First weeklong quiet contemplation. Days of meditation in each wat I walked past. Nights of jazz at the Arkive on Chiang Mai’s North Gate.
Third visit to Elephant Nature Park, this time volunteering with Doug and Molly
Quit WSGR. Began a three month sabbatical funded by Uber selloffs.
Launched GetCoachedbyJay.com
Admitted to the NY Bar
Joined the law firm Wilson Sonsini in their NYC office. Achieved a life goal of living and working in New York (with enough income to enjoy it!)
Co-founded Bruins for Biden, amassing nearly 100 likeminded, activist students to work phone banks for CO, WI, and NC. Spent the ten days leading up to Election Day in Las Vegas monitoring four polling stations and cure canvassing over 100 Biden voters whose initial ballots were rejected for a formality.
Got my first dog, Shanti, at eight weeks old. He’s named after the main character in Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
Second trip to Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Uber IPO
Began therapy
UCLA Law
Moved to Santa Monica
85 flights to 43 cities in 21 countries
CRM for Uber LatAm. First time changing jobs to follow a great manager; first time managing people myself. Read more about it here.
Moved to Mexico City. Achieved a life goal of living and working abroad.
Followed John Mayer on the European leg of his Search for Everything tour to Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, and London. I lived with more gratitude and joy around the time of this trip than I ever had before (or have since). Read more about it here.
First trip to Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Hillary Clinton loses to Donald Trump
Flew solo to Tokyo to eat at Jiro Ono’s
CRM embed with Uber’s India Growth engineering team
Moved to SF. First time living without roommates.
Read Essentialism by Greg McKeown
First solo trip (from DC to San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Buddy Friedel, my grandfather, took his own life at a healthy 79 years old; so great was his fear of losing his independence and becoming a burden.
First paid job: operations and marketing for Uber Baltimore/Maryland. Didn’t know what stock options were until I read the offer letter.
#SOTU: "Too many still aren't working at all" #preach #unemployed #someonehireme @Uber_Jobs @Uber— Jay Friedel (@Jay_Friedel) January 29, 2014
#SOTU: "Too many still aren't working at all" #preach #unemployed #someonehireme @Uber_Jobs @Uber
Unable to get a job in government / think tanks / journalism / anything remotely related to my BA in International Relations. About to bounce March’s rent check.
Published for the first time: An Unsanctioned Iran Is Scary, Nukes or Not
Introduced to David Foster Wallace’s commencement address, This is Water. Now I listen to it once a quarter to try and reset my default social processing.
Moved to DC. Launched my first blog to self-publish foreign policy analysis.
Graduated from Penn
Performed onstage for the first time: Legally Blonde (The Musical). Watch my scenes here.
Directed the Quaker Classic, the country’s largest undergraduate mock trial competition
Founded and 4x’d the debate program at City Center Academy in Philadelphia
Graduated from West Springfield High SchoolCo-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced my first short film: A Fool’s Fate
Won the Virginia State Championship for Student Congress Debate
First real heartbreak
“Junior olympics” in Berlin. Quitting after high school marked the end of my first identity: gymnast from ages 2-18.
First trip to India as a politically aware young adult. My first time seeing abject, third world poverty.
Winter breaks in Verbier, Switzerland with my family, hosted by my grandfather “Bumpy” and his partner Becky