Beckie Wood
Instigator. Connector. Leader.
I’m a late 30s Bay Area lover of community, biking, skiing, climbing, dancing -EDM breaks and bass- art, design and travel. After a 12.5yr stint @ Pandora as a VP of Product and Insights, it’s time to take a short break from corporate life and work to be a more engaged, and relaxed friend, partner and eventually co-worker.
The goal of this site is to share learnings from my journey with others thinking about making a similar life move. I’m grateful for valuable content others have created around career time-outs and changes, travel tips, budgeting, activism and volunteer opportunities. I am deeply privileged in many, many ways and I am excited to give back to various networks and communities… I hope you find some of my insights useful!
Music has been central to everything in my life. Listening to music enables me to be present -fully enveloped with sound, emotion, and experience. In the weeks leading up to leaving Pandora, I listened repeatedly to 3 songs: (1) “Slowpoke” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. This song evokes calm and showcases value in slowing down in life. “When I was faster I was always behind”. (2) “The Other Side” and “The Face of the Earth” by The Dismemberment Plan. The album the Emergency and I, viscerally connects me to NYC life in 2003. I walked the streets of manhattan, listening to this album on repeat on my discman <aging myself>. “Nothing’s really different, though it seems like I’ll live my life in planes” and “But if don't keep moving on that last hill, We'll never know what's on the other side”. This blog’s title is inspired by this album.
All photos on this site were taken by Beckie Wood