Jasely Molina wasn't worried about landing another job when she got laid off from her full-time gig as a digital editor at MasterClass in August 2022. She quickly picked up freelance work and loved the flexibility that came with it. "I'm usually not a nine-to-five girlie," she jokes. But after doing the freelance grind for a while she needed a steadier paycheck, and going back to the workforce ended up being messier than she expected.
"I've applied to so many jobs this year. Over 100, honestly, and that's probably an understatement," says Jasely, who is based in the New York City area.
Jasely's story is something I've heard a lot of laid-off media people experiencing lately, especially women further up the ladder where senior media jobs are already hard to come by. There are some people who decide to stick it out, and then there are others, like Jasely, who are opting out of the job search for the sake of their mental health — and found their footing somewhere else entirely.
The last straw for Jasely was when she was asked by a company to do an assignment that was glorified consultant work — for free. The job was to be a social strategist at a university where she was given a "hypothetical" scenario of building a 90-day strategy plan as a social media manager promoting an open house using a "hypothetical" budget to build the case study.
"I wrote back and declined the assessment, explained why it was inappropriate, and suggested they revisit their process," she says. She shared her experience on social media and mentioned that she's not afraid to ask companies to cough up money for these types of assignments. "A lot of people didn't even know you could ask to be paid for an assessment — even something small, like $100 for an hour of work. I've had people pay me for assessments before. It's not about the amount, it's about being compensated for real work."
Jasely Molina says that she’s changed her attitude towards work and how it affects her self-worth: “On LinkedIn, everyone is trying to tell you what to do and be a know-it-all. They say if you don’t do this, then you’re a failure. But you have to love yourself no matter what your bank account looks like and know that your current circumstances are not your final destination.”
After an exhausting search — exploitative case studies, endless interview rounds — Jasely made the call to double down on freelancing. Her best success with landing work has come from reaching out to former colleagues and having an active presence on social media platforms like LinkedIn, where she says she's had people reach out directly about opportunities. The privilege of getting off the job search track is enticing, especially when you don't have a family to feed. But still, if you've got bills to pay, how do you not make that stress your own personal hell? Jasely says she had to have a real come-to-Jesus moment on that.
"I realized that when I did have money, all of a sudden I'm happy. Now I want to do my hair and go out into the world. But then, when I didn't have money, I stopped taking care of myself. That's not a healthy relationship with money," says Jasely, recalling her freelance stretch after MasterClass where she ran into some financial hardships. "You have to feel your best even if things around you aren't working out. There's a phrase called identity shifting where you're putting yourself in the position you want to be in. A lot of my outfits are less than 50 bucks and I make them look very, very expensive and beautiful because that's how I intend to dress when the money lands."
The lack of steady money was a lingering worry Ami Angelowicz, also based in New York, had that always kept her from going all in on the freelance route. Before pivoting to digital media, she'd worked in the theater industry — which is where she got her first taste of layoffs in 2009, one of the worst economic downturns in history. She was later laid off from her role as vice president of digital content and social media for Investigation Discovery and Travel Channel when Warner Bros. Discovery let her go in January 2023. As someone who also worked at Discovery in another lifetime, I can tell you that layoffs there are as common as the weather changing. That's why Ami wasn't all that shocked when her time there ended the way it did.
"While some people were blindsided by their layoff, I wasn't 100% blindsided," she says. "I don't think you really can be, when you know layoffs are happening at a major media company."
She had fantasies of what that next thing would look like: while riding on her severance, she would take up hobbies like voice lessons and fitness classes until she landed her next job. But even compared to 2009, she says it was easier to bounce back to full-time employment then than now.
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"I think the job market [back then] was better in some regards, even though the economy had taken a nosedive," she told me. "Media was still growing and there were still a lot of opportunities in the media industry at that time so it was a lot less challenging."
She started a Substack, Laid Off Life, documenting her experiences in this backwards job market. The final nail in the coffin came when Ami found herself competing for a job that felt like a couple steps back from where she was before.
"There was an interview I did for a job that was a few levels below my seniority and pay grade, and I prepared really hard for it," she says. "I don't think it's because I wanted it, I think it was just like, 'okay, I'm going to be really prepared for this.' And after the interview the hiring manager wrote back and said that they were going in a different direction. And I was like, 'why am I debasing myself like this?'"
After several months in the job search she decided to launch her own consulting business in October 2023 and has kept at it ever since. And it's paid off in ways she didn't expect: she recently sold a Christmas movie screenplay to Hallmark and a scripted series to Audible via Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company. Being your own boss comes with some major flexibilities but also some real tradeoffs that Ami still grapples with years later.
Ami Angelowicz says that she's much happier now than when she was working a corporate job: "I feel like there are possibilities for me again and I'm going to create those possibilities rather than waiting for somebody to give me permission."
"Unless you've been in business for many years with a huge client roster, your income just isn't going to be stable. Even business owners I know who've been at it for years say it's up and down. I've had to dip into savings plenty of times waiting on an invoice while rent is due."
And that money picture gets even more complicated when it comes to health insurance: Ami says she's paying roughly $2,000 a month for medical expenses. But even with those stressors factored in, I asked Ami: Are you happier now?
Without a beat, she exclaims: "I'm so much happier. I have so much more agency and control over my life and my time."
The woes of not having a regular paycheck are still real, but not committing to a nine-to-five has opened doors for Ami that otherwise wouldn't have happened if she'd stayed at Discovery. For now, she doesn't see herself going back to the legacy media grind any time soon.
Ami's story arc feels like a window into a future that Jasely is starting to build now. Besides doubling down on freelancing, Jasely is making a point to attend more networking events. Her goal used to be one a month, but these days, it's about four to five. Unlike Ami, she is a little more open to going back to a nine-to-five, but she's not going to spend the countless hours she once did putting applications into the void. Instead, she's making a point to be more intentional with her time — and that, she says, is a payoff in and of itself.
"When I look at companies that pass on me, I think: I know I could've delivered for you. That's what carries me — knowing everything I'm doing is intentional, that the pieces are coming together. If you see me in a nine-to-five after this, just know they paid me amazingly with full benefits. But if you see me doing my own thing, know that's true alignment for me — that's what I'd love to do forever. Getting paid to exist and empower people — that's the dream, and I have no doubt I'll get there."