Set the Setting: April 2024
Meme Drop, Set the Setting: Skrillex Sunset, The Power of Psychedelic-Assisted Coaching, MAPS is Hiring, Catch me IRL in San Francisco, Effort > Outcomes?!, Photo Drop
Meme Drop
Of the many traits my mom passed down to me, my favorite is my ability to maintain strong friendships. I’m also genetically disposed to be good at racket sports and microsoft excel, but being a caring, inclusive, thoughtful friend is truly one of my core identities.
My trippy tribe showed up in force for a lovely beach day to celebrate my 37th solar return. As my various friend groups mingled, I was reflecting on the joy of friendship. Aren’t friends great?! It was the perfect Spring day to gather my loving, goofy, effervescent trippy tribe:
But wait, if my vibe is “extra gay,” then why is my tribe so… straight? I mean, I love y’all to pieces but have you met me because… I’m quite gay.
It hadn’t really occurred to me to examine it. At first I thought, well, these were just my close SF friends that happened to be free that day. But upon deeper reflection, most of my closest friends are straight guys. How did that happen?!
It’s something I’ve been exploring in my journaling and coaching sessions. There’s some beauty in it; it’s liberating to feel love and belonging in a straight world. Unlike many queer people, I recognize my privilege to not feel marginalized for being gay. I am incredibly grateful that I feel safe to embrace my authenticity.
But it is peculiar that I don’t naturally feel authentic or included in queer spaces! In queer spaces, I wonder if (and often doubt that) I’m fitting in or if people like me. Some of my experiences in gay groups have felt overly sexualized or centered on drinking, which triggers my own insecurities. I’m going to focus lots of energy on this inquiry in April — let’s see what I find out! I’m genuinely curious what I might learn about myself.
Set the Setting: Skrillex Sunset
Picture this: Burning Man, 2016, Robot Heart, the sun is setting and Skrillex takes the decks. The vibes are vibing. Your portal is open. Gentle waves of playa drift and swirl across your feet. You are feeling free, feeling love, and feeling yourself! Now hit play:
Addison introduced me to this set while tripping in Tulum a few months ago. It was on Skrillex’s Soundcloud in 2016 but it was taken down shortly after being posted - but Addison downloaded it first! So enjoy it, because you won’t find this set posted anywhere else.
This set was in my rotation this month because I was jetsetting around so much; it’s the perfect set for flights. Not only because it’s downloaded on my phone — it’s the arc of the set that seems to center me when I’m listening on a plane. I reflect on where I was coming from, and smile knowing I’m hurtling towards a new adventure.
The Power of Psychedelic-Assisted Coaching
Transform is a 2-day conference about HR tech and, in my mind, it’s on par with some of my favorite music festivals. It’s where I get to re-connect with the people in my life that have mentored me into the human I am today. I’ve built meaningful, personal connections with my coworkers over the past 10 years thanks to my inclusive friend-making gene!
Alla, one of my managers from Square, found me in the security line at SFO. The next 72 hours was nonstop reconnecting. It doesn’t make sense for me to tell you about my personal relationships with these amazing people, but this Transform I recognized the impact and lessons from 3 humans:
Lissa. I was floundering a bit in my first 6 months at Facebook. I had just transitioned from my actuary job (very structured environment) to the first HR analytics role at Facebook. I didn’t know any HR metrics… I had to ask people stupid questions like “what does L&D stand for?” Lissa took the time to understand my strengths and provide opportunities to support her and influence outcomes across her teams. When you meet someone new at work, particularly if they’re new to your industry and/or in their career, develop them! Seek to understand their talent and passion. Guide them towards resources. Develop them. We all have the opportunity to positively impact the lives and careers of people we work with.
Bryan. Bryan was my hiring manager at Square in 2014. Bryan models a leadership style that blends confidence and self-awareness. When it comes to career progression, he advised me against taking steps forward — take leaps instead. But doing so can often lead one to over rely on their self-confidence and ego to propel them; Bryan shows me how to leap forward with humility, embrace the challenge, and gather support from the experts around me. He’s been instrumental in how I navigate my career against the tides of imposter syndrome.
Stacey. A case study in transformation; I barely recognize the today-Stacey from the Stacey I met in 2015 at Culture Amp. My earliest memory of Stacey is someone shy, timid and sort of cynical. Now, she goes all-in. Over the years, she advocated for me at the end of my Culture Amp chapter, she bought a house sight unseen, and she’s a bold leader in the HR space. Honestly I didn’t see it coming but I’m here for it. Most of my readers don’t know her, but the lesson I embody from Stacey that I want to share is like… life is too short for tolerate “meh.” You don’t need to give two shits about what people think about you at work. Find (or better yet, create) a culture where you belong.
My talk on The Power of Psychedelic-Assisted Coaching embodies my belief that people in power need healing, not villainzing, in order to shift our world in a positive direction. The power of psychedelic-assisted coaching lies in the interconnectedness of all people, the Earth, and our ability to live in harmony. I’m feeling so blessed to be living in my truth, finding my dharma, changing hearts and minds, and for the opportunity to share myself on stage:
Every Transform ends with a night of debauchery. This year featured Flo Rida, Flavor Flav, and various conference attendees that jump on stage! I took a half tab of unicorn and laughed my ass off the whole night:
MAPS is Hiring!
Because the “modern” psychedelics ecosystem is relatively nascent, I’m the only full-time DEI practitioner at any of the large psychedelic companies. That’s why I’m extra proud to be running point for talent acquisition at MAPS. I’m thrilled to build diverse pipelines for MAPS and the entire psychedelic ecosystem!
There are two roles open right now on my team, the Contracts and Legal Manager and our People Operations Manager — both have application due dates of April 12th. If you know anybody who wants to join MAPS and end the war on drugs, please have them apply. I can attest that working at MAPS has been one of the most rewarding, dynamic, challenging, and heart-opening experiences of my life.
If you are excited about the prospect of working in the psychedelic field, set alerts for the jobs aggregator in Psychedelic Alpha. There’s another open HR Operations role at Journey Colab (hybrid, in NYC). I also see accounting, business ops, product design, sales, and engineering roles within companies across the ecosystem.
Catch me IRL in SF
As roles within the psychedelics ecosystem are rare and in high demand, a candidate needs to meet the qualifications and have a personal connection to the mission of the organization. You could say that about any company, but at least at MAPS, connection to the mission is paramount — especially since we get nearly 1,000 applications per role.
Whether you’re networking in the space or fortunate enough to get an interview, it would really advantage you to be able to tell your psychedelic story. Sign up for the free virtual workshop on Your Story Is Everything, or if you’re in San Francisco on April 19th, come to my session Unearthing your Psychedelic Story at this year’s Discovery Sessions Bicycle Day Conference! Hit me up for a discount code!
I’ll also be speaking at Chacruna’s Psychedelic Culture in San Francisco, April 26-27th and guest lecturing a psychedelic science class at UC Berkeley that week. Being on the road in March was great, but I’m hoping to stay put here in SF for all of April.
Effort > Outcomes?!
At the MAPS Staff Retreat in Denver, Rick was reflecting on the 38 year journey to decriminalize MDMA. And he completely flipped one of my core beliefs around social justice.
As an activist who also works within capitalist systems, one of my core beliefs was “Focus on outcomes and impact.” It’s featured on my website. This had really been codified during the time I brought Deray McKesson on stage at the Culture First Conference. He spoke about how the BLM movement had increased our conversations around racist policing, but in that same time period, the number of Black people being killed by the police is still increasing. “Don’t confuse a change in conversation for a change in outcome,” he said.
But as I’ve gotten older, more experienced, more mature — and as I equip myself with strategies that embrace my personal theory of change, I think effort matters just as much as outcomes.
Rick has been fighting for the legal and equitable access of drugs since before I was born. To only focus on outcomes… there can be something a bit of egotistic to it. Real, meaningful change; change that is sustainable; systemic change - this type of change involves compromise with people that feel or think differently than you. The real change I want to see in the world, particularly around psychedelics, is going to involve compromise. I don’t need to be right, I need to be effective. I need to be flexible on my outcome, but relentless on my effort.
Rick has had to accept, over 38 years, that he might not be able to get the outcome that he wanted, but he had to continue to fight anyway. If you truly believe in something, the effort needs to be enough.
I’m going to apply this to other aspects of my life. In my most recent session coaching session with Yannick, we reflected on all of the effort I’ve taken to find a romantic partner over the last 7 years, but how I don’t have the outcome to show for it! But the effort has been worth it. It’s the effort towards this outcome that has brought me many friendships and led decisions to work in non-profit.
I guess I need to update the values on my website now! Maybe something like: “Effort and Impact Both Matter.” I’ll sit with this! Let me know what you think:
Photo Drop
Keeping it classy.
My favorite edition to date. A bit of everything. I particularly liked your observation about surrounding yourself with straights and your three anecdotes.
Happy belated birthday.
“End the War on Drugs”… Haha. Clever.
What a treat it was to watch your panel from #transform2024! 🤩