The Embossed Way: Whitney Popa
On breaking free from the corporate box and cultivating time freedom
Welcome to The Embossed Way, a (mostly) monthly series here on CEOverthinker featuring conversations with women who are making their mark, paving their own way, and embodying what it means to be the boss of your own life.
If you missed the previous editions, you can check them out here.
It’s been a minute since the last edition of The Embossed Way (a casual five months, to be exact) and I have no real excuse other than the fact that I let it fall to the wayside. Regardless, there’s no better person to pick the series back up with than today’s guest, Whitney Popa.
I officially met Whitney last month at the Write Doe Bay retreat. She was one of the first people I saw when I walked into the retreat house and was a familiar face I recognized immediately as one of the clients from the barre studio where I used to teach. It was one of those wonderful small world moments and quelled some of the anxiety I was feeling heading into the weekend. As we sat and ate together, we realized how much we have in common and I grew more and more inspired by her story. Whitney is a fellow English major and copywriter who craved an escape from the confines of corporate. She describes herself as a “Nordstrom hippie nerd” and is proof that you can be/do it all – you don’t have to fit into a box (especially one others try to force you into). She lives her life on her own terms and has built a thriving business around her creativity and rooted in her community. Her authenticity and self-knowledge is something I admire and hope you will feel inspired by too.
Lauren Scott: What did you want to be when you grew up and why?
Whitney Popa: Like every millennial, I certainly had my Lisa Frank-inspired marine biologist phase, but I also wanted to be an actress and an orthodontist at one point. My grandfather was a periodontist and retired when he was 90 (six years ago). I’ve always admired him, so I started down the path of fixing smiles when I went to college, but I hated Chemistry 111, which was taught in a huge lecture hall and supported by a weekly lab led by a bored grad student. As good as I was at science –and most subjects, honestly (being an A+ student was most of my personality back then) – in my heart, I knew I was born to tell stories.
LS: How does that compare to where you are now?
WP: I declared a double major in English and political science soon after my terrible chemistry experience. I did that because I thought I could fall back on law school if the English thing didn’t work out. I ended up finishing my political science degree mostly because I had taken stats and was too far in to abandon it, but the kids who were on the path to law school were…not my crowd. But, toting those two degrees around has helped me a little in my career. I made a lot of *should* decisions after college to figure out a journey through the corporate world that my family and financial anxiety convinced me was more secure—magazine editorial internships leading me to PR, which took me to social media, etc. I ultimately ended up starting my copywriting agency in 2017.
LS: Tell us how you got there. What was the journey like? What bumps did you hit along the way?
WP: Woof. There is not enough time in the day for the stories of the journey and the bumps, but what I can tell you is that I am a deeply sensitive person, so forcing myself to stay in environments that feel incongruent or are misaligned with my values will make me feel like I’m literally dying. I’ve had bosses who loved to take digs at my personality, coworkers who took credit for my work, and, in my last corporate job, less time off than my unborn child’s future daycare took. I knew I deserved to be happy, to have fun with my work, and to make money doing it all. When my first client presented itself while I was hugely pregnant, I knew it was time to leap out of a world that wasn’t built to support people like me. That’s had its own bumps, but I prefer them over everything else.
Forcing myself to stay in environments that feel incongruent or are misaligned with my values will make me feel like I’m literally dying.
LS: Tell us something you still dream about (something you still want to do/experience/accomplish).
WP: I’ve been working on a novel for 10+ years. Writing THE END will be huge for me, and it’s closer than ever, which is exciting.
LS: Looking back, what is something you would tell your younger self?
WP: I’d tell her to try to go easier on herself, to say yes to that Europe trip after college even though you have no idea how you’ll pay for it, that it’ll all work out, and to quit earlier. But, she wouldn’t have listened :)
LS: What does “being the boss of your own life” mean to you?
WP: The most important part of being the boss of my own life, to me, is time freedom. I manage my time. I decide when I respond to texts and emails. I go on long walks and volunteer at my kids’ school. Recently, I joined my husband on a work trip and added value to some really cool innovations he’s building. I couldn’t do that in the low-stress capacity I’ve created if I were still on someone else’s payroll. At this point, I consider myself almost unemployable because I care so much about time freedom, and I plan to keep it that way.
The most important part of being the boss of my own life, to me, is time freedom. I manage my time. I decide when I respond to texts and emails.
LS: The cover image for this article features a photo of something that inspires you. Tell us more about it. What does it mean to you?
WP: My dad was a Parks Director. He built his life around leisure and community. Every day, he picked me up from daycare, made me dinner, and took me on Sunday drives. It’s funny because my mom, for much of my childhood, was our family’s breadwinner. While she dropped me off every morning, my memories are of him picking me up. He died of brain cancer in 2012, and my mom is still around (closeby, thankfully!) and we’ve talked a lot about why I remember his presence in my childhood more than hers. It’s likely because of how her work took her away from me (she traveled constantly), but his presence was steady and totally locked in. When I think about my life and what really matters, it’s that. Sure, I want to make money and have an impact. Life is expensive! But if I know anything, it’s that time is the biggest gift we can give, so in all my relationships—professional and personal—I go for depth. He taught me that.
If I know anything, it’s that time is the biggest gift we can give.
This is us at the very beginning of one of the most important relationships of my life. It’ll always remind me of what’s most important, not just for parents and children, but for all humans.
Thank you for reading this edition of The Embossed Way! You will find new editions in your inbox once a month. My hope and goal for the series is to lift up female voices, showcase how they’re doing things differently (i.e. not taking the traditional path society tells them they have to, whether in work or in life in general), and inspire others to do the same.
If this post inspired you – or if the series and/or entire CEOverthinker publication inspires you – consider sharing it with someone so they can be inspired too. 🤍