A Professional’s Guide to Moving On.
To start off my senior year of college I had the opportunity to interview local professional Autumn Schinka. The chat left me with comfort, a little fear, and the desire to learn so much more about her. She dove into her wide-range of experiences from new grad to executive at Best Buy, and there is so much to learn and admire from her. Starting within communications and evolving into a financial advising career comes with a lot of interesting insight, and I was just scratching the surface of her stories. Each section down below represents the different lessons I learned from our time together.
> The Art of the Pivot
> Life Lessons
The Shackles of Expectation
When Autumn graduated college she, like many others, felt the internal and external pressure to go into exactly what she studied. For her that was broadcast journalism, she dreamed of being a sports reporter, on screen in a big city. Soon after graduation she quickly learned of the realities that go on in the television industry.
If you want to be on screen, you have to start at a lower market- meaning low pay, a less than desirable city and terrible hours. Reporting is very competitive, and you have to work much harder than the pay you receive to make it where you want to be.
With her home in Minneapolis and her college life in Iowa, Autumn knew that she couldn’t live by herself in a small town as she waited to make it up to the top markets. Still determined to use her journalism degree to its full potential, she took a job as a morning show producer at local station Fox 9. Minneapolis is a top 20 market, and with the need of producers being high at the time she saw this role as an opportunity to work close to her family and in a big city.
Soon enough, she realized that low pay and terrible hours were not unique to the smaller markets. Working nights and early mornings to help run the morning show slowly chewed away at her energy and passion for television. After two years and lots of built up exhaustion, she knew it was time to move on.
When you exceed in school for all of your life and have a determined mindset, it can be really hard to convince yourself that quitting is okay, even if you know that it is what’s best for you. For Autumn, what helped her get over that fear is to instead call it a “career pivot”.
She took some time for herself, and waited for the right role to come along after her time at Fox 9. That right role ended up to be at Best Buy corporate, in an entry level communications position. In her first year, she saw that her role was what she made of it; she had her basic responsibilities, but she also had the ability to explore the company and put time towards other projects that interest her in other departments.
She eventually found her way to the production department by volunteering her time on top of her regular job. Autumn got close with the VP of production, and landed herself on the team. Finally, she felt like she had found a place where she could have a more normal lifestyle, with a family and the opportunity to grow within the company.
Working on Cruise Control
Working on Cruise Control
After 20 years at Best Buy, Autumn fell into a routine that she could do “with her eyes closed” every day; it was the same task of sending out approvals, overseeing team projects and budgeting.
Every morning she would look at her to-do list and start checking away like she would every other day. After a few months of it she started realizing that one job in particular stuck out to her and would make its way to the top
BUDGETING
Similar to myself and many in communications, math was not her favorite subject in school. She was shocked to realize that she had found an interest within her job that revolved around numbers.
Quickly, she tied it back to the information that she had learned about alongside her husband. As they grew in their careers and started to make more money, the couple sat down together and thought “what are we doing with this?” After that day they worked together to learn more about personal finances; with help from books, podcasts and radio host Dave Ramsey. Together they helped grow a mutual understanding of how to manage their finances, a privilege that Autumn quickly found out many women didn’t have.
She started volunteering her knowledge to people around her through work lunch-n-learns and events through her church. After hosting these informational sessions, more and more women would come to Autumn looking for advice whenever benefits time would come around at work. They found comfort in her knowledge, and Autumn had found new excitement in her everyday work life.
The Art of the Pivot
Thrivent had heard of the volunteer work she was doing within Best Buy, they reached out to her with the news that Minneapolis’ first female financial advisor was retiring from Thrivent soon. They wanted to gauge Autumn’s interest in taking the role, emphasizing the importance for another female to have her job.
But Autumn had a broadcast journalism degree? How could she work at a place that specializes in money?
Then she remembered the joy that she got out of helping all the women from her church, work, and even her own mom. In 2020, Autumn lost her dad and she saw her mom spiral into the same stress that so many women struggle with once they lose their husband- what do they do now? During grief there is so much going on, having to learn decades of financials can be just another heavy burden on their shoulders.
Autumn saw the relief she helped give her mom when she explained the finances that were left with her, and immediately went on to take the exams to become a professional financial advisor.
It was a huge change to alter her career path after 20 years, but with her savings and determination she found a way to make it work for herself. She is two years into her role at Thrivent and plans to be there for the long haul.
Life Lessons
At the end of the day, throughout all of her jobs and post-grad opportunities, she stayed true to what she saw for herself, never settling for something she knew wasn’t right. Following a path that was never in the plans is terrifying for anyone, but it is a necessary challenge that will get us where we want to go.
As I get ready for my life after graduation, it is nice to just hear someone’s story and struggles along the way. After the first few minutes I stepped back from wanting the professional advice I was preparing myself to ask for, as I heard her story I instead looked for the moments where I could get life advice.
I accepted that while change is inherently scary, those moments of fear can quickly turn into the best moments to learn about yourself and what you really want. Change is when you can step back and see how your values have altered, it gives you a chance to look at your life from a balcony. When Autumn was working in news in her early twenties she saw that a lot of the women anchors didn’t have the time or desire to have children, this was a realization that her values maybe didn’t align with the job that she had been dreaming about.
Working hard is key to getting what you want. It seems obvious, but it is nevertheless very important. Finding a job within a company is the first step to growth, from there it is all about continued effort and learning.
If given the opportunity, always save as much as you can if your employer is matching funds for 401k. Your Roth IRA is your savings for the day where work becomes optional. Always look for high yield savings accounts.
I saw her passion for helping women with finances the moment I asked her for financial advice to new grads. Her love for it made me excited to learn more on my own. I understand why she gets so much joy out of helping women who hadn’t been given the job to handle the finances: it’s giving us a power that historically has not been trusted in our hands.
