Here's why a tech professional left her job to become a 'faerie princess'

After seven years working in the technology industry, Jenny Richman needed some inspiration.

"I just kept thinking, 'There has to be more purpose or something more satisfying than what I'm currently doing with my life,'" she told io9 in a recent article.

She found the spark that was missing in an unlikely, and equally unusual, place: Happily Ever Laughter, a California-based company that provides character entertainment for birthday parties and events.

She had been browsing Craigslist job postings when she stumbled upon a Happily Ever Laughter ad for a "faerie pirate princess mermaid," she told io9.

That bizarre string of four words sold Richman.

Two months after seeing the ad, she quit her tech job, revamped her résumé, and wrote a cover letter loaded with rhymes to stand out from the competition.

After interviewing with the Queen Faerie, Fae Diddle Diddle, landing the gig, and graduating from 'Faerie School,' the rigorous training program for all new performers, Richman earned her new title: Miss Pepper, professional faerie.

Trading in computers for sparkles and wings has not been the easiest transition - her first performance was "a bit of a mess," she admitted to io9 - but it's given her a sense of purpose that she lost in the tech industry.

Performing allows her to imagine, create, and tell stories. "I'll go on adventures in my mind with Pepper and I'll share those adventures with children at shows," she told io9.

When, at the end of each show, she transitions from Pepper - the small and sprightly fairy who rides a dragon named Azra - back to Richman - the San Fransisco-based millennial - the magic doesn't disappear: "You need to keep a bit of that magic in your life, you know? The eyes that you looked at the world through when you were four years old, when everything was just wonder. It's important to keep those with you."