Jess Jorgensen, formerly of Bamm and now a freelance insights consultant and ICG member, shares her experience of leaving a full-time career to pursue her mushroom passion. Article first published in Research Live.
In 2023, I quit my job to run with mushrooms. For 16 years, I worked in cultural and consumer insights before leaving a director-level agency position to run with a passion project: exploring the culture of mushrooms and psychedelics.
Leaving the agency world and a full-time salary behind has been terrifying, enlightening, and rewarding. Mushrooms – both my subject matter and matter of admiration – have been key to navigating this new path.
Colleagues and peers have supported but also questioned this choice, and I’m sure they secretly thought it was mad. Why would one quit a perfectly good job, without an income stream, to explore a weird niche? The decision was driven by three things: wellbeing, morality, and motivation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessjorgensen/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/running-with-mushrooms/