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The economy’s not just in a downturn. It’s in transition. The rules of the game are changing, industries are transforming, and many jobs don’t feel so secure anymore. This spring, WPLN’s Kim Green is collecting stories of Tennesseans who are learning to survive and adapt to an uncertain marketplace, and an economy in flux.

If you have a story of transition, tell us about it. We may post some of your experiences on our website or use them on the air. Send your emails to [email protected]

The Life I Want

Ross Aims Her Canon

When graphic designer Heidi Ross added photography to her skill set in the early 2000s, she honed her chops by shooting musicians pro bono or with a steep friends-and-family discount. She created a great portfolio and a growing buzz surrounding her talents. But as the music industry waned and the recession heated up, Ross found it increasingly tough to convert the skills and goodwill she’d garnered into a reliable income.

Ross felt frustrated. She considered looking for other work, wondering whether taking a day job meant she’d failed as an artist. But she realized that there was no point in defining her success by her photography income during a recession. “I love doing photography,” she says. “Right now, there’s just not enough money in it to build the life that I want. And I really need to accept that the life I want is more important to me than the job or the career I want.”

Cake. On sticks.

Ross finishes a batch

Ross didn’t set out to become a boutique baker. “I’d had a couple of cake pops from different bakeries, like, you know just little cake on sticks,” says Ross. “And I was like, ‘Oh, man! This is so good!'” She says she got obsessed with learning how to make them and found out, online, that she didn’t need specialized bakery equipment or a large investment. “Thanks, Google!” she says.

After she brought her first trial-run batches to a couple of parties, the orders started rolling in. Now, she stays afloat by living frugally, doing some design and photography work, and delivering cake pops to parties, weddings, and baby showers. “People love cake!” she says. “I don’t have to convince anybody. It sells itself. It’s completely different than trying to sell your creative services.”

Ross says she loves the reaction she gets from people who try her many-flavored, rich cake pops. “It is so simple to make people happy with this,” she says. “It’s also really a good thing to know! Like, it doesn’t always take something big to make people happy or to make you happy.”

She’s almost forgotten how conflicted she felt a few months ago about her photography career, and about existential questions of success and failure and art. She says she’s too busy experimenting with new recipes to waste time with creative angst. “My brain has a puzzle to play with,” she says.

Banana-peanut-butter-honey cake pops dipped in vanilla

It’s Just the Economy

Ross says it’s hard for people to talk about personal finances and the economic insecurity so many people feel right now. “But then once you do it becomes kind of a unifying factor,” she says. “Like, ‘Yeah! This is really crazy! How did we get to this point? I worked really hard!’ And we can, you know, be irritated by it and then laugh and it’s fine.

“It’s just the economy, and it’s just a job, and if you have something you love to do, that’s really great. And it doesn’t have to be the only thing you do. Having this small thing that’s just good and happy? I don’t know. I smile when I talk about it.”

Heidi Ross self-portrait

If you have a story of transition, tell us about it. We may post some of your experiences on our website or use them on the air. Send your emails to [email protected]

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