Chiaki Ma, 23, graduated college in 2021 with a degree in marketing. She had some experience with marketing-related jobs, but found the corporate lifestyle tedious and unchallenging. In her own words, working in a corporate environment “sucked the soul” out of her and she was ready for a drastic change in life. That came in the form of a layoff last November, which seemed like a major setback at first, but quickly became an opportunity for the creative young woman.
Ma decided to pursue content creation, acting, and waitressing. She sees it as a highly creative period for her, one in which she can shape her own destiny. This attitude has been reflected in her popular TikTok video, which has spread knowledge of her story to many more. She admits a lot of the pressure to pursue a corporate job came from older generations, and she supports the idea that “essential workers” exist outside of the office.
Ma is part of a growing trend of people who have decided to leave corporate or white-collar work in favor of more meaningful, creative jobs. Artificial Intelligence has only added urgency to the shift away from such work, creating an environment in which a growing number of people are seeking more fulfilling work. It has also shown people the benefit of accepting a layoff as an opportunity to do something meaningful, rather than a threat. Even prior to the pandemic, Ma had felt uneasy in her career path and her layoff was the perfect opportunity to pursue her passion.
Shifting out of a career path where she felt no growth or excitement left, Ma has since found a new work-life balance that allows her to be creative and put her skills to better use. Ultimately, her advice to other job-seekers is to take a leap of faith and explore the possibilities. Don’t limit yourself by settling with just being comfortable.
In the alluded company in this article, namely a sales office, it was the workplace at which Ma was laid off. The primary purpose of the office was to market and produce sales-based results. It wasn’t the environment where Ma felt fulfilled or used her creativity, feeling she was not growing, and hence contributing to her decision to take a leap of faith and seek other opportunities outside of corporate work.
The person mentioned in this article is Chiaki Ma, a 23-year-old graduate of 2021. She was uninspired and unfulfilled in her work environment and sought creative outlets to express herself. After her layoff, Ma regained her passion for creativity and took a leap of faith in pursuing freelance work as a content creator, acting and waitressing. Her story has inspired many people and her advice is to take a leap of faith and explore the possibilities rather than settling down for a comfortable life.
