Yara was shocked to be laid off from her community newspaper job after 11 great years. Although she knows there have been huge changes in print publishing, she also knows she was doing amazing work; just last year, she’d won the Atlantic Journalism Award for Best Community News Story. She is good at reading body language and can tell her manager was devastated to deliver the layoff news. Although the manager wasn’t able to say anything directly, Yara is convinced that she too disagreed with the decision.

After her layoff, Yara signs up for a career exploration workshop. Through a process of self-reflection and talking with others, she recognizes that several of her best skills have been underutilized recently. She recalls how much she enjoyed public speaking when she was younger; lately she’s been reporting on public speakers but never taking the stage herself. Last fall, Yara had been a guest speaker for a class of journalism students and loved it. Although she had considered becoming a teacher before she pursued journalism as a career, nothing about being in a classroom with high school students appeals to her now. However, maybe teaching at a college would be interesting? Yara decides to check into that a bit more.