If you asked me this time last year where I would be living right now and what I would be doing I might have said, “living in New York City working for a fabulous magazine” or “living out on the west coast learning the ins and outs of the PR world” but I definitely would not have said, “living in my hometown ten minutes away from the house I grew up in and running a platform for post-grads with a growing and loyal following on Instagram.” This time last year, I began to realize how much of an impact the pandemic would have on not only my senior spring semester but on my post-grad experience. I began the job search and interview process early, at the end of my first semester of senior year (to be specific), and I was convinced that I would land a job before graduation. Never in a million years could I have predicted what would happen in the upcoming months.

 It has been almost a year since I graduated college in May of 2020 and let’s just say there have been very few things that have gone according to my post-grad plan. I do believe that everything happens in your life for a reason and my best friend always says, “people come into your life for a reason, season, or a lifetime.” I began to understand the meaning of that saying this past year. Life is all about pivoting and being agile throughout the challenges you face, and I took a very challenging situation, graduating into a pandemic, and turned it into something bigger, Dear Diary. Dear Diary is my platform for post-grads and it has without a doubt changed my life and the trajectory of my future career. Although my platform isn’t a person like my best friend mentions in her quote, it has come into my life for a reason. 

On LinkedIn, I call myself a storyteller and problem solver (lol), so when I could not find any resources or articles for post-grads anywhere online or on social media that I could relate to, I did something very on brand and started writing. What started as a personal blog developed into a space to share conversations with my friends, which then developed into interviews with notable individuals in their 20’s (and 30’s!). DD started as a passion project, I didn’t know where it would take me (I am still figuring that out to this day) but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. To see post-grads come together in a real and authentic way, one which is not often portrayed on social media reminds me of the bigger picture and that I am doing this for a reason. 

Graduating from college or just being a 20 something, in general, is a very confusing and overwhelming time. It’s hard transitioning from years and years of schooling to corporate life but we don’t often talk about it. So, I’m hoping to change that narrative through the content on the Dear Diary website and through our social media platforms. Let’s have conversations, let’s connect, let’s laugh at memes, let’s be real and we will all feel a little less alone. So, if you're a recent post-grad, about to graduate college, or maybe just in your 20’s wondering what’s next, just remember that there is no perfect “plan for my 20’s”- there is just life, and that sh*t gets messy. Life, especially in your 20’s is all about the journey, not the destination, so use each experience as a learning lesson and have fun while doing it. Make your own roadmap to your own journey- I am sure glad I did.

XO

Check out Dear Diary and follow on Instagram (@deardiary__xo), (@madirez)