Dear Talia Jane,

After reading your article detailing the absolute struggle you dealt with
while working for a Bay Area based corporation
, I felt
it imperative to address your concerns and, above all, your obvious need
for financial assistance. It sounds like you've hit some real post Haitian
earthquake style hard times, so maybe some advice will help while you
drink the incredibly expensive bourbon you posted on your Instagram
account and eat that bag of rice, which was the only other thing you could
afford!
My name is Stefanie. I'm not much older than you. I will be turning the
big 3-0 in three weeks time. It seems like a lifetime ago I sat in my
sophomore year apartment crying about how I would never again be able
to relate to Baba O'Riley or Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. But here I
am, having survived my 20's with some grace and a lot of humility.
However, despite our less-than-a-decade difference in age, it seems we
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However, despite our less-than-a-decade difference in age, it seems we

are worlds apart in the concept of work ethic. But somehow, I'm not
surprised. Those five little years are incredibly important.
When I was 22, I was let go from an office job. My first post college job. I
was sent out into the employment-seeking world three weeks after
Lehman Brothers crashed and two months before the economy went into
absolute free fall. But on that Halloween when I was let go, young and
confused and scared, I wandered into a bar where the old Irish bartender
was a family friend, hoping he'd give me a drink and some advice about
my plight.
I, too, was an English major. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with that.
Work in marketing? Try my hand at journalism again? PR? No clue. All I
knew was my dreams of being able to move out and live in the City with
my friends had just been dashed.

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