Stacey Wang leaves BigLaw litigation for the start-up world

Stacey Wang is the Director of Product Marketing at Ironclad, Inc. Stacey went from Harvard Law to being a BigLaw litigator, along the traditional path. But a few years in, she started to feel unfulfilled and started assessing what, specifically, wasn’t working for her. She realized that the practice of law was stifling her creativity. She also had an epiphany that you only live once, so she better make it count. So, she pushed past the identity crisis and fear and landed a job at a start-up. From there, she’s been building a career in start-ups that she loves.

 

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Stacey reflects on how her experience in the early years of practice were colored by being very young
• You can be dissatisfied in law even if you don’t have horror stories
• She felt like her creativity was stifled
• Her identity as a lawyer and the weight of her loans held her back for a little while
• Stacey ultimately reframed things and realized she was more concerned about losing time than the financial challenges
• Stacey used the Designing Your Life book exercises for self-observation and discovery
• She found a start-up company she liked and then applied to an open job she thought she could fit into
• The key is knowing you can learn quickly. If so, you’ll be fine in any new position
• Don’t just jump into the next thing without the reflection on who you are and what you’re really looking for

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