Adulting with Vicky

Though I've only scratched the surface of adulthood, I don't want to trivialize the lessons and experiences I've had so far. Yes, we're young and possibly still a little naive, but the more life throws at us, the more we understand the realities of the world. Now at age 25, I'm looking back on the past three years of my life to dissect how each year's experiences affected my intentions for the next.

If you've ever decided to NOT try something out of fear of "failure," you might have experienced analysis paralysis. If you're a perfectionist and you get anxious when things don't go how you envisioned, you might have a fixed mindset. These are a couple topics Career Coach Lisa Lewis and I explore this week on Adulting with Vicky. We get into perfectionism and compare fixed mindsets vs. growth mindsets. Lisa explains how to ease yourself into a potentially huge career change, going into new situations with courage vs. confidence and how even though perfectionists want to do everything so it's done "right," they need to learn to ask for help.

It's pretty common to find yourself working in an environment with toxic personalities, unhealthy work-life balance, problematic leadership or complicated office politics at least once in your career. It's easy to feel stuck in that workplace when you're fresh out of college, have little experience and desperately need the paycheck. However, I suggest you jump ship if the situation isn't going to improve after giving it a solid chance. This week's guest, Katrina Honer, says she turned around her reputation from "office b****" to office boss by giving herself an attitude check and finding ways to effect positive changes at work. Tune in to hear how she made her workplace work for her, what it's like becoming a supervisor your work friends and learning to be a leader.

Doing the right thing isn't always easy, but what's "right" in the first place? This is a big question Nicole Devereaux answers in the context of her marriage. She opens up about the steps she and her husband have taken to work on their relationship, seeking help and mental health.

Imma let you live your life, but first, I’m going to share Susie Trujillo’s concept “But first, the end” with you. Rather than getting caught up in the fact that significant events in life are finite, Susie developed this idea to help herself and others live intentionally and find comfort in unpredictability. Millennials are made out to be a flighty, idealistic generation, but why is that? Are we chasing passions that previous generations didn’t have? Why, compared to other generations, are we so anxious about our path? Susie and I discuss all of this. Tune in to find out her perspective.

Leaving your full-time-financially-stable-benefits-covering job to pursue your passion is not as easy as putting in your two weeks and immediately living this free-flowing, creative, zen-ass lifestyle. That’s a bit too idealistic (and unrealistic) for me. For Lisa Friedman and myself, it took a lot of financial planning, working side gigs, developing ideas only to eventually scratch them and start over, being brutally honest with ourselves and working at random hours of the day. We’re still figuring it out, but tune in to hear what we’ve learned so far. You won’t regret it!

Depression is a mental illness that affects 16 million American adults every year. And though that number is high, many people affected may feel pretty alone. I know I have. This week, I sit down with Shelley Armenta to discuss our experiences living with depression and anxiety. We hope this episode will give you some insight on how both impact the way we think, act and ask for help. Let's destigmatize mental illness so that more conversations can be had between you, your loved ones and your community.

Corey Banana has grown up in a life full of adversity. With her father facing time in jail as a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and her mother raising her at age 16, Corey quickly learned the importance of building a life she wanted for herself at a young age. Now a published author, model and artist, Corey reflects on everything she needed to go through to get to where she is.

I hear about people starting businesses right out of high school or college all the time and think to myself, “How the eff did you learn how to do this??” because there is so much to consider – funding, designing the product or service, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution and so much more (that my brain hurts just thinking about it). Young adults are typically learning how to handle their finances, relationships, responsibilities and what it means to ACTUALLY take care of yourself and be independent at this point in time. Add “build a business” to that list and you have Kayla Bell, founder and CEO of Arrow + Phoenix Swimwear. I had such a pleasure sitting down with her to discuss her experience navigating the uncharted waters that is building her swimwear company.

I don't know about you, but I wish my college offered a personal finances course. I was taught to get a job, but no one ever explained how I should allocate my money. I just knew the gist: manage your debt, have a savings account and put money into an IRA or 401K. Sharing her framework for tracking money, saving for significant "adulting" moves and creating a budget is Cash Bar's Trina Patel.

A ton of "adulting" is involved when you move out of your parents' house, live with a significant other or try to build new friendships as an adult. For many, these take place on separate occasions, but for Kara Schwartz, they all tied together. In this episode, we discuss her move from a small town in New Jersey to San Francisco, Bart encounters, meet-cutes with new friends and learning to loosen the reigns on some of her living habits.

To be completely honest, I’m tired of hearing my peers (and even myself) obsess over not having a detailed 5- or 10-year career plan. I think it’s great to have an idea of what you’d like to accomplish, come up with a few different paths you can see yourself going down and set up action items to get yourself there, but until you accept that things don’t always work out as planned, you’re going to freak out over every misstep and rob yourself of enjoying where you’re at. This week’s guest, Kevin Sharp, is a talented writer and podcaster whose career path is anything but linear. And guess what? He’s alive, well and happy! Tune in to hear his adulting journey and insight on changing career paths.

Grace Lanuza is a powerhouse of a woman. She’s a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and mentor to young women. Her confidence and positive outlook is infectious, but like everyone, she was not always this way. We talk about “need to haves” vs. “nice to haves,” spinning regrets into lessons and learning to let go of some responsibilities in order to grow your team.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make it in the entertainment industry? I know I have. This week I sit down with Brittney Level – actress, singer and director. We talk about sticking to your values, being in love with the journey and respecting yourself. Tune in to hear her firsthand experience breaking into the industry.

Younger millennials are known to throw caution to the wind when it comes to chasing our passions. It's an unfortunate and sometimes true stereotype. From former full-time exhibit designer to full-time artist, Tiffany Trieu does not fall into this stereotype. Though she left her job to develop herself as an artist, she had a plan. Listen in as we discuss financial independence versus financial flexibility, creating structure for yourself and finding the right communities to support you.

It's easy for us to get in our head about what other people think about us or what other people expect for us. This episode is about letting go of those expectations and pushing through imposter syndrome so you can successfully "do you." Life is not linear and neither is our career path. As messy as it may feel to you, remember to stack your successes, keep your head down and WORK. This week's guest, Kenta Naoi, reflects on his 20s and all the things that led to his new project, Movement Design Research.

Adulthood is tough. There's learning how to manage your finances, dealing with family and relationships, figuring out what the hell work-life-balance really means to you, and for some, squeezing in time to pursue your passion. Ayanna's passion is in storytelling and making films. She's a screenwriter, director, producer and all-around badass boss. In this episode, we talk about how she navigated postgrad life, found the best resources she could to fuel her dream career and candidly share how we still don't really know what we're doing.

In this episode of Adulting with Vicky, I interview my friend Jessica about her experience navigating adulthood as someone who is visually impaired. We jump into her childhood, some unfortunate experiences she's had with strangers and how her guide dog changed her life.

My parents never gave me the sex talk, let alone tell me anything about sexuality and STDs/STIs. He's fierce, he's intelligent and he's the LEAST vanilla person I know: Jeffrey Liang. He's a drag queen performer and an amazing dancer from the Los Angeles area. He is here to talk about a topic that some people feel awkward about BUT SHOULDN'T!! It's time we open the floor to learn more about HIV.

Ya girl doesn't know anything about dating because she's been in the same relationship since middle school (woop woop). That is exactly why I recruited my old castmate Kyle Navarro to tell me about his experience dating women from Tinder, Coffee Meets Bagel and OkCupid. This episode also unpacks family upbringing, racism, sexism, sexual assault and staying true to yourself through Kyle's not-so-Tinderella story.

Let’s be honest. It’s common for a lot of 90s babies to discuss post-grad struggles, but have you ever thought about our friends in medical and/or other graduate programs who are still in school? While people commonly associate adulting with post-grad, that’s not always how it is. What’s it like navigating your 20s while being a med student? Tune in to hear my chat with two college friends, Arthur and Moises, on the topic.

Are millennials obsessed with social media and technology? We might be, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Listen in on my conversation with Kimm, a pre-school teacher, on how she's seen technology affect her students, peers and of course, herself. Inspired by The Minimalists Podcast, Kimm and I discuss how to live a more wholesome life.

In this episode, Michelle (my illustrator) and I reflect on our weekend in SoCal where we debuted my poetry book The Little Things. We discuss what it took to put the book together, side projects, post-grad struggles and self-care.

Not everyone has a great relationship with their parents, but that doesn't mean it can't improve. Especially as a first-generation American child, I think it's important to know your parents' life stories to understand how their experiences shape their opinions and mindset. In doing so, we can close the cultural and generational gaps between us and our parents. In part two of this miniseries, we talk about how finding a community helped my dad adjust to life in America as well as when he felt he really became an adult.

Not everyone has a great relationship with their parents, but that doesn't mean it can't improve. Especially as a first-generation American child, I think it's important to know your parents' life stories to understand how their experiences shape their opinions and mindset. In doing so, we can close the cultural and generational gaps between us and our parents. In part one of this miniseries, my dad shares his story of moving to America and thoughts on parenting millennials.

Join me as I read and react to millennial stereotypes on this week's episode. Worried you fall into the stereotype? Only one way to find out!

Feel like there isn't enough time in the day to do your 9-5, work on side projects and practice self-care? Tune in to learn how re-framing the concept of time, understanding your "why" and using a cute little app about trees can help you do it all.

Welcome to Adulting with Vicky! Join me as I talk about coping with uncertainty after post-grad and finding a career that makes you happy.