We’re hosting a weekly Instagram Live series called “When I Grow Up”. The goal is to have casual conversations with other entrepreneurs around those big dreams, and what we’re all doing to actively pursue them. 

Ari Tabak was a perfect first guest, you’re going to love her story. 

Stephanie Tusler 1:03
Hey, so let’s dive in. I want to keep it casual. It’s gonna be hard though, because I’m in corporate meetings all day. So my project manager might come out. But you’re pregnant! How are you feeling? When’s your due date? What’s the update?

Ari Tabak 1:22
Yeah, I am very pregnant. I’m six months pregnant. And I am due December 22. I’m actually in. I’m in what is going to be the nursery and sitting in our new glider chair, which I never want to get out of. And I’m really sad to give this up as my office slash gym. But I’m sure I’ll still be in here plenty of time.

Stephanie Tusler 1:45
You will all through the night. What is that wall? Is that a design that you’ve done?

Ari Tabak 1:49
It’s wallpaper. We just, we just got it done this week. It’s a big photo of mountains and trees. I feel like I’m on vacation.

Stephanie Tusler 1:58
Oh my gosh, I have to say your house. It’s so beautiful. Oh my gosh, love that you’ll buy stuff that looks super bougie but find it in a way that’s you know, accessible to everybody.

Ari Tabak 2:13
Literally my mom. My mom said the other day she’s like, I feel like I need to go spend some money where should we go? Do you want to go to home goods? And I was like, Oh, yes, we waited in a line for a half hour and it was very worth it.

Stephanie Tusler 2:26
Yeah, I one hundred percent did that with Harvey and his stroller and I’m like, Whoa, we’re having fun, singing songs, etc. Because I just have to go in and browse, I don’t need anything. Maybe a new cutting board, random stuff, but it’s just so fun to think about cool ideas. Ok so you’re pregnant and then give me your title. Give me your fun title of who you are and what you do.

Ari Tabak 2:47
Oh a lot of pressure. Um, yeah, this sounds so cheesy, but I feel like I’m a nurturer you know, I’m gonna be a first time mom, but anyone who knows me knows that I’ve always kind of had mom energy, I’m always nurturing my friends and as a coach and consultant, my clients, and just I just want to take care of people, whether it be feeding them delicious food or giving them a place to stay or, you know, talking to them about, you know, hard stuff that goes on in their life. I’m just a nurturer. Kind of a caretaker.

Stephanie Tusler 3:21
Yeah, I like that. I love that a lot. Um, cool. Let’s dive into my questions. Yeah. Let me give you the premise around this. So basically, in college, all of my art projects kind of lend toward this topic of, you know, our parents generation, and they would have started career and be in the same role for so many years. And you find out later that they absolutely hated what they did. And so I was fascinated by the idea of, our generation, and then the ones younger than us, who are now doing multi hyphenated and 75 different directions and doing all the cool stuff that we’ve all wanted to do. I even feel old. I feel like my siblings and their friends are doing way cooler stuff than I am. But the when I grew up of okay, you know, it was a firefighter, or cheerleader. I want to be this when you’re really young. And then as you get older, that dream changes, right? And then as you’re in different situations, so do you have or did you have a when I grow up I want to be a blank?

Ari Tabak 4:28
I did and it was I was thinking about it before this, and it was so stupid and cheesy because I don’t know about you. But when I was younger, up until high school, I thought, Oh, if I don’t like the subjects I learned in school and I don’t want to be a teacher or a doctor or a lawyer, or, you know, police person. If I didn’t want to do those. I was like, what am I gonna do and I remember being really discouraged. I don’t really know what I want to do when I was really little, actually recently found a homework assignment or project from when I was in first grade and develop what I want to be when I grew up and it was a photographer but when I was 6 I thought it was a fertographer and it was spelled fer so I was I wanted to be a fertographer

Stephanie Tusler 5:15
Wait, this is the best thing I’ve ever heard you have to tell your kids this. This is great.

Ari Tabak 5:20
I wanted to be a fertographer. I also loved playing house and I wanted to be a mom. So I’m working on that.

Stephanie Tusler 5:25
Yeah, working on it. I like that a lot. Um, okay, so then that’s that dream but, you know, when you went to go sign up for colleges or at that point in your life where we’re all freaking out and we’re not sure what we’re gonna do, the way that I picked my I don’t know about you, but when I picked my what I was gonna study, I just looked and read the descriptions with my dad and I was like, Oh, this sounds good. I could see myself and then the roles that it would take you two and all that and so I started with something and completely swapped but did you ever do that. When the time came to think about the next steps after high school?

Ari Tabak 6:04
Yeah, it’s funny. And you know, this is a point of contention between my husband and I, but my husband went to a very fancy Ivy League school. And I actually was never a great student when I was in high school because I didn’t love math, English history, science. I was like, Well, shit, do I even want to go to college? And so I didn’t apply myself and no one had told me there are so many other cool things that you can study in college. And so actually, when I minor in education, one of my final project was, if you could redo something about the education system, what would it be and I was like, senior year for high school should just be adult one on one and college prep. Because I don’t know about you. I had no idea. So I went to Santa Barbara City College because I was like, I need to figure it out. And then I transferred to UC Santa Barbara, and I had discovered communication classes and I was like, wait a minute, I can study how to communicate better with people and what people are thinking and psychology and all of that. And it was unreal. I feel like I am the person I am today because of what I studied. So I majored in communication I minor in education and psychology. So I basically just studied how to be a people person. Yeah, that’s so and it’s so fun. And I remember at the time reading about what jobs it leads into, and they were really generic. I was like, I could go into PR, I could be an event planner, that sounds fun, and I get to be around people. So did I think I would end up working in tech and, you know, running a department at a startup. No, I think sometimes those jobs just fall in your lap. And I think a lot of times, people end up doing something that has nothing to do with what they studied. To be honest with you. I feel like every job I’ve had, the things that I studied really helped me excel at that but it was never super clear. This is what I should do.

Stephanie Tusler 7:53
Yeah, totally. I agree with you on so many points, especially the senior year of high school. Like budgeting Um, like all of the things yeah. Tells you and your parents do as much as they can. And they did a great job, I’m sure. But

Ari Tabak 8:07
yeah, yeah. Drama.

Stephanie Tusler 8:11
Yeah. Okay, so you went from doing that and I want to dive into more. So we know that you wanted to be a photographer, Now what’s your current when I grow up career dream? And then maybe the gaps in between because you said you went tech and you did those things. And it’s kind of so like, it’s so funny how you said all of your stuff has kind of come down to what you learned but communication and how to be a people person, but not in such direct ways. I love that. That’s so cool.

Ari Tabak 8:48
Yeah. So I stumbled upon my first tech startup job about 10 years ago. I didn’t know what a tech startup was. It was right at the beginning of silicon beach and, right then that was picking up. And I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I was pretty much a warm body with a college degree. And they’re like, great, you’re hired. And I grew up so much in that job. I learned so much. I also realize how resilient I was and how flexible I was, which I didn’t know about myself. And so I loved working in tech love managing people, that was by far my favorite part of it. I was like, and I’ve said this in a recording of it before, but I said, I love having one on ones with my direct reports. How do you make an entire job out of one on ones? Fast forward to now I am a life and career coach. So my entire job now is having one on ones with people. So I’m loving what I’m doing now. And when I think about the future, and kind of what I want to be when I grow up, which Yeah, who knows because my mom is in her sixties, and she’s like, I’m still figuring it out. But, um, for me, I really, I really miss working in tech. And so I think taking my skills of leadership development and personal professional development And building really great company culture, getting back into the startup scene and really having a big impact on smaller companies is what I want to be doing. But let’s be real I’m gonna have a kid in the next three four months so who the hell knows what my future looks like?

Stephanie Tusler 10:16
That is so crazy to me. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to watch the positive beautiful struggle because it is a struggle but it’s also so much fun at the same time. Thank you. Yeah you were talking about the one on ones with people and what you’re currently doing. So if you were to go into startups and tech again, as that next step, would you do it as consulting position?

Ari Tabak 10:39
Yeah, so right now I have, part of my business is consulting and working with small startups right now. Let’s be real the world is in such a weird time and companies and small companies are struggling not only to pay their bills, but to keep their employees and so right now it’s it’s funny because I think a lot of companies are struggling more than ever with how to create and sustain great company culture while working remotely. So, truthfully, I think people probably need me really badly right now. Also, just so like, so stuck. So it’s a really weird time. I mean, I really loved being in an office setting. And while I’m enjoying working from home, if I had the opportunity to go back into that setting, I would I just think there’s so many things that you miss when you work from home, too. Yeah, I would love to get back in it eventually, whether it be consulting or full time. Who knows? I think the one thing I’ve really learned in the last couple of years is, whatever plans I come up with, they’re not going to go that way. So try to be flexible.

Stephanie Tusler 11:44
It’s so true. Okay, so what are you currently working on? Obviously, you’re working on a baby that’s coming in December? What’s the next push? What’s the big project that we should be aware of?

Ari Tabak 11:54
Oh, that’s awesome. So I am working with a handful of clients right now. Lot of clients who are looking to get promoted a handful of clients were looking for jobs and really just trying to figure out what they want to be doing and what makes them excited and lights them up. So working with individual clients, I also recently launched a video series that is also a podcast called the startup life uncensored. Yeah, thank you. It basically each episode I interview women about just the chaos that is working in a startup, whether that be an entrepreneurial path for yourself or working at small companies, and there’s different topics. So some topics are how to go from entry level to leadership. Another one is how to juggle motherhood in your career. And then one that I’m really excited about that I think is coming out in the next couple weeks. I interviewed my mom and so the topic of that one is the generational evolution of the badass working woman into it. Yeah, cuz we’ll go funny just like you were saying our parents and what work was like in their generation is so different and my mom and I talked about how, you know, when she went to college it was like if you didn’t want to be a secretary or a nurse or a teacher, what were your options?

She ended up going into business. She’s like, I love business. My mom was the breadwinner. She worked her ass off. And it was so not the norm of the time and she always felt pressure that all of her friends were stay at home moms and I had a housekeeper our nanny and carpool and it was, it was tough for her. So super interesting to talk to her about that.

Stephanie Tusler 13:31
Okay, I’m so excited about that. I’m going to make sure that after this live, I’ll post it on my IG TV. I’m still learning all this. I’m like, What is happening? I know, some Instagram reels stuff. I want to make sure that I’ve got your links in there because I have watched some of your other videos and they’re so good. You guys are gonna love it. Thank you. Ok so what are your top three to five things that you’re loving this week? Anything interesting. Whatever you using networking wise, is there tools or Resources or things that you’re just like this is so good. I have to tell some people about it.

Ari Tabak 14:04
Yeah, so I there are a couple of different things I’ve done networking wise and and it’s so cool seeing how companies are pivoting to appeal to our current situation and remote networking, which is actually been pretty great. Um, one thing that I’ve signed up for is a group called lunch club. And you know, lunch club?

Stephanie Tusler 14:27
I love lunch club. I have one tonight.

Ari Tabak 14:30
Oh, yeah. So basically, it’s like matchmaking networking. It’s you know, you fill out your profile what you’re interested in. And then for example, I’m looking for founder and looking for a friend I’m looking for, I don’t know, advice or funding, whatever you’re looking for, they kind of match you up with someone. So I’ve probably done four of them. And I think two of them have become friends. One of them became a client, one of them I interviewed on one of my episodes, so every time they’re just spot on so that’s one of them. And then the other one that I’m loving that I highly encourage everyone to sign up for. It’s a company called ole OHLAY. And they do they do social journaling once a month, Mondays, and on the last Monday of every month, people join this platform, and it’s so much cooler than zoom. I don’t know what it is, but it’s so cool. They have like music playing in the background and then they pair you up and basically they they give you journal prompts you journal to yourself, and then they match you up with a different person and you talk about it. And the topics are always really interesting and thought provoking. So highly recommend that people sign up for last Monday’s

Stephanie Tusler 15:38
Okay, that is awesome. Yeah, it’s OHLAY Okay, love that. That’s really cool. I’m gonna go stalk on Instagram after this.

Ari Tabak 15:45Yeah, maybe I’ll be there in a couple of weeks.

Stephanie Tusler 15:47
Okay. This was so much fun. We did it. Wait woah, has it been this long? Geez, we’ve been talking on IG this whole time. This is cool. So yeah, guys. I’m gonna keep doing this every Wednesday. Ari this was so so much fun. I’ll save this to my IG. It was great connecting!

 

Ari Tabak – Coach and Consultant
aritabak.com
instagram.com/ari_tabak

Startup Life Uncensored Podcast