Gabriela Flax spent the first part of her career working in tech as a product manager. And while every day was different and varied, there were aspects of it that were causing her burnout.

“I’ve always really enjoyed the product marketing aspect of my work,” she says. “I really like talking to end-users about ‘Hey, this is how this thing helps you’ and how to articulate that.” However, she wasn’t able to work on it as much as she would have liked.

At the same time, Flax was in her 20s, living in London, and had stopped drinking alcohol. She began posting her journey in social media, talking about bars and places that were non-alcohol related.

Flax recalls, “The more and more I did that, I started having brands reaching out to me saying, Hey, we’d love to partner with you. We have this event coming up—would you come and speak about what it’s like living in London in your 20s and not drinking?”

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By weekends and nights, Flax was organizing events and creating a lot of user-generated content for brands. She was able to exercise her creative muscle and passion for marketing, all while getting paid for it. Eventually, she left her tech job to pursue what is now commonly known as a portfolio career: where individuals make a living from multiple projects and streams of income. Today, she continues to do events and marketing for non-alcoholic beverage brands, alongside her career-coaching business, Pivot School.

Making money through multiple means is not a new thing. But in a landscape where side-hustles, gig work, and freelance contracts have become the norm and at times necessary, Flax’s career trajectory is becoming more and more common.

A solution to burnout

Flax pursued a portfolio career because she felt burned out in her full-time tech job. The same can be said for Anna MacKenzie, who had the same feeling about being a founder. After spending a career in beauty and tech, MacKenzie cofounded a successful, award-winning podcast and events business. But as a “multi-passionate generalist,” MacKenzie eventually felt burned out.

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