26-year-old works at a bookstore and lives on $53,000 a year in New York City

The speaker grew up in the Chicago suburbs and initially studied civil engineering at Iowa State University. However, two years into her degree, she had a realization that she wasn't really a math and science person, but rather someone who loves language, books, reading and writing. Despite this revelation, she was already halfway through the program and had invested too much time in math classes to give up, so she decided to stick it out while developing a backup plan since she knew she wouldn't pursue engineering full-time after graduation. After graduating, she was ready for a change and decided to move to New York City, somewhere she had never lived before. She arrived with about $3,000 in savings after covering moving expenses, first month's rent, and security deposit. While job hunting, she applied to some engineering positions and actually received an offer for $67,000 per year. However, after consideration, she made the difficult decision to turn down this well-paying offer because she had made a promise to herself not to take a job just because it was the expected or natural next step. Instead, she wanted work that would 'fill her cup every day' and provide meaning, rather than requiring her to sit at a desk doing work that wasn't meaningful to her. This principled decision led her to ultimately work in a bookstore, aligning with her true interests in books and literature.