"Create your own story, create your own narrative, and don’t let work drain you of your life’s purpose.”

Jacey Thornton (she/they) is deeply rooted in her purpose to alleviate the suffering of others. At one of the darkest moments of her life, she reflected on why she should stay on this earth. This was about 20 years ago, when she was wondering why she had so much suffering in her life. "I remember reading the first Noble truth is suffering, and I just remember putting [the book] down, crying, going, that is true. That to me is what life is about. And if life is suffering and I’m suffering, I’m not broken, I’m human.”

In this episode, Jacey speaks to "there were parts of work I wanted to escape, there were parts of work I wanted to embrace. I think this journey of life has helped me to really identify the need for purpose and to really make sure that I align with where I work.” Her work, whether at Project Rainbow, the Utah Trans+ Coalition, or Flourish Therapy, is all driven by this purpose. As someone who had waded, and continues to wade through trauma, Jacey wants to make sense of it. "I don't want it to be wasted, and by alleviating the suffering of others, that is how I turn my suffering into a gift." When she is tied into her purpose, she thrives.

Outside of work, Jacey said she would still be going to drag shows and Pride festivals! She loves cooking, gardening and creating community gardens, skiing, being out in nature hiking and biking, and connecting with people and hosting Southern and Brazilian style barbecues. She co-parents 3 amazing kids and a golden doodle.

Jacey can be found at: www.projectrainbowutah.org

projectrainbowutah at LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Start With Why, by Simon Sinek
• Man’s Search For Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
• Facing the Shadow, by Patrick Carnes
• Untamed, by Glennon Doyle
• Brené Brown
• Be Here Now, by Ram Dass
• The Four Noble Truths: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, by Geshe Tashi Tsering

This episode was recorded in August 2025.

*This episode contains content related to trauma and suicide. If you, or someone you know, is in crisis, please connect with the supportive folks at 988*

Caro Nilsson (she/her) was born in Vancouver, Washington and haws spent her entire life building relationships with the land in America's endlessly variable biomes, and translating those feelings and findings into paintings. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts with a Distinguished Major in Printmaking, and a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Virginia. Caro completed her first solo painting residency at the Dacha in Mystic, CT in the Spring of 2021, and currently lives as a multi-media painter and muralist, painting full time from Salt Lake City.

When asked about her purpose, Caro beautifully explained, "My purpose, the reason I exist in the world, is to present the doorways to be in and with the magic of everything. It feels so potent to me and maybe sounds a little bit difficult to understand what that means, but to me, a doorway is like a moment of actual noticing. We go through our days so often distracted, and making lists and thinking about all the things that are happening — not exactly where we are, but that will happen later or that happened earlier — and everywhere, always, all the time, magic is happening. And the difference is opening your eyeballs and noticing."

When not working, Caro enjoys tending to her relationship with the land and with her community, mostly.

Caro can be found at carozobservations.com (or google "Caro Nilsson art") and @caroznilsson on instagram.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Groundwork with Human|Work
• Make Art Not Content, a podcast by Father Bronques
• The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin
• Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, by Jenny O’Dell
• 4000 weeks: Time Management For Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman

please always support your local bookstores and businesses.

This episode was recorded in January 2025.

Andrew Jylkka (he/him) is the former owner and baker of Southeast Dough Company, in Sitka, Alaska. Andrew shut down his business in October, and talks about the process of grappling with a new way of working and understanding himself separate from his work. "I still want [my work] to be fulfilling. I still want my work to align with my values, but I don’t want my work to define my values... That’s something that you [Charlie] might have started to plant the seed for way back in '22, because we did the whole values exercise. And you’re like, well, what are your values and how are you expressing those through your business versus what are your business values? And those are different things. They should be different entities.“

Throughout this conversation, something deeply resonates in what Andrew takes from chapter to chapter of his life: “All of that exploration leads me to be a more complete human and having a better understanding myself so that I can make stronger choices for my future. That’s all we can do is make stronger choices. Like, nothing is guaranteed. We don’t know what is around the corner. But the more I know myself, the more sure I am that a choice I will make will move me down the path that expresses my values to the strongest degree."

When he is not creating community through bread, Andrew can be found hiking, foraging, hunting, diving, cooking, reading, and participating in circus arts.

Andrew can be found @sedoughco on both Facebook and Instagram, yet please know while he is no longer posting, one can see what he has done and also he can still get messages if anyone has questions for him.

resources :

Human|Work

This episode was recorded in February 2025.

Leif Ariel (she/her) is an energy healer and energetic mentor who works with humans (and more recently, therapists/care practitioners) who feel bled dry from a life lived isolated up in their minds. She guides humans who are stuck in habitual ways of being into deep curiosity with themselves and the possibility of a greater reality. Together with her clients, Leif leads in the exploration of the wide range of human experience: emotional, somatic, energetic, ceremonial, imaginal so they can reenter the vital and passionate stream of life.

In this conversation, Leif speaks to her experience within her own work as, "If you’re going to be an energy healer, you will inevitably live in the imaginal realm, much of the time and believe in the imaginal realm of your clients. And not the imaginary realm, … but the true ‘make reality of the imaginal’, and that means holding the vision for yourself and being able to actually say, if I could create this, what would it look like?"

Outside of work, Leif loves to trail-run like a dog, bouncing and playing over the rocks. She also, always, practices what she teaches — she engages with herself in that full range of the human experience. She especially loves to find healing and surprises in the imaginal and dream worlds.

Leif can be found at mothertonguehealing.com, as well as here as a Human|Work mentor.

Resources:

an intentional commitment to sit with yourself in the morning

Barbara Brennon School of Healing

Robert Moss

This episode was recorded in March 2025.

“Never stop following your dreams and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, even yourself.”

This is the advice Joshua Lucero (he/him) would give to his younger self.

Joshua is the owner of Lucero Hair and Wellness in Salt Lake City, Utah, and of Lucero Hair Care. He has been doing hair since 2013 and has truly cultivated a passion for his craft. He got into the industry to find a better life for himself, and being able to give inclusive and creative services to people is one of his life goals.

In this episode, Joshua reflects: “When I started my career, I started in hair school. I was a student. I’ve learned to become a barber. I’ve learned to become a stylist. I’ve learned to become a therapist. Now I’m in the role of business owner. I’m leading and trying to teach other folks how I do that I’m doing. I think choosing the identity of entrepreneur, business owner… I think that we think it’s going to be all fun, and we realize, of shit, this is hard.”

When he is not at the shop, Joshua loves to travel the world, to read books (see below a list of some that have influenced him as a business owner and human), to play with his dogs, and enjoys time with his husband.

Joshua plans to continue his dream of creating safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities by offering education and events for these marginalized communities.

Joshua can be found at www.lucerohairandwellness.com & @lucerohair_andwellness on Instagram.

Resources:

• Travel, first and foremost. Get out there and see the world.
• Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight
• Let Them Theory, by Mel Robbins
• The Untethered Soul, by Michael Singer
• Unreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara
• Radical Candor, Kim Scott

Please always support your local bookstores and businesses.

This episode was recorded in February 2025.

Jean Madison Reiser is a career and life coach, the Founder of Whole Human Co. and a Human|Work mentor working at the intersection of work and life. She is Clifton Strengths Certified and supports leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams in optimizing their work in alignment to their strengths.

Jean shares her story of why she became a coach, why she works with Strengths, and her journey of burnout working in corporate, non–profit, and startups.

Jean is also a mom to Human Work's favorite one–year old, a yoga practitioner and teacher, and likes to spend her time exploring the National Parks with her family.

Jean can be found at Whole Human Co. (https://thewholehumanco.com/) on instagram @whole.humanco on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/whole-human-co/) and here on Human|Work as a mentor.

Hello and welcome back to Human | Work Stories where we are telling the stories of working humans doing human work. I’m your host Charlie Warner.

Today we will be sharing the human work story of Alyson La. Alyson is a data educator, technology career facilitator, mom, partner, explorer, and just a very lovely human to get to know.

Alyson got her career start in Silicon Valley working in the accounting department for GitHub. She then rose in the ranks exploring how to apply her skills in accounting to building data analytics dashboards. This led her on a wild journey through GitHub’s rise in the tech world and ultimately landed her at TechMoms, an education startup focused on upskilling moms and women in the tech world. Alyson shares about her love for data, analytics, the world of tech, and why teaching is so fulfilling for her now.

You can find Alyson at TechMoms at https://www.tech-moms.org/ and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alysonla/

Charlie (she/they) is an entrepreneur, professor, speaker, and purpose–driven leader who loves exploring our human relationships with work. She is the founder of Human|Work, a professional education platform and mentor network on a mission to "humanize the nature of work."

Charlie specializes in strategic alignment and loves working with purpose–driven humans in aligning to work that works for them. She has her MBA and teaches strategy and leadership as an Adjunct Professor at Westminster University.

In October 2024, Charlie was on the TEDxSaltLakeCity stage sharing about how natural ecosystems can inspire more resilient, sustainable, and abundant businesses and workplace cultures. More information about Charlie and her work can be found at charliemwarner.com and humanworkproject.com. 

Felina Danalis works in human and organizational resiliency as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, coach, and facilitator. She’s supported hundreds of humans in incorporating resiliency to stress and trauma into their lives and organizations. She’s worked as a international diplomat, coached trauma professionals, and facilitated retreats for companies like Google, Planned Parenthood, and more.

Felina’s background is diverse and truly expresses and embodies what human resiliency is. She’s work in war zones and also studied Buddhist meditation. These days, Felina offers 1:1 and group coaching around how to incorporate resiliency into their own lives, work, relationship with money, and communities to create more meaningful impact in the world. 

When not working, Felina enjoys hiking and sharing her love for her Greek background through food. 

Felina shares her story of her work, why she does it, and explores how our relationship with money impacts our nervous system guiding us in how to bring more resiliency into our abundance.

Felina can be found at https://www.felinadanalis.com/ and here on Human|Work.

We interviewed Felina about her adventures in work in October 2024.

Sabi Habib–Lowder is a social media strategist, storyteller, film producer, and oh so much more. She is the visionary behind Critical Socials, whose mission is to uplift small brands to create meaningful impact through authentic connections.

Drawing from experience in documentary film, copywriting, and community organizing, Sabi excels in devising captivating content strategies. With a B.S. in Communication & Cultural Studies from Westminster University, Sabi is committed to empowering brands to share their narratives effectively online, igniting inspiration and motivation among audiences

Sabi tells her story of her work, why she does what she does, and how she supports business clients in telling their stories and connecting with their audiences. She speaks to why expressing a brand authentically, as what she calls an online friend. Sabi’s story is fascinating on so many levels and is particularly helpful for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and folks hoping to tell their stories. 

Sabi can be found at criticalsocials.com. 

We interviewed Sabi about her adventures in work in July of 2024.