Cindi Cook

I attribute my success to always being open to opportunity. Between jobs and permanent positions, I've taken on new opportunities while also learning to shut down ones that aren't good opportunities. I've dealt with things that sounded good or started things that sounded good but weren't right for me, like when I was offered to work on a new magazine based in France but they wanted me to work for free - I did that for a little bit and then walked away because it wasn't for me. I've learned to constantly evaluate whether something is a good opportunity and whether it's going to work for my bottom line as well, because that's real as a single person. I think just constantly looking at things and making decisions quickly has been key. Early on, I didn't feel like I was making much success, but as the years have gone on, I've definitely seen that making decisions quickly and decisively is really important. Listening to your gut is really important, because it will never steer you wrong.

The best career advice I ever received came from a friend about 25 years ago when I was just starting to freelance. I had had a really bad experience with a magazine that I launched - the publisher was bouncing our checks, the staff's checks, and he turned out to be a real doozy and a really dishonest person. So I started freelancing, and I also found that difficult because it's very unsteady. I had a lot of negative stuff happening at that time, and I expressed my frustration to a friend. She said, 'You have to treat what you do like a business.' I thought, wow, that's really smart. You know, everything you do is a business. That's how I approach things now. Over those 25 years, which is a long time, I've encountered a lot of hurdles - I have two people who still owe me money, a lot of people paying late, and even with contracts, I've had contracts broken. So I always try to approach things really professionally. The other thing I would add is that I listened to several podcasts, and one of them talked about money always flowing - that if you encounter hurdles, particularly in the way of finance or being paid, understand that there is always new opportunity and that money is always flowing. I like to keep that in mind when I have hurdles, that there's always a way to work around them and that there's always a solution to everything.

I really love coaching and mentoring younger women, because I think back to when I was that person. Boy, I needed a mentor, and I did not have them. I had a few women that I could have turned to, but I didn't know how to find a mentor. So the number one thing I would say is seek out a mentor - seek somebody in your field, or even in a related field, who you respect. I grew up in New York City and encountered lots and lots of women from lots of different fields, some quite eccentric, some quite well known. I got to talk to Gloria Steinem at an event at NYU once, which was really exciting. Look to women who are in and out of your field, and talk to them. Go to events, network, network, network. It's really important. I would say go to one or two events every single week, whether they're small or large, and try to lean into what people are saying. You don't have to be the person in the room who asks tons of questions and stays after and networks with every single person, but do something. Get business cards from as many people as you can at those events and put them into your phone and into your computer. Have backups of everything, and keep that card. I have business cards from years past - go through them when you can and eliminate ones you don't really need or want, but keep as many as you can. Have coffee with people, have an adult beverage with people, or just a soda. Really network as often as you can. That's something I was never good at early on, but now I am. Keep it going and talk to people - even a Facebook message, a phone call, a text message, something that keeps you out there and in the loop is really important. One more thing I would add: I know some people are more introverted than others. We all fall somewhere on that introvert-extrovert spectrum. But do what you can. Don't feel like you have to be super gregarious. Not everybody's like that, and that's okay. You are who you are, so just go into it with whatever you can muster. If it's one event per week, or if it's just a Zoom call with an organization that you like one time per week, do that. Keep yourself out there and keep on social media also - posting something you've done, or even posting a meal you made that you're proud of is important. My friend Susan Cain wrote a book called Quiet about an introvert living in an extroverted world, because especially in America, I think we're taught that we should all be out there and doing and going and being super successful. But what if you don't want to be super, super successful? What if you just want to reach a level of success you feel comfortable with? That's okay.

The biggest challenges and opportunities kind of go hand-in-hand for me. To be specific, I'm working with one client, one candidate right now. The challenges for contractors and freelancers like me is having things be consistent - getting paid is one of them. I have been paid by my current clients, but going forward, that is always a challenge. It's kind of crazy that I've been paid initially, and then the second payment doesn't seem to come in, so I'm actually facing that again. So consistency seems to be a real challenge. The opportunity for me is to find a permanent position now that really utilizes my skills in communication to the best of my ability. There are a lot of opportunities out there. I mean, I think the job market is really rich, despite what some people might say or the news might report. I think it's a good time to be looking for a new job, and the market is always as opportunity-rich as you make it. You just have to be open, and you have to see where your skill set will land you. I'm actually looking to possibly move industries, and I see how my skill set in communications and my background can help me do that. So I think there's always good opportunity, you just have to really seek it.

Honesty is number one. It's been really challenging at times over my career to handle people who lie. I worked in New York City Publishing, and boy, oh boy, was that eye-opening - very eye-opening, with people who really wanted to kind of skirt the system and tell me to lie when I was in positions of power heading magazines, or who didn't care, or who were really dishonest. I'm also a very pretty woman, and I found, as funny as this sounds, a lot of challenges with that - a lot. People who didn't really treat you fairly, and a lot of sexism. Just thinking back about my career, it's been pretty eye-opening. So just kind of staying true to who you are and bringing things back on track is important. Things tend to get - everything is great at first in work and life, and I think just staying true to who you are is really the most important track you can stay on in life. So integrity and honesty, those are the two things that I try to keep as my North Star. I just find work very challenging because every day is new, but I think if you can just keep to that - keep to the mission, keep to your goal - that's going to hopefully guide you and make it an integral one, one full of integrity, and just simplicity too. That's another value of sorts, keeping things simple.