Every Job I've Ever Had

Dear Friends,

The Creative Retreat in Iceland launched last week, and sold out fast! Way faster than I expected.

For the last several months, I’ve been working hard to put together an international retreat in Snæfellsnes. With help from Alexis Joseph, Lana Porcello, and Hedi Jónsdóttir, we’re excited to host Case for Making’s first watercolor excursion in Iceland. I’m looking forward to July 2027 when we get to paint together next to mountains, glaciers, lava fields, hot springs, and maybe even a few humpback whales, since summer is peak whale-watching season.

It took a lot of effort to make this happen! Especially as an extra project in addition to our regular scheduled programming. It involved corresponding with people across multiple time zones, figuring out the logistics of lodging, transportation, budgeting, itinerary planning, and so much more. I’m hoping to help coordinate and host more of these in the future.

Lately I’ve been reflecting on the extremely nonlinear sequence of jobs that somehow led me here. In my last newsletter, I touched on how I’ve never had a super direct occupational trajectory. Some people are born knowing exactly what they want to do. For example, I have three family members who are surgeons. Some paths don’t leave a lot of room for error, or wandering. I have never been blessed with this kind of clarity, but I have been fortunate to stumble upon many opportunities that taught me something useful.

So I decided to create a list of every job* I’ve had leading up to this point. And hopefully there’s a lot of life left for further discoveries.

*To keep things simple, I’m only listing jobs where I paid income tax – leaving out all the work that was off the books.

(in chronological order)

1. Baskin-Robbins – fun fact: Barack Obama and I had the same first job. We both spent after-school hours serving ice cream and rolling waffle cones. I was 15 when I acquired my first W-2. I developed scooping-induced carpal tunnel, and a phobia of getting trapped in the walk-in freezer.

2. Paint-your-own-pottery – sales associate & studio assistant, where I held my breath every single time I loaded and unloaded a kiln, praying not to break anyone’s lovingly painted cat figurines.

3. Peer Mentor – helped incoming students navigate life at Fairhaven College, which sometimes involved explaining why it was inadvisable to leave frothing homemade kombucha inside another student’s mail cubby.

4. Dog groomer – spent a college summer in the grooming department of Petco, giving dogs of all shapes and sizes a shampoo and blow-dry. A terrier bit my hand on the last day of work here.

5. Server – I served sushi at two restaurants long enough to learn that your crew can either make or break your entire working experience, and that having a good team is everything.

6. Activities Coordinator – at a nursing home serving long-term residents, many living with dementia or Alzheimer’s. I organized their bingo games, led daily programming, wheeled residents to the dining hall for live music, and kept track of sensory activities. I got to know a lot of seniors on a very emotionally intimate level, and it was hard to say goodbye. I never grew accustomed to residents passing away.

7. Buyer – I worked at the most aggressively hippy-adjacent natural foods store in the Pacific Northwest. As a buyer, I decided which cheeses, teas, and olive oils deserved shelf space. I think it was at this point that I started becoming hyper-organized, keeping track of all the threads involving suppliers, inventory, and expiration dates. Two years of sourcing a dozen brands of raw almond butter helped me decide to apply for grad school.

8. Falconer’s Assistant – I needed something physically demanding and connected to nature, in order to keep me grounded during grad school. It is too easy to get lost inside your head when writing an MFA thesis. Working with falcons, hawks, eagles, and owls kept me sane, because birds don’t judge you based on academic merit. The Burren Birds of Prey Centre was a godsend.

9. Barista – on some unspoken level it must have been a village tradition to graduate with your master’s degree then immediately work at the local cafe. Like many who came before me, I poured coffee to make ends meet, and I also learned how to make an excellent quiche. If you ever pass by The Larder in Ballyvaughan, please give the owner Shirley a big hug from me, she’s the best.

10. Meta Artist in Residence – I didn’t expect painting to become financially viable for a long time, if ever. But just a few months after graduating, I was invited to a paid artist residency at the company formerly known as Facebook. I painted this mural for their Dublin location, and made a lot of Facebook friends.

11. Hawthorne Valley Farm – after 3 years in Ireland it was time to move back to the US. I did an autumn artist residency in upstate New York, and once again found myself in need of a short term gig to pay rent. For two months I processed several thousand pounds of peppers to be turned into hot sauce. I would come back to the residency dusted from head to toe in a spicy layer of capsaicin.

    

12. Santa’s Helper – I honestly don’t know what to call this one. For one solid month I made a quick buck editing holiday photos at the mall. My favorite was a guy who wanted a photo of Santa holding his pet bearded dragon. The lizard wore a tiny Santa hat.

13. California Academy of Sciences – the first job I found after moving to San Francisco involved an albino alligator, coral reefs, exotic butterflies, and Penguins & Pajamas sleepovers for kids. I worked as many double shifts as possible because the pay was terrible. One manager started calling me “Double or Nothing Melanie.” Lots of memorable coworkers here.

14. Cedars – I worked as an art instructor supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. Together we built an environment centered on creativity, expression, and personal growth. This chapter came to an abrupt, unexpected halt when the pandemic changed the world.

15. Case for Making – this little art shop means more to me than I can fit in a small summary. Originally I was hired to help with order fulfillment, since online sales exploded thanks to Covid. But everyone at CfM wears multiple hats: we all made paint, brainstormed new colors, and eventually expanded to teaching art workshops. After moving to New York, I became the workshop manager, and continue to work as an instructor. Six years in, planning our first retreat.

16. Self employed artist – the one consistent thread throughout all this is that I always made time for art, even if it wasn’t the most financially sustainable path. I wasn’t raised to believe that being an artist was viable. Quite the opposite. I was strongly discouraged from pursuing the subject at all. But whenever I was working all those other jobs, I was still painting, studying, researching, and carving out time to have an art practice whenever possible.

Being a self-employed artist means simultaneously functioning as an accountant, archivist, art handler, bookkeeper, copywriter, customer service rep, event coordinator, fabricator, grant writer, inventory wrangler, janitor, marketing department, project manager, publicist, researcher, shipping coordinator, social media manager, studio technician, website designer, and occasionally, if time permits, an actual artist.

Last month I finished two commissions. I shipped and sold a few paintings, and just got new prints on my website. I do most of this late at night, while my 1.5 year old daughter is sleeping.

Sometimes life feels random. Remember to trust the seeds you’re planting.

Love,
Melanie

PS: here is a photo of the last latte I ever made, just in case I ever need barista work again.

PPS: you made it this far, so here’s Santa with the bearded dragon:

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♥