Many Ways of Living and Loving with Ada Powers

#### Today’s episode is all about showing up as your most authentic self at work—and about finding a space where you’re supported and respected to do that. It’s also about the challenges of taking risks, the joys of personal growth… and skydiving.

Our guest today is one of the coolest, most totally _herself_ people we know, Ada Powers—a writer, user researcher, community builder, and badass trans woman based in San Diego and currently working at a software company called Tealium. You’ll love her.

> Being able to come to work as myself means that I get to come to work _as_ _myself_. I get to think about, “What would make me happy in this context? What would make me happy and feel fulfilled doing this work?” Ok well maybe it means suggesting this initiative, maybe it means taking on this project, maybe it means changing my responsibilities a bit. It means I get to show up and be engaged with how I actually feel and how that looks.

>

> —[Ada Powers](https://twitter.com/mspowahs), writer, researcher, and community builder

She tells us about:

- How and why she told her company she’s trans before she came in for the interview

- Why she wants her coworkers to know she’s poly

- Why sharing pronouns helps more than just trans folks

- How to take criticism and feel your feelings without being a jerk

- What to do when activism leaves you burnt out

Go be friends with Ada already:

- [On Medium](https://medium.com/@mspowahs)

- [On Twitter](https://twitter.com/mspowahs)

### Also on our agenda:

- Uncovering Katel’s past life as a skydiver

- Reliving our [Vancouver live show](/podcast/s3-bonus/)

- Recreating the Kate and Leo _Titanic_ bow scene on stage

- Unlearning the habit of immediately gendering strangers

- Celebrating the besties of yesterday, today, and tomorrow

## Sponsors

This episode of NYG is brought to you by:

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_[Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/careers), a leading global commerce platform that’s building a world-class team to define the future of entrepreneurship. Visit [shopify.com/careers](https://www.shopify.com/careers) for more._

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