After getting laid off from a corporate job, I started bartending - and it changed my approach to office work

"After getting laid off in 2023, marketing veteran Julie Levin worked part time as a bartender for about six months as she considered her next steps. Levin is now the head of brand partnerships at Two Things, a New York City consultancy specializing in business transformations. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. I moved across the country from LA to the New York area in 2022 for a really exciting job that I thought would mark the next phase of my career."

"But in 2023, there was a lot going on in the marketing industry, and I was laid off. It was a setback I hadn't anticipated. It really called into question what was next for me. It's a scary place to be. I started doing some consulting, but I also wanted to be thoughtful and take time to calibrate. That's why I added bartending, which I'd done in college, into the mix."

"I had bartended at this place during the summer in college, when it was a dive. It's now fine dining with proper mixology. That meant it wasn't pouring beers and shots and easy high-balls. It was complex drinks. Not only did we have to follow the recipe for them at a high volume, but we were expected to create drinks. There's nothing more humbling than getting behind the bar, because my corporate success wasn't relevant. The idea of not hiding behind a title was illuminating."

After a 2023 marketing layoff, Julie Levin bartended part time for about six months while consulting and deciding next steps. She moved from LA to the New York area in 2022 for a job and was laid off the following year. The bartending role drew on college experience but shifted to fine-dining mixology, requiring complex drink recipes, high-volume execution, and creative drink development. Behind the bar, corporate titles were irrelevant and the work proved humbling, stripping away artifice and requiring direct engagement with people. The experience built resilience, humility, an intensified work ethic, and a positive attitude that Levin carried into her role at Two Things.

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