Update: The Allison Dolder McDonald Story (starring Allison, as herself)

Starting today, it's the life of a full time social media babe for me! 
illustration by Inslee Hayes, via

Hi friends! I wanted to follow up on this post from last month (Big News! Allison is on the Job Hunt!) to first and foremost, thank all of you for the amazing support and incredibly kind words of encouragement I received in the wake of giving my two weeks' notice and leaving my job in private equity without knowing exactly what my next move would be. I cannot adequately express how much it meant to have people who read the blog reach out to me to tell me how awesome they thought it was that I was taking a leap of faith and stepping away from a career that was super secure but left me feeling unfulfilled.

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After reading Eat, Pray, Love, like, a billion times, reflecting on my Mom's concern upon visiting me in July and noticing that I was slouching around like Cosette from Les Mis, and sending many, many frantic "Who am I?" What am I?" "Where am I going?" text messages to one (very patient and saint-like) Julia Bayard, I had literally come to a point where I couldn't go another day without making changes in my life to put my own happiness first.

Peace out, Cosette! See ya never! via

So, I gave my two weeks' notice to my accounting job. I'll be forever grateful for all of the things I learned during my time as an accountant, but the job just wasn't me (and if we're being totes honest, it probably never had been). During the 8 months since Julia and I founded Tartan & Sequins, I feel like I've really come into my own and realized where my personal strengths and major passions lie.

In particular, I realized that I had three things that I loved doing and was actually good at that I could parlay into a new career (in all caps, because it's my blog and sometimes I act like Eloise): 

Eloise and her dog Weenie. Duh. via

1. I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA. 
2. I LOVE CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE.
3. I LOVE TELLING OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT THE AWESOME PEOPLE, BRANDS AND PRODUCTS THAT I LOVE.

To my great excitement, once I zeroed in on what I wanted to do with my life and started moving towards it with the certainty that the universe was going to lead me directly towards the perfect job that would make use of my unique talents, background, and interests, it seemed like the world totally opened up to me. I had so many fantastic people reach out to me regarding opportunities they had heard about, and I began applying for jobs that I was actually excited to tell my husband about each day when he got home.

Stuart Smalley moved in when Cosette moved out. via

Within a week of fun-employment, I had submitted my resumé to a job that I was seriously obsessing over (Ben, thank you for listening to me go on for approximately a hour the day I applied about how perfect it was and how I just knew I could ROCK it). A few days later, I got a response from the company asking me to come in for an interview, and a few days after that, I received an offer for the JOB OF MY DREAMS, which I am starting today!

Anne V wearing an L*Space suit in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue via

My new role, as the Social Media & Marketing Specialist for L*Space Swimwear is an honest-to-god dream come true. I am so unbelievably excited to have this opportunity, and am so grateful to have found this amazing role within 3 weeks of being a stay-at-home non-mom. I am also incredibly appreciative that L*Space is "taking a chance on a scrappy kid from the streets" (that'd be me).

I am going to be incredibly cheesy for a minute and say that I honestly think this worked out so perfectly for me because I believed it would. Once I had the confidence that someone, somewhere would think I was perfect for a job they were filling, and that I could make a living doing something I was truly passionate about, everything fell into place. 

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I am so grateful to everyone in my life for being so supportive, and so appreciate everyone who reads Tartan & Sequins, because you gave me the confidence to believe that I really could be something other than a number-cruncher! Not that there's anything wrong with number-crunching (like AT ALL - I have met some rad accountants in my day) but when you're crying every day just thinking about going back to work the NEXT day, you've gotta ask yourself what you can do to change the situation, no matter what the occupation may be.

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Above all, I must thank Julia for being the wind beneath my wings. For reals. She is my blog partner, my spirit animal, my life coach, my better half, my honey boo-boo child, and she totally makes me relate to that part of Jerry Maguire when Jerry is like,"you make me want to be a better man," except that Julia makes me want to be a better lady...duh. I am so lucky to have such an amazing friend who would be willing to take on the task of supporting me through this transition to the tune of an average of 20 text messages, 4 emails, and 2 phone calls a day. If you are aware of the fact that I am a SUCH a Cancer with Virgo rising (translation: emotional with an overriding perfectionist tendency - if you want to weird out on a Monday morning - and obviously, you do - calculate yours here!), you will fully understand how exhausting/Purple Heart-worthy Julia's task has been.

Julia makes me want to be a better Dolder. via

And this is why, if Julia ever needs an organ that humans have two of, I will gladly give her one of mine. And technically, she's also welcome to part of my liver, because I have an unsupported feeling that you can live with..like...half a liver? Welcome to my husband's life. It's basically The Miseducation of Dr. Dolder, Medicine Woman around here - I get the majority of my medical information from urban legends and Bazooka Joe bubblegum wrappers. But whatevs. For real. I'll buy her some organs on the black market if I have to. That's love! And Ben is a doctor, so he could probably facilitate that deal. I didn't say that. Moving on...

Now that I have made everyone completely uncomfortable by disclosing that I love Julia so much I'd give her my own body parts in order to keep her kickin' (and/or buy her one on the black market if I didn't have the "spare parts" in question)...I'm gonna wrap it up by thanking everyone reading this right now for your support! If anyone else is in the same headspace where I was a month ago, PLEASE don't hesitate to email me at TartanandSequins@gmail.com. I would truly be happy to chat. Just paying it forward from the umpteen pep talks Julia, Ben, my family, Ben's family, my friends, our dog (well, she mostly listens), and our Tartan & Sequins community have given me! 

Wish me luck on the first day of the rest of my life as the Social Media & Marketing Specialist at L*Space!! :) 

Into the great wide open - a rebel without a clue! 
xx
Allison