u/Ok-Purple-2173

I’m trying to figure out my next career move and would love honest advice from people in creative, media, marketing, ecommerce, production, photography, or related fields.

I currently work in ecommerce/digital content, with experience in digital imaging, product content, web publishing, writing, editing, photography, quality control, technical workflows, and customer service. I’m also finishing my degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration and a Legal Studies minor.

I’m interested in areas like creative operations, content production, digital publishing, ecommerce, photography/imaging, writing/editing, marketing, production coordination, events, media, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle.

I’m trying to figure out which of these directions actually makes the most sense with my current experience, what skills I should develop, and what roles I should be targeting next.

I also want to become more intentional about building my professional network, particularly on LinkedIn. For those of you who use LinkedIn successfully:

• Do you recommend having a specific niche, or is it okay to post about several related areas you’re genuinely interested in and experienced in?

• What types of posts actually help people build credibility, connections, and opportunities?

• How do you recommend finding and connecting with people in industries you want to move into without seeming spammy or transactional?

• Are there communities, events, certifications, portfolio projects, or other strategies that helped you expand your network?

I’m looking for honest feedback, advice, resources, and different perspectives. If you work in any of these areas, I’d also be happy to connect and learn from your experience.

I’m trying to figure out my next career move and would love honest advice from people in creative, media, marketing, ecommerce, production, photography, or related fields.

I currently work in ecommerce/digital content, with experience in digital imaging, product content, web publishing, writing, editing, photography, quality control, technical workflows, and customer service. I’m also finishing my degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration and a Legal Studies minor.

I’m interested in areas like creative operations, content production, digital publishing, ecommerce, photography/imaging, writing/editing, marketing, production coordination, events, media, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle.

I’m trying to figure out which of these directions actually makes the most sense with my current experience, what skills I should develop, and what roles I should be targeting next.

I also want to become more intentional about building my professional network, particularly on LinkedIn. For those of you who use LinkedIn successfully:

• Do you recommend having a specific niche, or is it okay to post about several related areas you’re genuinely interested in and experienced in?

• What types of posts actually help people build credibility, connections, and opportunities?

• How do you recommend finding and connecting with people in industries you want to move into without seeming spammy or transactional?

• Are there communities, events, certifications, portfolio projects, or other strategies that helped you expand your network?

I’m looking for honest feedback, advice, resources, and different perspectives. If you work in any of these areas, I’d also be happy to connect and learn from your experience.

I’m trying to figure out my next career move and would love honest advice from people in creative, media, marketing, ecommerce, production, photography, or related fields.

I currently work in ecommerce/digital content, with experience in digital imaging, product content, web publishing, writing, editing, photography, quality control, technical workflows, and customer service. I’m also finishing my degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration and a Legal Studies minor.

I’m interested in areas like creative operations, content production, digital publishing, ecommerce, photography/imaging, writing/editing, marketing, production coordination, events, media, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle.

I’m trying to figure out which of these directions actually makes the most sense with my current experience, what skills I should develop, and what roles I should be targeting next.

I also want to become more intentional about building my professional network, particularly on LinkedIn. For those of you who use LinkedIn successfully:

• Do you recommend having a specific niche, or is it okay to post about several related areas you’re genuinely interested in and experienced in?

• What types of posts actually help people build credibility, connections, and opportunities?

• How do you recommend finding and connecting with people in industries you want to move into without seeming spammy or transactional?

• Are there communities, events, certifications, portfolio projects, or other strategies that helped you expand your network?

I’m looking for honest feedback, advice, resources, and different perspectives. If you work in any of these areas, I’d also be happy to connect and learn from your experience.

( LONG POST BUT I REALLY NEED AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE)

TL;DR: My friend constantly minimizes my identity (making clicking sounds at me when I discuss being Black), lectures me on how to raise my puppy, dismisses my feelings on racially motivated violence, and most recently, blamed/lectured me when I reached out to her in a panic after I think I was violated on a date.

I’m struggling with a friendship and could really use outside perspective because I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, if we just communicate badly, or if this friendship has simply run its course.

For this post, I’ll call my friend Mary.

Mary and I do have good times together, and I don’t think she’s always malicious. That’s part of why this is hard. But I’ve noticed a pattern where it feels like every time I express an opinion, emotion, or concern, she takes the opposing stance, tells me I’m wrong, or gives me unsolicited advice.

Examples:

1. ⁠One time our mutual friend was showing us outfits for her honeymoon in Africa. One outfit was beautiful, but I gently mentioned that with a few changes it might feel more like appreciation than appropriation. Mary immediately said, “Why do you care so much? You’re not even African.”
   I explained that I’m Black/African American, to which she responds “who in your family is African? What part of Africa are they from?!” I explained that because of slavery, many of us can’t trace exactly where in Africa our lineage comes from. She said “you’re not African, your name isn’t ..” and proceeded to make clicking sounds with her mouth. She then got mad at me for being offended, sending me this text:

“I'm saying you shouldn't take offense to it because it was never about you. That's like me getting offended if you said something about down syndrome, and my cousin has down syndrome. Nothing to do with me and I had nothing to do with my cousin. We're just talking amongst friends. But when you want to victimized and say oh, I take offense to it I'm African. That's when we started poking fun at it because it was never something to offend you. That's why I'm very frustrated with the fact that the whole thing became such a big issue because the people on the trip actually said something to Attack me in front of my face. We were never trying to hurt u. But you wanna make the joke about you l can't stop you. All I can say is it was not for you. Do you want to be offended go ahead and be offended, but it was never to offend you. You don't celebrate Kwanzaa you don't even clack when vou speak”

2. Another example is with my 7-month-old pit mix puppy. I fostered him from 10 weeks and adopted him at 5 months. I’ve worked really hard training him and building trust. Mary met him when he was 5 months and is obsessed with the idea that I need to use a shock collar. I’ve repeatedly told her no, I prefer positive reinforcement, he’s food motivated, and I’m working with a trainer. She constantly tells me I don’t know what I’m doing and that a shock collar would solve everything. She’s said she raises 3 large breed dogs and knows what she’s saying. I tell her that’s good, but I know MY dog and think a shock collar should be a last resort once all options are exhausted and that he’s not a bad dog. He’s literally a puppy. He’s currently 7 months, knows all his basic commands, walks on a leash without pulling, has a structured schedule and is doing amazing. I’ve attached reference videos.

3. I was talking about the case of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a 14-year-old Black boy whose case deeply upset me. I said it made me sad because as a Black woman, stories like that hit close to home. Her response was basically, “Well he shouldn’t have been stealing,” even though he didn’t steal anything.

Then she started bringing up completely unrelated cases from years ago where Black people harmed white people, as if that somehow invalidated my feelings about this recent verdict. I tried explaining that me caring deeply about anti-Black violence doesn’t mean I don’t care about other victims, I just relate most to what impacts me directly. Instead of hearing me, she responded with this text:

“I mean, you just focus on you being Black and how it affects you because you're black. But that's what I'm trying to say the guy that slit the girls throat on the bus was black and she was white and guess what he was let free”

4. I went on a date two nights ago. We ended up hooking up. During sex, the guy asked if he could take the condom off and I explicitly said no. Afterward, I realized he had taken it off anyway without my consent. I asked him why he did that and he said “it must have fallen off” which is absolute bs

I was drunk, panicking, and felt violated.

It’s was around 2am and Mary happened to text me, so I asked if she could call me. She did, but the guy noticed and asked who I was talking to, so the call ended quickly. Later, instead of checking if I was okay, she sent me a long text saying it was rude to FaceTime during a date, that I shouldn’t be on my phone, and that I “set the tone.”

That really broke something in me.

I wasn’t calling her to gossip or be rude. I was trying to reach someone because I felt unsafe and violated. Instead of support, I got criticism.

That’s the pattern I keep noticing: when I’m vulnerable, I often leave interactions with her feeling dismissed, invalidated, defensive, or like somehow everything becomes about what I did wrong.

She’s been texting me asking how the date went, and I’ve been ignoring her because I honestly don’t even know what to say.

I kind of don’t know what to do or how to feel about any of this. I honestly just feel really shitty and alone. Like I don’t have anyone who understands me, who I feel safe with emotionally. I know I have things I have to work on within myself but it would be nice to have good friends too.

( LONG POST BUT I REALLY NEED AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE)

TL;DR: My friend constantly minimizes my identity (making clicking sounds at me when I discuss being Black), lectures me on how to raise my puppy, dismisses my feelings on racially motivated violence, and most recently, blamed/lectured me when I reached out to her in a panic after I think I was violated on a date.

I’m struggling with a friendship and could really use outside perspective because I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, if we just communicate badly, or if this friendship has simply run its course.

For this post, I’ll call my friend Mary.

Mary and I do have good times together, and I don’t think she’s always malicious. That’s part of why this is hard. But I’ve noticed a pattern where it feels like every time I express an opinion, emotion, or concern, she takes the opposing stance, tells me I’m wrong, or gives me unsolicited advice.

Examples:

1. One time our mutual friend was showing us outfits for her honeymoon in Africa. One outfit was beautiful, but I gently mentioned that with a few changes it might feel more like appreciation than appropriation. Mary immediately said, “Why do you care so much? You’re not even African.”
   I explained that I’m Black/African American, to which she responds “who in your family is African? What part of Africa are they from?!” I explained that because of slavery, many of us can’t trace exactly where in Africa our lineage comes from. She said “you’re not African, your name isn’t ..” and proceeded to make clicking sounds with her mouth. She then got mad at me for being offended, sending me this text:

“I'm saying you shouldn't take offense to it because it was never about you. That's like me getting offended if you said something about down syndrome, and my cousin has down syndrome. Nothing to do with me and I had nothing to do with my cousin. We're just talking amongst friends. But when you want to victimized and say oh, I take offense to it I'm African. That's when we started poking fun at it because it was never something to offend you. That's why I'm very frustrated with the fact that the whole thing became such a big issue because the people on the trip actually said something to Attack me in front of my face. We were never trying to hurt u. But you wanna make the joke about you l can't stop you. All I can say is it was not for you. Do you want to be offended go ahead and be offended, but it was never to offend you. You don't celebrate Kwanzaa you don't even clack when vou speak”

2. Another example is with my 7-month-old pit mix puppy. I fostered him from 10 weeks and adopted him at 5 months. I’ve worked really hard training him and building trust. Mary met him when he was 5 months and is obsessed with the idea that I need to use a shock collar. I’ve repeatedly told her no, I prefer positive reinforcement, he’s food motivated, and I’m working with a trainer. She constantly tells me I don’t know what I’m doing and that a shock collar would solve everything. She’s said she raises 3 large breed dogs and knows what she’s saying. I tell her that’s good, but I know MY dog and think a shock collar should be a last resort once all options are exhausted and that he’s not a bad dog. He’s literally a puppy. He’s currently 7 months, knows all his basic commands, walks on a leash without pulling, has a structured schedule and is doing amazing. I’ve attached reference videos.

3. I was talking about the case of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a 14-year-old Black boy whose case deeply upset me. I said it made me sad because as a Black woman, stories like that hit close to home. Her response was basically, “Well he shouldn’t have been stealing,” even though he didn’t steal anything.

Then she started bringing up completely unrelated cases from years ago where Black people harmed white people, as if that somehow invalidated my feelings about this recent verdict. I tried explaining that me caring deeply about anti-Black violence doesn’t mean I don’t care about other victims, I just relate most to what impacts me directly. Instead of hearing me, she responded with this text:

“I mean, you just focus on you being Black and how it affects you because you're black. But that's what I'm trying to say the guy that slit the girls throat on the bus was black and she was white and guess what he was let free”

4. I went on a date two nights ago. We ended up hooking up. During sex, the guy asked if he could take the condom off and I explicitly said no. Afterward, I realized he had taken it off anyway without my consent. I asked him why he did that and he said “it must have fallen off” which is absolute bs

I was drunk, panicking, and felt violated.

It’s was around 2am and Mary happened to text me, so I asked if she could call me. She did, but the guy noticed and asked who I was talking to, so the call ended quickly. Later, instead of checking if I was okay, she sent me a long text saying it was rude to FaceTime during a date, that I shouldn’t be on my phone, and that I “set the tone.”

That really broke something in me.

I wasn’t calling her to gossip or be rude. I was trying to reach someone because I felt unsafe and violated. Instead of support, I got criticism.

That’s the pattern I keep noticing: when I’m vulnerable, I often leave interactions with her feeling dismissed, invalidated, defensive, or like somehow everything becomes about what I did wrong.

She’s been texting me asking how the date went, and I’ve been ignoring her because I honestly don’t even know what to say.

I kind of don’t know what to do or how to feel about any of this. I honestly just feel really shitty and alone. Like I don’t have anyone who understands me, who I feel safe with emotionally. I know I have things I have to work on within myself but it would be nice to have good friends too.

Hey everyone, just wanted to see if I’m alone here. I had a fall advising appointment recently and the advisor I saw was incredibly rude, dismissive, and argumentative.

I work full-time and have health accommodations, so my schedule is tight. When I asked for alternative class options that could count toward my degree, they literally told me "no" and said it wasn't their job to help me find classes that fit my schedule. I left with zero help and felt completely disrespected.

Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong? It took me so long to get an appointment just to leave it without any help and feeling like crap.