A Gen Zer who was laid off explains how she's happier and more creative after working corporate jobs that 'sucked the soul' out of her

• Chiaki Ma got laid off from her marketing job, and it sparked a realization about what she wanted.
• She has since exercised her creativity more, pursuing acting, freelance work, and waitressing.

Chiaki Ma, 23, has worked a few marketing-related jobs since graduating college in 2021. In her experience, corporate work was repetitive.

"It would be different projects, but it would be the same thing every single day," she said, recalling one of her marketing jobs. "And I just remember working in my cubicle, and it was kind of a sales office too, and I just thought, wow, I don't want to be here for more than two years."

That career path came to an abrupt end when she was laid off last November.

While she told Insider she was worried about money, Ma realized her layoff was an opportunity. "Maybe it's time for me to just leave that field completely and pursue other opportunities that allow me to be creative because I'm a pretty creative person," she told Insider.

As she described in a TikTok video talking about her experience leaving marketing, "as a naturally creative person, corporate kind of sucked the soul out of me."

Ma now does freelance work as a content creator, has been a waitress since March, and is pursuing acting.

She's joined a wave of people leaving corporate or white-collar work after a layoff, and as AI threatens the future of the industry. A laid-off Twitter worker told Insider that "in some ways, it was the nudge" she needed to make her side hustle her full-time work. Other workers are simply over the lifestyle that comes with corporate or office jobs.

"If the pandemic has taught us anything it's that the essential workers — the workers we need so the public can survive — probably don't exist in a corporate building and they're probably not marketing coordinators," Ma said in her TikTok video. "Plus the fact the something like a pandemic can dramatically shift everyone's life, so I'm not going to spend a single minute in a career path that I don't wanna even be in."

Corporate life just meant living for the two days of the weekend

In one TikTok video, Ma recalled one time in the office thinking, "is this where I want to be 10 years from now? When I'm 33, do I still want to be working in the same cubicle?"

Ultimately, she decided she did not — at least not for now. Other workers or job seekers may feel the same way, especially young workers.

"There's pressure mostly for college graduates and people in their early 20s to work a corporate job, and that pressure is created mostly by people from previous generations who see corporate jobs as stable/successful," Ma told Insider.

When she left behind corporate marketing, Ma started working as a freelance content creator. Living in Los Angeles, she also has been able to pursue acting while working as a waitress.

While she said her work-life balance was better before, "it didn't feel like I was really working or living."

"There are times where I feel like it's kind of hard in terms of finances and budgeting because I feel like I'm still transitioning out into a schedule and a routine that I'm not completely used to," she said. "But I would say I like it a little better because it feels like the work that I produce is just mine."

Her previous roles meant not a lot of time to do other things outside of work during the week. She said by the end of the week she was tired and added that she "basically lived my life for the weekends" where she was then able to "really do what I wanted."

"I kind of really got bored of the routine," she added. "I felt like I wasn't going anywhere."

While Ma could see returning to corporate roles as a backup plan, she said "ideally" she would like to not have to go back.

"This might sound cheesy, but sometimes you don't know what opportunities could come if you don't venture out and you stay too comfortable with where you are at in life or in your career," she said. "And I'm not saying that being comfortable is a bad thing, but if you know that there's potential for you elsewhere and you're just okay with not pursuing that, it really limits your possibilities."

She's now doing work where she can be creative — and she's happier. She told Insider that even just two years ago, "I would've never thought I would be doing what I do now," including going on auditions.

"Take a leap of faith and don't limit your possibilities," she advised others.

Were you laid off or resigned from a corporate job and want to share your story? Reach out to this reporter at mhoff@insider.com.