Neil Metzler: 0:05

My name is Neil Metzler, and I'm a coach, mentor and trainer for careers in tech. Welcome to our program. I'm inviting you to take a step back. And imagine would you like to wake up every morning excited about what you do? What is the big idea keeping you up at night? And what if you are already closer to reaching it than you imagine, building a bridge to your next career step can be challenging. I know this, because I reinvented my career multiple times in multiple countries around the world, there is nothing like achieving a courageous goal that you set for yourself. Change and disruption are only accelerating careers are no longer linear. Let us choose to embrace this challenge and move forward together. Thank you. So Chelsea, welcome to Your Next Big Thing. Thanks for being here.

Chelsea: 0:57

Thank you for having me.

Neil Metzler: 0:59

We were introduced by one of my season one guests, David Dennis, who's a wonderful person. I know that you and David have surfed together. And we're going to talk about a lot of topics today, including surfing, creativity, careers, and big career changes. So I'm so happy to have you here.

Chelsea: 1:21

Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Dennis is a local legend in Santa Cruz. He's someone I look up to both professionally, and just how to live life. So it's great to connect.

Neil Metzler: 1:35

So Chelsea, tell our listeners about how you ended up in the startup space, getting your first startup experience with Gametime, because I know your full story arc. And I think that this is emblematic of who you are and how you've gone after the things that matter to you.

Chelsea: 1:55

Sure, so career, kind of the jump off point was back in 2013. I was working in TV, in a very unglamorous job working two jobs in San Francisco. I recently graduated from UC Berkeley. And, you know, I, it was at that point in time where you're kind of really thinking deeply about what career path that you want to go down, what industry do you want to work in, and TV up into that point, I was on the sports broadcasting talent side, but I was working in production at this time. It really felt at that time that the goals and the way I want to live my life in terms of agency in terms of the creativity and creating the new show programming and not just being on the talent side. But being able to create the experience of the show wasn't really on the table for me to do at that period. And so it hit me that I wanted to look into other paths and growing up in the Bay Area. You know, kind of born in Honolulu, Hawaii, raised in Silicon Valley. It hit me I kind of grew up that everyone talks about, you know, the greatest, the greatest, smartest minds work in tech. And I hadn't really even thought about working in startup world or in tech up until that point. I was heading to the newsroom at 4:15am in the mornings. And my second job turning show right to do the morning. Yes, yes, the morning show. So this was also before like Uber really took off. And so I would grab the bus at some points in time. And I remember Uber was like a luxury Sunday's to be able to take and so anyways, it was in the afternoon. I was catching up on sleep and I grabbed a local newspaper and in the newspaper talks about this local sports and music app ticket called Gametime..

Neil Metzler: 4:14

..So you're on the bus. Was it one of those like you sit down you're like yeah, cool. There's a local newspaper next to me might as well I'm right here, just pulled it up.

Chelsea: 4:23

Yes. Automatically, being a sports person, I always In 2013, at this time there was StubHub and Ticketmaster, but go to the sports section of like, what's the newest and greatest and you know, my one of my first jobs was writing in the local newspaper. And so there's a big love and respect I have they didn't have mobile interfaces. And so to me, this for just like local local newspaper writers, you know, they really know their social, so crucial and they know their city and the way they write and the way they storytelling has always inspired me so anyways, I opened it up in which the sports section and they talked about the startup and in the startup, they talked about the start this company that is focusing on this last minute on demand ticket economy a essentially providing this last minute solution to sports fans and music fans to get into concerts and events last minute. really was a solution to a real problem that I also saw that it just doesn't make sense that there's seats and direct before the game. Huge, huge. And so I called him up, you know, ring, ring ring, and it's like, Hey, thanks for calling game times is Brad. And I'm like, Brad, like the CEO, Brad. And he's like, yeah, how can I help you? And, you know, kind of fast forward, you know, I, I went out to meet up with the team, I thought they were a 50 person company, they ended up being three person company. And, you know, I just was really honest with them. I said, you know, I'm there, your raise went to Berkeley, I know, the sports fan experience. You know, like the back of my hand, I played sports in college, I have no background in, you know, startup environment. But I know the fan experience. And, you know, kind of here's my approach that I think that we could really tap into the fan experience in the last minute market. And yeah, joined the company.

Neil Metzler: 6:15

So you didn't ask permission. You didn't say, what's the onboarding plan, you were like, Hey, this is important to me, here's why. And here's what I think we should do about it. That's pretty remarkable.

Chelsea: 6:25

And jumped in. And it was incredible, because fast forward, Brad, you know, has really been not just the CEO of that company, but he has been a mentor of mine in how I how I work as a UX researcher, how I approach business. You know, he really was the person that kind of provided this opportunity, right. At this point, he started and sold to companies. And yeah, that it's incredible. When you can connect with other people that are like minded. He also played sports in college. And I think when it comes to that approach of like, hey, super matter of fact, I'm really passionate about this area. candor, I don't have any background in it. But I know this element, are we thinking about these parts of the business? I think that candor mix with, like, here's an opportunity, here's a gap that I see that I could maybe provide really kind of sparks that, that ability to connect with people and make something happen.

Neil Metzler: 7:28

What have sports meant to you and why was it exciting to then be able to work at a startup in the sports space? Why was that significant for you?

Chelsea: 7:38

You know, when it comes to all the incredible things that I kind of experienced growing up from swimming to basketball, sports has really been this outlet for me to be a part of something greater than myself, I would say, I've been fortunate enough to compete at a very elite level in a couple of different sports. And when you get to a place where it's that level, there is this profound gratitude that you are, you're a part of something bigger than yourself. And so when it comes to teamwork, when it comes to showing up, and I love being not the best in the room, I love being surrounded by excellence in elite people doing too, yes, pushing me to be better. To inspire to wake up at the crack of dawn when other people are most likely sleeping is that is, that is what sports has done for me. And it has been a saving grace and no matter when life gets super busy. I can always go swim, I can go surf. My husband and I play a game of pickup basketball every now and then. And yeah, or play golf. You know, and a lot of a lot of these things have was, was thanks to my mother for providing these arenas for me as a as a kid who had a lot of energy to express myself. And that is something that has just been the biggest gift of my life. Yeah.

Neil Metzler: 9:14

And this has led into your, your, your your time that you spend out on the waves, right as a surfer in Santa Cruz and around the world. And I want to talk more about professional and career but you're also going to tell us on this episode about a big decision you made to go through going on a personal journey and personal quest, and then a creative project that I was really inspired by that you created that to me reflected and captured some of what you learned while while spending that time away. So in terms of sequentially for the listener, after gametime is that when you found your way over to liquor?

Chelsea: 9:59

Yeah, Yes, yes, yeah. So, after rocking in tickets for a couple of years, you know, I was profoundly grateful for the opportunity that there's no, if you really want to learn how a business runs, and what you're capable of, join a three person company start a company, right. And I think I was grateful to join the right company, where it was with a leader, who I, who I learned so much in, in a company, I truly believe that was solving a real problem at that time in the world. And at that moment, you know, there's always a time where you're ready for something else. And so, Looker, insert, Looker, Looker data platform was solving and yet another problem that I experienced in my life. And that was having a data governance later layer that really provides people the ability to ask and answer simple business questions without having to learn languages like SQL Bayes that period and time. You know, a lot of what we've talked about Neil is me being reflective on that period of time, I now work for my dream manager, right? I know what excellence looks like, the opportunity to manage at that time was huge, tremendous life lessons. At some point, you kind of look up and you're like, Hey, I'm ready for the next thing. And so at that period, a friend of mine was actually working in sales there at..

Neil Metzler: 11:33

Looker, right? Yes. Even earlier days.

Chelsea: 11:38

Super early days. Yeah, he joined when they were like 40. And anyways, I joined the company around when they were 1000 as their first UX Researcher. And, yes, so massive, tremendous growth. And one of the core problems of providing equipping these companies of both enterprise and small startups, the ability to ask and answer questions confidently, and Decentralized Governance layer, that technology was something that I really felt in my job. And so when it came to providing, you know, hey, we can go better understand this core set of users. That problem was something that was really passionate about. And so that's why I joined. Why join? Sir,

Neil Metzler: 12:25

let me ask a question here. Because this is two examples where you've taken something from your own experience, but applied it in a new setting, and you've gone, you've gone in you've you've been able to bridge in, and then be and then be successful there. So I'd love to hear if there were mentors that helped you. You mentioned the relationship, the relationships you built at gametime did those also offer more insights into the startup scene into VCs that maybe helped you be more bit more savvy by the time that you were then starting to cook with this opportunity at looker?

Chelsea: 13:04

Well, also to keep in mind, I have not done this all by myself, I've been very lucky to have mentors. Like my early mentors were men, they just were I was surrounding sports industry is heavily male dominated, right? We all know that. It's becoming much better. It's awesome to see all these female executives and leaders coming in the industry at the same time. Those those leaders that we had, you know, our VP of Product literally sat me down. I was wanting to go to business school one day, on our free this conversation he goes, you know that you're doing a job of a UX researcher, right. And I was like, what, what's UX research?

Neil Metzler: 13:48

Yeah. jargon, like, what is this? Yeah,

Chelsea: 13:50

what is this, and he and he told me, he goes, I think you could definitely go to business school, you know, I yay. But at the same time, I think you also could lead a really fulfilling life. And also, one that you could carve out a niche for yourself and UX research. And so being able to kind of stop the momentum of your career a little bit to connect with people who have more experience than you to just get the perspective of but the goal, but they were able to speak on my work, because we've worked so closely together. So being able to kind of carve out, identify the people that you see yourself in or that you love their leadership and they could be so different from you actually think that that's great to connect with people much different than you. But being able to get a different perspective, like these little mini consultants, have data points to understand like, these are the opportunities How do other people think about these things? I think I'm making this life change. I think I'm gonna I want to, for example, go into marketing, you know, and I'm in support or I want to become an engineer and I am a product manager, being able to kind of get It those data points from a nice sample researcher uh, but like it is, it is helpful that, you know, one of the big things that's very unique about Looker was when we had lunch, and dinner or lunch dinner was like if you're still at the company, but lunch we like stopped working, and we ate around a table and in America would I mean doesn't

Neil Metzler: 15:25

everyone stop working? Lunch? What are you telling me?

Chelsea: 15:30

That was that was one of like, yeah, I I just was so used to working out my office and like, I don't know, maybe it's like the athlete thing like eating protein while you're going on like the next thing and eating while you're walking and standing and sitting down. You know that the company invested in great local produce for us to eat to so we were fed, like, honestly, like elite athletes? Yeah.

Neil Metzler: 15:57

Yes, yeah. Wellness, the wellness component. It's not just lip service. It's not just the app on the phone. it's physical, it's real.

Chelsea: 16:05

And so kind of a long way to get there. But look are allowed me to take this trip. This first trip to you after paying off my undergrad student loan debt, I finally had the ability, the time and the resources to take a three week trip, a solo surf trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Neil Metzler: 16:26

Had you taken that much time off? No. In the last years before that, since?

Chelsea: 16:34

I No excuse my language hell no. No, no. You know, the longest

Neil Metzler: 16:41

time off. This was three weeks was the longest? Oh, three weeks was

Chelsea: 16:45

by far the longest. I think there was a time where I had to take two weeks off because I had a knee surgery. That just had to happen. But yeah, that was it. It was it was weird for me. I was like, is this cool? Like, is it really cool Boston? Like, are you just telling me, you know,

Neil Metzler: 17:07

west coasters gonna be a little passive aggressive about certain things. And we don't always get to have healthy conflict or any conflict even when it would be healthy. So especially Yeah, I know,

Chelsea: 17:19

people and my colleagues and my boss, we're not just saying it's okay. They were stoked for me. You know, it was like, being able to have that excitement and be you know, because other I saw other people doing the similar thing. So kind of the reason for Australia and New Zealand and Fiji is I wanted to take the most epic water woman adventure. And it ended up being just that, like a trip that changed my life. You know, it was odd. It was I served head high waves. Plus, like the whole time went through the isawa Islands in Fiji stayed on the North Island of New Zealand still still want to explore the South Island. And then Australia would love to see more parts of it. But I stayed a lot. And I went to like Byron Bay Mullumbimby.

Neil Metzler: 18:11

Epic surfspots Yeah, so

Chelsea: 18:14

yeah. So the second incredible aspect was being in the sour islands. And having this feeling of like, you know, it's deep, or the, like the most blue water you've ever felt. And it's like 90 degrees and humid. And I just had this like, ultimate feeling of like, just connect, like, just peace, just complete peace of like, wow, this is, you know, you kind of your you work hard. And you ever kind of wonder if you ever get to a place of like peace, like, am I going to ever feel that. And this was that first time in my life where I felt that ultimate peace and it hit me I was like, man, what would I tell my younger self? You know, the little Chelsea? Like, what do I wish that someone would have told me in the way that it would have landed with me because we say things in our society often, like schools are important. But we often don't say why school is important. And so for example, school education is important. But the why it gives you the power to

Neil Metzler: 19:18

choose do with education. What does it what does it mean for you? What's the impact?

Chelsea: 19:22

Right? It gives you the about that gives you knowledge and the knowledge gives you the ability to choose options, right and like that. And so that inspired writing a children's book, and that is the project the soul project of my life. That is the coolest. I'm anything else. It's icing on the cake. That was that was everything.

Neil Metzler: 19:42

Well, we're gonna take a quick break, and thank you so as Chelsea We will be right back and we will dive right into that. Neil here. I'm so happy to share these stories of balance and fulfillment from the surf community and Santa Cruz, California. Here's a message from Ventana Surfboards& Supplies featuring our season one guest, David Dennis.

David: 20:06

Ventana Surfboards & Supplies is the most environmentally responsible surf company on the planet. Our surfboards and paddle boards are handcrafted in Santa Cruz, California. They're one of a kind and built from historic and exotic reclaimed wood. Use code'champion' for 15% off your next order of apparel, surfboards and more at VentanaSurfboards.com.

Neil Metzler: 20:28

So Chelsea, you've told us about your three week trip? And tell me now about this creative project? How did this book idea come into the picture for you? And how did you develop it because it really is a project I'm really curious about it.

Chelsea: 20:46

So the Little Wahine, a children's book came to fruition in the islands off Nadi Fiji, that the idea to do that book. And where that really came from was meeting a bunch of kids, honestly, in Fiji, some of the most beautiful, beautiful smiles and full of love and laughter and light and just some of the most incredible memories of being able to connect just with people that live very differently than how I grew up and meeting so many kids on the solo surf trip in Fiji and Australia, and New Zealand, you know, of all different races and backgrounds. inspired to write to my younger self, to you know, the woman who didn't have the the luck and fortune of having, you know, Dr. Joanna Brown, who's my mother, for a mom? And what would I tell them? And how would I express that story, if I was to create this children's book, and speaking to my younger self felt important at that stage, because it was really this point, this pause in my life to be able to say, okay, you know, being able to take a pause and feeling that feeling I have finally got to a place of some kind of balance in my life, to be able to have that space to do something else outside of work. And

Neil Metzler: 22:27

choice, and security choice.

Chelsea: 22:29

Yeah. So that that was really the how it came to be.

Neil Metzler: 22:35

And why you've told me about the way this kind of gives you time and space to reflect how did that reflection lead you back to your younger self, Chelsey.

Chelsea: 22:48

So the book forced me to really kind of come to terms with my own upbringing. So I am Hawaiian, I am Puerto Rican, I'm English. I'm Swedish. My birth dad side is Hawaiian, Puerto Rican. And then my birth mom's side is English and Swedish. And, and Hawaiian culture. And I is basically in formal adoption. I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, my sister and I were born there. But we were raised in Silicon Valley of the Bay Area. Instead of going into foster care, I went to one of the top private schools in Silicon Valley. And so I've always been very aware that I got the the most lucky a kid could get with their mother. And, you know, I look back and I have the best childhood memories. And I've always been acutely aware that my life could have been very different. And, you know, one of the things of going what I love about Hawaii is all the different. You know, if you ever go to it's like if you ever go to Jamaica, or the Polynesian cultures, there's this beautiful blend of people that look different. They might speak in Jamaican Patois or Hawaiian Pidgin, but they look different, or they, you know, the native, there's Native Hawaiian, but there's Hapa, like me mixed, right? And it's so beautiful. And one of the things whenever I go back to Hawaii, is, you know, when I'm paddling out in the lineup, everyone, it's like, it's another logo. I also, you know, I turned super pale in the winter, and then I get super brown in the summertime. And so that kind of identity thing happens when I go to Hawaii and I'm surfing, it's cool. And then the moment someone speaks to me, you know, I don't that's that's the difference where I don't have I don't have the Hawaiian fidgets someone knows immediately that I've noticed

Neil Metzler: 24:45

is that make up our identity, which are multiple and the when we experienced those intersection points, like for myself, I'm German American, and when I encountered Germans there are those moments those Lang Which moments those comprehension checks that happened? It's like we're similar but different for similar but not the same. And you're not this category that I thought and I'm not maybe the category that you thought and this is This is getting interesting, right? Because those can be really beautiful moments when there's that trust and shared vulnerability in the right way.

Chelsea: 25:19

So true, so true. And so much of, I think my mental model my views, my values, the way I look at life, the Joie de Vivre was instilled in the childhood, it's, you know, I wasn't told as a kid who had a lot of energy that something's wrong with me, you know, my mom threw me in the water and was like swim girl, you know, and some group and being able to be thrown in different arenas, whether it's basketball or swimming, or golf or water polo, I was able to express myself whether it was an art classes are writing and you know, and I think with youth, there's this beautiful thing where I wanted to create a book. And the books, a series of chapters is illustrated by Jasmine Meyer, who's based in Byron Bay, she is incredibly talented. The book designer is one of my best friends. She's a product designer. at YouTube, she actually just joined the company we met at game time, where she was the VP of design for a little bit

Neil Metzler: 26:21

tonight,

Chelsea: 26:22

long, long, long term connect. And, you know, one of the beautiful things most people don't know about the book was the illustrations are jazz, the creative vision and author and writing is me. And then insert G who came in who was born in South Korea, raised in the States lived in New York, San Francisco, mother of two girls, incredible human, she basically took my creative vision and the illustrations, and then created this product that was both locally created, printed by bound in Santa Cruz, California, we wanted to do something that was local. But also, she was able to create the women that I wanted to see all different shapes and sizes, we did user user interviews with a huge sample size of different people and gathered feedbacks or skills,

Neil Metzler: 27:15

use your talents, and leverage

Chelsea: 27:17

the different the, the what my day to day job is for these creative projects, which felt like the coolest way to start to use kind of what you do in the day to day for something that is for you, you know is about what is your story, you know, who are you and coming to terms with that speaking to your younger self, and that book has allowed me to connect with little kids across the world parents across the world, mothers, fathers guardians, who sometimes the book isn't even for kids, it's for guardians have just been able to the life lessons resonated with them. And so that that was really like, the thing that allowed me to kind of go inward with this with this project, the soul project, yeah.

Neil Metzler: 28:16

I'd love to share with our audience in the shownotes, a link to view, a preview and to understand this project, I know that there are several channels where you shared some of the images that you created for the project. So that was immediately grabbed me. I saw the Kickstarter page. And I thought it was I thought it was really interesting. Can you tell me maybe about how you were able to stick with it and turn this really powerful idea in into something real tangible out in the world affecting those parents and guardians and people who are caring for us? How did you make that happen?

Chelsea: 28:58

Yeah, you, Neil, you and I've talked a lot about to have like, one of the things I like to press or a highlight is I often feel like when people talk about accomplishments, they hear that compliments right? They hear about how I did something right and yay, but they don't hear Yeah, they don't hear all the like, rejection, they don't see the rejection emails, they don't see the no responses. And, you know, I reached out with the little sob was the easiest thing I ever wrote in my life. I liked you know, I was therapeutic. And it was for me. When I shared the script out to one of like, for better for worse. My mom had still this thing in me that it's like, I don't know, I just don't quit. I just can't like no matter how many I've been rejected, so like, no responses, emails, like having got job you know, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, rejection, I've experienced it. And when it came to this book, I didn't get responses for many publishers, I queried a bunch of literary agents. No one responded. Everyone's asking about, you know, what age demographic is your book for? I'm like, well, it is for like, you know, six through eight. But I think it's for human beings to be human beings, you know?

Neil Metzler: 30:24

Dang, it's just me in the heart.

Chelsea: 30:28

And that is something where everyone wants to put people in a box, you know, and that's something that I've always like, even ethnicity questions like, What are you like, you know, and it's, I just that when it comes to the that book, it was reaching out, no one responded. And so I was like, Okay, start Googling how to self publish a book. And okay, yeah. Roller sleeves. And, you know, one of the options here was how to fundraise. So first of all, this is like, the story of my life, honestly, is the serendipity. So my neighbor at the time in Santa Cruz, who was also my landlord, was one of the first founders of community printers. A printing cooperative in Santa Cruz, started there in 1970. And is one of the most he's like, David, he's like, yeah, he's like David dent is it's like they are. They're like family men. And they are so incredibly talented, and they are all about their community. And anyways, I was talking to him for about six months. And I honestly, I think he thought I was just like, he actually he laughed about this, after I finished the project was like, you know, I get a lot of people asking me about, you know, they said, they want to do something like write a children's book, and they give us all the ideas. And he goes, I gotta tell you, very few people can see that through. And I didn't want to doubt you, but I was like, I don't. Okay, cool. Like, I don't know if you can do it. And so I kept asking these questions, and I'm the type of person if someone is like, the more it's like, oh, it's impossible, the more I'm like, is it?

Neil Metzler: 32:23

Yeah, that's better for worse for us, right? Because you can go through a lot of pain and a lot of body blows until you get through that gauntlet that you're you chose for yourself, and your friends and family sometimes won't be like, Yeah, are you sure? It looks painful? Right. Why are you still trying that? Right? Exactly. Career or realizing your creative dreams, too? Yeah,

Chelsea: 32:49

yeah. Yeah. I mean, sometimes, I mean, sometimes you you. Yeah, we really should walk away from things, you know, like rejection. But um, yeah. So anyways, it was a Kickstarter, that was recommended, as a as a way to raise the funds necessary to print locally in Santa Cruz. And so as an artist, I have no interest in creating anything. If it's not actually, in my mind logical, and in a way that is sustainable. It's good for the environment. So I was pretty full, he would say, aggro about the book could naturally decompose if it was just left in mother nature. And doing this and doing this in Santa Cruz in California made the price high on a per unit basis. But I wanted to do that in support local, it's all part of the whole brand. It's consistent

Neil Metzler: 33:54

is cohesive then with the story as well. I mean, yeah, you're you're not just everything in their experiences, is going to Yeah, I liked how you were really thoughtful about every unintentional that every aspect and insisting on that even when it made things difficult.

Chelsea: 34:11

Yes, yes, yes. And so, you know, it was the fundraiser, reaching out to everyone to learn about the project. And, you know, is pretty cool, you know, is a pretty cool group of women. My editor, is actually who I'm working on a screenplay for a film right now. She's the wife of an engineer I worked with, at looker. And it was her it was an all female group to bring the little wahine to life. And it's funny how projects and companies there's like, a spark in a moment in time that I think things can happen. And it was at a period of time in all of our lives where this book could happen. And it's, you know, you never know but in today, like right now, I don't Think it like jazz is now a mama. And you know, it's, it's she has a lot of other things and it's just incredible a period of time what people can create together. And it was definitely, it was a group, it was a group effort. So Anyways, long story long we, we raised, we raised $30,000 on Kickstarter to print the book locally, we sold out of the first edition of the books. With no marketing at all, it was just locally in California surf shops, some surf shops in New Zealand, and, you know, orders a couple, you know, orders at surf shops kind of around the world type of things. And

Neil Metzler: 35:46

so in the Pacific on the United US Pacific Coast, all the way to the New Zealand coast, people were connecting around this unique story around these identities, I think that's beautiful to think about that. And it's Pacific waves on all these shores together, right? I mean, I know that I grew up in Seattle, too. So I really liked the sound of that. Yeah. Doing this project.

Chelsea: 36:13

Oh, man. Yes, it's, it was, it is definitely the soul project of of my life. I think the thing that I always try to when I talk to people is what is that thing? You know, it sounds a little more of it. But you know, if I were to I actually thought about this in Fiji, if I was to clock out, you know, what would I? What do I wish I would have done? And I think life is every single day. It's what is today? What does Joy look like today in my circumstance, you know, and trying to focus on each day. And then the incremental like you and I've talked about this is like, passion projects, where I want to go in my career for five to 10 years out versus like, what do I want to accomplish next year, they're all different. And then it's like little chipping away is

Neil Metzler: 37:05

to review to reveal what's what's in there. Yeah, that's the sculptors work. Right? Yeah. My grandfather is a sculptor and painter. Yeah. Yeah,

Chelsea: 37:13

that's incredible. When it comes to careers, I really do think a 10 year pathway, I was very set on becoming, you know, Lynda Cohen was someone I looked up to, and being a sports broadcaster growing up. And I, I had the most fun, like, I started in radio, and then writing and in college, I had a TV show, and I can interview my friends on other student athletes on of their teams and coaches, and I had internships, you know, to, you know, kind of get to that with ESPN and some sports teams and the front office and that you kind of like continued to rise in that industry, and then staying open to new paths and ways to evolve. And so like sports, but like, for a startup, right, that seemed like a next natural pathway for me for this company. And then this problem I faced with data was felt like a natural next step, right. And then growing up in the bay area, but not really expending that much time in Santa Cruz, it felt like that next step. And then from Looker, you know, obviously, so grateful for the acquisition and joining Google, you know, Google, to me feels like the closest I felt to when I studied at Berkeley. And that it's like, first of all, it's massive, you have a ton of people from all around the world who work at the company. And there is this, this growth mindset of continuous to learn and celebration of knowledge. And that feels really good after spending like 10 years on the grind of just like, okay, I can go, I can charge hard on the YouTube TV team, but I can also I can also like, learn again, and like, go back to like my craft and UX research and learn new things and like, learn about my colleagues and, and that feels really nice. And so yeah, 1010 years. 10 years is kind of how I think about path. I I know many people who start over in their 30s or 40s. And they have done incredible things when my good friends is a high end fashion photographer in London and then totally switched gears and filmed, directed, wrote and directed his own film, and now live and he did that in his 40s You know, and so it's, it's pretty incredible. It's never it's never over if you will

Neil Metzler: 40:00

Yeah, I've been reading a book called the 100 year life, and which was recommended to me by a mentor of mine. And one of the key things they talk about is that 100 years ago, like your age was your stage, right? Your age, if your age was 20s, it was like maybe entering workforce finishing university, if that's what you're doing 100 years ago, then it was, you know, work, and then it was retirement phase. So your age was really defining your stage. But in this book, the authors who are at the World Economic Forum are more saying that with the complexity of modern existence, and also longevity of our lives, we have in especially in knowledge, work, the ability to choose, there are more options, so that there may be two people who are choosing the same stage. But there are very different ages. And so we can actually learn more cross generationally. And there's a lot of things to get excited about with this, as well as all of the the challenges as well. But yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned that.

Chelsea: 41:05

I love your point about there's a lot to learn from the different generations, because that is about that is a core belief that I feel as well, if if you kind of put all my closest girlfriends next to each other, they're actually of completely different decades. And I think that that is something of it's not intentional by any means. But it is something that I, I feel is it always, I do feel that strong sense that you can learn so much from different generations and that there is this mindshare, that's beautiful that we're we're kind of all going through similar things. And it's never like we've reached the mountaintop and it's like shot Shangri La, right? But it's, we continuously explore and talk chat and learn and like feel and cope and struggle and continuing to persevere and move on. And, you know, kind of lift the whole point of the little while. Hina is empowering courage to ride the waves of change. And you know, my mom is an anesthesiologist and a medical doctor. But if you ask her, she says, I have a PhD and perseverance

Neil Metzler: 42:10

and thing I could benefit from.

Chelsea: 42:16

And that is, that is something that I think at the end of the day, you know, no matter what background you have, no matter what college you went, you went through this life requires perseverance. And the people that I'm most inspired by, it's not about the resume. It's about how they've lived their life and how they continuously live their life on the day to day, you know, whether that is how they eat, how they treat people, how you know, there, there's a love of knock, you know, kind of this constant learning and growth mindset. And to your point, that is where I feel when you're really thrown into a group of people from different generations. If you really listen, and you engage. There's so much to learn. Always.

Neil Metzler: 43:03

Chelsea, thank you so much for the conversation, for the work that you're doing and also for the stories that you share. And I hope that your creativity can continues to flourish in everything that you do.

Chelsea: 43:16

Thank you, Neil. Thank you for having me. It's fun.