924 Miles: A Portfolio Career Story
- Stephanie Joong
- Mar 28
- 3 min read
In-person is so much better for me and I am willing to go the extra mile for even a moment of quality time.
I use public speaking as a means to visit friends, acquaintances I wish to turn into friends, and family along the way.
Lots and lots of miles.
I’m not a great road-tripper and it’s been a while since I took a multi-hour ride solo. What choice did I have? I was carrying a massive quantity of books for the conference and last-minute packing left me with bags of all shapes and awkward sizes.
Driving from Oakland to south Orange County (dinner, business advice, and staying over at Dad’s) was over 7 hours and something like 415 miles. My butt was sore, but my brain was full of educational and relevant podcasts, and my soul was filled with early 2000s pop playlists. The. Whole. Way.
The next morning, I headed north to Mom’s for Taiwanese dumplings at Din Tai Fung, bigs hugs, and furry dog kisses in Torrance. I also had to pick up a knitted blanket from her to give to my sister’s dog (I’m a free delivery service for the family!).
Post lunch that day I needed to drive back down past my Dad’s all the way to Carlsbad to check into my (very nice) hotel for two nights.
Before the event began, I went for an hour+ long walk with a friend I met at a Life Sciences industry conference last year. We both were speakers and she continued to support my virtual events and women’s circles since.
After the conference, I called my cousin to see if he could meet me near my driving route and he brought my aunt (plus his dog) so we could have Chinese food in Chinatown together. He found me parking so it was all good.
Now, that sounds like a whirlwind. It certainly reads like a whirlwind.
Yes, I reached out to all these people to varying degrees in advance of my planned trip. Being organized is a strength. The LogiMed 2026 conference was on the calendar since last Fall.
Every day, I realize how important it is for me to nurture my relationships. There is an energetic investment that I made here and I respected my boundaries when it came to how much planning I was going to do.
Deep Breaths…
The drive alone was taxing, LA traffic is outright unforgiving – some would say it’s a good way to practice surrendering. Even though I am fairly practiced at driving around Southern CA, I tried to see a easier ways for this trip.
Out of all of the above get-togethers, I made exactly one restaurant reservation, but I asked the person to pick the spot. One person cooked for me, one person told me to drive to a pin on a map, and one person wasn’t hungry and told me to grab my sneakers to go for a walk straight out of my hotel lobby. I enjoy receiving clear instructions.
What about the actual time I was at the conference, networking with executives and making a lasting impression with the event managers, selling books and preparing for/debriefing my masterclass? I had dinner alone at the hotel restaurant one night and ordered room service the next.
Conservation and restoration.
With that solo time came:
- My morning stretching rituals
- My favorite 20-minute somatic breathwork playlist
- Reading my library book “We Should Get Together” by Kat Vellos
- Exfoliating my face
- Going for a long walk around the property
- Burning Palo Santo
I wasn’t alone. I got to experience the joy of spending time with myself.
I'm Curious:
Can you really be “ON” and respect your personal boundaries at the same time? Is it difficult, or even required, to switch back and forth for you?
Yes, I took paid time off to speak at this conference and have this awesome long weekend with friends and family. (PTO is gold in a corporate job so thinking of this tradeoff mattered.) It was so different from working my day job: freedom, fast decision-making, singularly applying my talents to my pay.
But I could also see how I couldn’t do this type of engagement back-to-back and be on the road eating a truck stops multiple times a month for a full-time career!
So, leaning into the portfolio career continues to be my theme.
Just embrace it.
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