for not devoting more time to writing, but at the end of the day, I enjoy what I do, and I still have time to write. In terms of photojournalism, I do my own type of photojournalism, and definitely not in war zones. I like to take photos with my iPhone of scenes in my daily life around New York.
What’s challenging about landing someplace different than you’d imagined?
I’d imagined more adventure and writing and less stability. I thought that I’d be working abroad, changing the world in some exotic locale instead of working a 9-5 job on a computer with not much impact on making the world a better place. I also couldn’t imagine the adult responsibilities and worries that started to pop up when I reached my 30s like digging myself out of debt while making ends meet in a recession.
Where do you hope to be 10 years from now?
In a job I like, in a city I love with good friends nearby. I’d also like to be financially secure. Currently, I’m paying off debt and really want to be able to put that money towards building up a nice nest egg for my golden years. Would also like to devote more time to writing in these next 10 years.
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