• Lisa La Valle decided to move to Europe by herself in 2018.
• She thought she'd be happier, save more money, and have more freedom. She was right — mostly.
• La Valle shared the pros and cons of moving to Europe, from cheap rent to feeling she doesn't fit in.

Lisa La Valle and her husband dreamt of moving abroad once their children finished school.

After they separated, La Valle found herself at a crossroads: either stay in New Jersey, where she'd spent most of her adult life, or leave the US to build a new life alone in Europe.

"I looked ahead at the rest of my life and thought, 'I'll be damned if I spend the next 30 years in New Jersey,'" she told Business Insider.

In 2018, at 57, La Valle bought a one-way ticket to Paris. Seven years later, at 64, she lives in Brescia, a city in northern Italy's Lombardy region, near the foothills of the Alps.

La Valle has had her share of ups and downs during her time in Europe. Still, she said she doesn't regret moving to Europe, and overall, it's been a good decision.

"I'm all for following your dreams, but brace yourself — it's not always easy moving to a new country," she said.

Here are La Valle's pros and cons of moving abroad.

She's more relaxed and less stressed

The cost of living in the US continues to rise, making it particularly challenging for aging Americans.

Many have seen their expenses climb while their incomes stay flat. That pressure intensifies in retirement, when savings often fall short, and Social Security doesn't fill the gap. It's one reason some retirees, like La Valle, are choosing to move abroad, where they believe life is more affordable and less stressful.

"I didn't want to worry about affording healthcare or staying in the rat race to keep up with the high cost of living," she said of why she left the States.

La Valle is now retired in Italy. While she's been receiving Social Security for the past two years, she also works part-time as an English teacher at a local school. She works about 20 hours a week and earns about $1,500 a month.

"I don't make a lot, but the lower cost of living makes life much easier," she said. "I don't feel like I have to struggle financially, like I would have had to in the US."

Making friends can be difficult

"Forming friendships in a new country can be a challenging experience," La Valle said. "Although I'm willing to befriend anyone, I know not everyone is, and being an expat can be an extraordinarily isolating and lonely experience for some people."

La Valle found it especially difficult to make friends in Paris, a city whose culture and social norms felt vastly different from those in the US. Even after four years, she admitted it never really felt like home.

"In many ways, Paris felt like a private club, and I was not invited," she added.

Finding a place to live can be a hassle

In the US, people often lean on real-estate agents and websites like Zillow or Realtor.com to find housing. In Europe, where there's no national MLS — a shared database of listings provided by agents and brokers — the process can be much more complicated.

While real-estate websites like LeBonCoin, popular in France, and Idealista, popular throughout southern European countries like Spain and Italy, exist, La Valle said that many locals rely on word of mouth to find housing.

"The easiest way to find an apartment is through a friend," she said. "Relationships are the connective tissue in Europe. Know somebody you can trust, you can make an introduction, and then do business."

Still, it can be a hassle. La Valle said that finding available apartments in Paris felt like "winning the lottery."

Housing is relatively more affordable

Finding housing may be a challenge in Europe, but La Valle said the affordable rent she found in Italy is worth it.

In Brescia, she's renting an apartment near the city center. She has a big living room with terracotta tiles, a kitchen, a full bathroom, a wide hallway with floor-to-ceiling windows, a large bedroom, and a terrace.

"It feels like a hotel, but I pay only €550 ($636.60) a month in rent," she said.

It takes time to adjust to the metric system

Living in Italy, La Valle said the language barrier can sometimes make her anxious.

"I can cross an ocean no problem, but then I go to make a hair appointment, and I'm practically shaking and sweating," she said. "When you're on the phone with someone, and they're speaking fast, you're like, 'I'm going to get it wrong.'"

Another barrier is measurements. Europe uses the metric system, while the US has its own customary measurements. La Valle said switching between the two can make even basic errands like grocery shopping, surprisingly difficult.

"The conversion of milligrams and grams to cups when you want to bake something, or even dealing with the weather — they're in Celsius, and we're in Fahrenheit — everyday things that you take for granted can be a nightmare."

The food is healthier

La Valle said she's found the food in Europe to be fresher and healthier than in the US.

"You're always getting fresh food or a fairly pure version, even if it comes in a box or a can," she said.

Food scientist Abbey Thiel told Fortune that Europe doesn't necessarily have superior food overall, but its meat and poultry tend to be of higher quality due to its wider variety, and labels make consumers more aware of where the meat originated from.

• Michelle Routhenstein, a preventive cardiology dietitian, balances full-time work and childcare.
• The mom of four boys, she has to get creative in finding time to work out and cook heart-healthy meals.
• She stocks her home office with workout equipment and squeezes in workouts when she can.

Finding time to exercise can be a challenge, whether you work full-time hours or have just had a baby (or both).

For Michelle Routhenstein, a preventive cardiology dietitian in New York City, there are a few extra obstacles to staying fit. For one, she runs a private practice and counsels patients directly, meaning her schedule can vary significantly from day to day.

She's also a busy mother of four sons, ages 2, 4, 7, and 9.

Routhenstein, who primarily focuses on strength training and cardio, told Business Insider that the key is being proactive about scheduling workouts — even short ones — when they fit into her schedule. "If you don't plan it, it's not going to happen."

As a dietitian, she said that cooking most of her meals helps her maintain a balanced diet rich in protein, fiber, and carbohydrates to build muscle and stay energized.

"I'm a mom to four very active boys who thankfully enjoy eating well," she said. "So meal prepping is truly my lifesaver."

Routhenstein broke down how she fits full workouts (and mini sessions) into her week, while eating enough nutrients to support them.

A combination home office and gym

Routhenstein used to go to cycling classes at a gym. Then, her second son was born.

"With two kids under two, I knew I needed the flexibility to work out whenever it fit into my schedule," she said. She purchased a Peloton first, then Tonal, an at-home strength training machine, because she wanted to incorporate more weight training.

Her latest addition to her home office was a walking pad. She usually starts her day walking for 30 minutes while she answers emails and gets settled.

She said having a gym in her office makes it easy to pencil in quick workouts. "The night before, I look at my day the night before to see, 'OK, do I have cancellations?'" she said.

She aims for about 20 minutes of resistance training with her Tonal equipment three to four times a week, and a cardio workout on her Peloton three times a week.

"I plug it into where it fits in my day, whether that means I wake up before my kids wake up, or I block off a night without clients to work out," she said.

She tries to save longer workouts for the weekend

At least once a week, Routhenstein aims to get in a more robust workout, usually on Sunday.

"On the weekends, I am typically active with my kids — from running around with their sports, errands, and grocery shopping," she said.

Somewhere between her parenting responsibilities, she'll aim for up to 60 minutes of a Peloton session, a 45-minute Tonal workout, or a 30-minute yoga class for mobility training.

Her family helps her prep heart-healthy meals

Sunday is also typically the day Routhenstein meal-preps for the week. Her family helps her choose what to make, which she says helps keep her from overspending — she only buys what they'll eat.

"I get the kids involved, my husband pitches in, and together, we make family-friendly, heart-healthy meals we all look forward to," she said, adding variety to what she eats every week.

"I don't recommend anyone eat the same thing every day because your gut needs diversity in order for the gut microbe to flourish," she said. Routhenstein, who also wrote a cookbook focused on heart-healthy meals, tries to incorporate protein, vegetables, healthy fats, and whole grains in her dishes, whether she eats savory oats for breakfast or fish tacos for dinner with her family.

She also stocks up on pantry staples like frozen vegetables, which are cost-effective and can quickly bulk up meals.

She said her love of cooking makes meal-prepping fun — and her family's input keeps their lunches varied.

"One of my sons is basically our in-house food critic, so every dish has to pass his taste test, which honestly makes it even more fun," she said. "He gets extra invested and keeps us switching things up so it never gets boring."

• Most job rejections are made by people, not artificial intelligence or algorithms.
• Recruiters use technology for basic screening, but human decisions still drive most hiring outcomes.
• A surge in applications can create challenges for both job seekers and recruiters.

It's not you, it's AI.

At least that's the popular refrain on social media: The thing standing between you and a new job is an algorithm. It's an idea that can help make sense of a dizzying job market where applications can meet speedy rejections or, worse, go unanswered.

Yet, often, technology isn't directly to blame.

Even as AI and applicant tracking systems are playing a larger role in many parts of the hiring process, most of the time it's still a person, not a bot, who actually nixes your application, hiring experts told Business Insider.

"People have gaslit themselves into believing a story that's not true," said Bobby Miloev, a researcher with the résumé builder Enhancv, referring to the way many blame applicant software or AI for challenges in the job market. He added that he doesn't fault job seekers who might think this way.

It's understandable why people who've been hunting for a job might look for someone to blame, said Daniel Chait, CEO of hiring-software company Greenhouse.

"They're applying to many, many more jobs than they used to, and yet they're not getting hired," he said. "When that happens to you, you look for a reason."

When tech actually tosses out your app

Some job seekers have taken to social media to point out that they've received a rejection email not long after putting in an application.

Where tech might be a deciding factor upfront involves so-called knockout questions. Those can include inquiries such as, "Are you authorized to work in this country?" or "Do you have a degree in nursing?" Software can weed out the applicants who say "no" when a question is a dealbreaker. Ultimately, though, those are parameters a recruiter sets.

There are also high-profile examples around the use of AI in hiring. A lawsuit against the HR-services company Workday has raised questions about what types of AI screening of applicants might be appropriate.

A Workday spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider that the claims in the suit are false and that the company's products — AI-enabled and not — are designed to help customers manage an increasing volume of applicants "with a focus on human decision-making."

Miloev, from Enhancv, said that, often, applicant software generates "quite simple" scores based on how many keywords in a résumé match a job description.

Yet that's not always a big help — especially as AI has made it easier for people to tailor their résumés to match a job posting. For that reason, he said, many of the recruiters he speaks with don't rely on those scores to screen out résumés.

Miloev said that such scores don't yet tend to involve parsing résumés for deeper insights or involve "complicated understanding by large language models," he said.

"There aren't very many magic hacks," to reviewing résumés, Miloev said.

What recruiters actually do

Often, he said, recruiters simply read through incoming CVs chronologically — another reason it's good to apply quickly to a role that looks good, he said. After a certain point, there will be too many to go through.

Mark Jensen, a recruiter with Upswing Talent Acquisition, said that when applications start to pile up for a role, he'll stop accepting them. Otherwise, he said, those doing the hiring are "waiting for perfection to fall into our lap, instead of working with what's available."

Chait, who runs Greenhouse, said that hiring technology is getting better at helping recruiters identify applicants who possess the necessary skills or qualifications for a job. Software can read a résumé and application materials, and generate analytics about the applicants, he said.

That's a departure from years ago, when applicant tracking systems were little more than glorified inboxes.

"It used to just be like the line at the deli — everybody shows up and goes in order," Chait said.

The 'AI doom loop'

Many employers are being bombarded with applicants because so many more résumés are zipping across the internet. People desperate to land a role or hoping to find an in with an employer can, in some cases, easily click "submit." Employers, in turn, then have to sift through a taller stack of résumés.

The result, Chait said, is an "AI doom loop" that's unspooling as it's getting harder to get a job while getting easier to apply for them.

He said that means job seekers often feel as though they're "shouting into the void and not getting anywhere." Meanwhile, Chait said, recruiters face a mountain of applications and ask, "What the hell do I do with that? How do I get to the person I need to hire when there's all this noise?"

When job posts get so many applicants, Miloev said, it's understandable why people would blame technology. But that doesn't mean it's "randomly rejecting résumés," he said.

Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

• The CEO of a McKinsey-backed nonprofit says too many firms roll out AI without a clear usage plan.
• Generation found earlier in 2025 that most workers use AI weekly, but half are self-taught.
• CEO Mona Mourshed urged leaders to set guardrails, empower "power users," and treat AI as a multiplier.

Mona Mourshed has spent over a decade working on the future of work.

As CEO of Generation, one of the world's largest employment nonprofits, operating in 17 countries and helping more than 140,000 people land jobs, she has a front-row seat to how companies are grappling with artificial intelligence.

Her takeaway: Many companies are rolling out AI without a clear strategy.

"The vast majority of employers are rolling out AI tools in some shape or form," Mourshed, who previously worked at McKinsey — which founded Generation — told Business Insider.

"The question is whether they are rolling them out in a way that is effective."

Too often, she said, companies take a scattershot approach.

"For many employers, it is, 'Hey, here's a license, go ahead and use it,'" she added. "As a result, the employee doesn't know how or why you are supposed to use it so that you get the much-wanted gains of productivity, quality, and satisfaction."

Generation's own research highlights that gap.

In a survey of over 5,000 people across 17 countries in early 2025, the nonprofit found that 65% of respondents were alread. y using AI on the job.

Nearly 80% of those used it at least weekly, but 52% said they were self-taught, relying on tutorials or colleagues rather than formal employer guidance.

Here are Mourshed's four recommendations for CEOs who want to adopt AI effectively.

Start with the use case, not the shiny tool

Mourshed said the biggest mistake is giving employees AI tools without linking them to a problem.

"The difference is not identifying the use cases," she said.

She cited an example from Generation itself.

"We are an employment organization. There are certain things that are bottlenecks to our growth. We need to mobilize a lot of jobs," she said.

"So that's the first question. Our big bottleneck to growth is mobilizing jobs. So, how can we use AI to help us to mobilize more jobs faster? That then begins the conversation."

Leaders who start with a bottleneck, rather than a tool, are far more likely to see measurable gains, she said.

Build clear guardrails

AI can only work if leaders are precise about workflows and careful with data.

"AI is a tool. It needs to be fed very detailed workflow steps, and it needs to be fed data in order for it to do its thing," Mourshed said.

She warned leaders to balance access with responsibility.

"You have to feed it data, but you also have to be very careful that you're not feeding it personal information," she said. "You want to make sure that we are mitigating bias, so you, in some cases, don't want to provide data about gender or about ethnic backgrounds."

Empower internal champions and safe spaces

Change doesn't just come from the C-suite. According to Mourshed, companies need to identify and elevate "power users."

"There will be people who take to it and start using it all the time," she said. "These people are actually the best sherpas for everyone else."

At Generation, she encourages staff to share their experiences in AI "roundtables."

"Think of it as the water-cooler coffee chat — we do it virtually, but it's around AI topics," she said.

Treat AI as a talent multiplier, not a replacement

Some sectors are already seeing a drop in entry-level roles exposed to AI.

"There is a reality today that when you look at entry-level vacancies in professions that are AI-exposed, entry-level vacancies in professions that are AI exposed, we do see a decline. And that's not just in high-income countries, it's in middle-income countries as well," she said.

But she cautioned against a doomsday narrative.

"We also know from the history of technology that as things change, technology also gives rise to other jobs," she said.

Even in industries that may seem insulated, she said, AI is quietly reshaping workflows.

"We are seeing that AI is coming into play in a quality-assurance role," she said, pointing to examples like solar panel maintenance and garment inspection.

The bottom line: Don't sit back

Mourshed said leaders can't afford to sit on the sidelines while AI evolves.

"This is a period of tremendous learning," she said. "There is no magic bullet here. We all have to slog through it in order to understand how to make the most of this technology."

She advises CEOs to look both outside and inside their organizations: learn from peers, track internal champions, and spread their practices.

That, she said, is what will separate the winners from those who fall behind.

• Annual three-day silent retreats help Noah Greenberg achieve a better work-life balance.
• He shuts off his phone and uses the time to work on personal and professional goals for the new year.
• His checklist for a retreat includes journals, comfy clothes, and running shoes.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Noah Greenberg, 35, the co-founder and CEO of Stacker, based in New York. It's been edited for length and clarity.

In the week between Christmas and New Year's, I go away for an annual three-day silent retreat. I leave my computer behind, turn off my phone, bring a journal, cover all the clocks, and give myself time to think.

I started the tradition in 2020 because I was working from home, opening my computer in bed, and spending the day there. I felt stuck in that loop.

The first year had such a profound impact on me personally and professionally that I kept going. After five years, here are my takeaways — and why I've come to realize my retreat works better when there's almost no preparation involved.

I book an Airbnb between Christmas and New Year's for 3 days

I'd always considered doing a formal silent retreat, but taking a week off to be completely unreachable seemed like a lot. Then I realized that I didn't need an organized retreat; I could design one myself.

I decided to go for it. The first two times, I was in California for the holidays, so I booked an Airbnb in upstate Northern California. Since then, I've been doing it in upstate New York.

Doing it between Christmas and New Year's helps me feel less anxious because it's easier to step away when I feel like things at my media company, Stacker, are already slowing down. When I arrived at my Airbnb that first year and turned my phone off, knowing it would be off for the entire weekend, it felt incredible.

It can be uncomfortable to sit with my thoughts, but that's where the value is

My checklist for a silent retreat includes journals, comfy clothes, running shoes, or hiking gear if I'm going somewhere with snow, and groceries, which I pick up on the way so that I don't need to leave once I arrive. I don't bring my computer, books, podcasts, or anything else that would distract me from my thoughts.

I put Post-It Notes over the clocks so I can't tell the time while I'm there. I find it really interesting when I'm living without time. I think I go to bed way earlier when I'm there, even though I can't tell the time. It's usually pretty soon after the sun sets.

Going hiking while I'm there is a great way to get my steps in, since I spend the rest of my time sitting inside on the couch, journaling. I try to get out of the house twice a day.

When I'm home, I never take an hourlong walk without headphones, just seeing where my thoughts take me. But on my retreat, I have enough discipline to remind myself that I've paid for this Airbnb, rented a car, and driven upstate, and I'm going to commit to it for three days.

Too much preparation for the trip can ruin it

In the week leading up to a retreat, I'll sit down and journal for an hour so I go in with a list of things that have been on my mind, for work and personally. The first time I did it, I didn't prepare at all.

There's a lot of value in going and letting everything pour out in a journal that first night to see how I should spend the next couple of days. Too much preparation beforehand means I have to ensure I resolve certain things, which is counterproductive and puts too much pressure on the trip.

I let people in my life know that I'm turning my phone off for three days. I usually try to schedule it over a weekend, as it's only a day or two offline from work. If you're a CEO and you can't take three days off without your team needing you, you've got bigger problems.

My retreats have transformed my habits and improved my life overall

These retreats are as valuable for my impact at the company as they are for my overall work-life balance. One year, I realized I wanted to establish a morning routine. I drew out my ideal morning routine, which included waking up at 6 a.m. every day, and now I wake up at six without an alarm.

I always try to think about my work goals and what's going well and what's not. There have been times when I realized that a process with my team had been frustrating me, but I was in nonstop grind mode, ignoring that. After I came back from my retreat, I sat down with the team, and we thought about how we can make changes.

I always spend time thinking about what it would mean to me if, at the end of next year, I could say this was a great year. What would that look like?

This year, one of my goals was to have 52 coffees with people in 52 weeks to push myself to get out there more. I developed my calendar mapping habit based on my goals last year, which has improved my productivity.

I learned that it's OK for it not to have a profound effect every year, but there's still value in doing the trip annually

The first year I did this, it felt truly transformational in many ways. Midway through my second year, I experienced a sense of disappointment, as if, "Oh, this doesn't feel as impactful as last year." I realized that a lot of the things that were bothering me a year ago, I'd already fixed.

I've learned that if I go in with certain expectations, they're usually not met. Since then, I've been intentional about not expecting it to live up to the high of that first trip. I want to make it its own journey each year.

Do you have a similar story to share? Contact this editor, Agnes Applegate, at aapplegate@businessinsider.com.

• Tiimo, Apple's top iPhone app of 2025, is an AI-powered visual planner for organization.
• The app features to-do lists, reminders, and an AI assistant to make daily planning more engaging.
• I tested it out for 48 hours to see if it could bring structure to my life.

Apple's app of the year suggests the tech giant was all about helping iPhone users get organized in 2025.

Tiimo is an AI-powered visual planner that's marketed towards those with neurodivergent brains. With to-do lists, daily tasks, and reminders, Tiimo mixes an AI chatbot with a classic planner. It's free to download and use, with a premium version available for $10 a month.

After being a finalist for Apple's Design Award in 2024, Tiimo took the top spot for the best iPhone app of 2025 in the App Store Awards. It beat out fellow finalists BandLab and Ladder, which Apple described as tools to refine workflows in daily life.

Tiimo ranked 33rd among productivity apps in the App Store on Thursday and rose to No. 4 on Friday following Apple's award.

The Copenhagen-based company began in 2015 as a research project on neurodivergent teens by founders Melissa Würtz Azari and Helene Lassen Nørlem before evolving into an app to support people with ADHD, autism, or those who prefer visual organization.

The duo raised $4.7 million in an August 2024 funding round, according to PitchBook. Tiimo did not respond to a request for comment.

As someone who considers herself neurodivergent, I tried out the free version for a couple of days to see if it could help make more sense of my life.

The app design was minimal and straightforward when I first opened it

The app was pretty easy to understand as soon as I opened it. There were four tabs at the bottom of the homescreen for a to-do list, daily tasks, a "focus" tab, and a weekly summary.

Floating around in the bottom corner was an icon that I could click to chat with an AI assistant. The daily task section was broken down into morning, day, evening, and tasks that could be performed at any time.

I used the AI assistant to plan my schedule

The Tiimo chatbot worked similarly to others I've used. There were prompts I could choose from to create tasks and to-do items.

I started with a straightforward prompt to plan my week. The feature worked smoothly except for one error message that required me to submit my first query twice.

It understood my requests well and created entries that fit what I was looking for.

I tested it out with some of my daily tasks

I like to go with the flow, so I don't typically structure my day around the tasks I need to complete. However, I thought it'd be convenient to have a reminder for some of my daily must-do items.

I started by setting up my agenda, which included tasks such as walking my two dogs twice a day and taking my medication. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the chatbot handled setting up tasks based on my prompts.

I really liked how it automatically matched themed emojis to my to-do list.

I used the to-do section for things that I don't have to do every day

I had a few household chores to get done on Thursday, so I recorded them in the to-do section instead of under my daily tasks. I wanted to hold myself accountable for doing the dishes, going to the store, and making my bed. I admittedly don't make my bed every day, so I marked it as a low-priority item.

I entered those manually instead of using the AI assistant, and the app still generated emojis to go with each item. I was also able to make my own emoji choices if I wanted to modify them.

Then it was time to cross chores off my list

I got a reminder right at 6 o'clock to walk my dogs after work, and it started a 30-minute focus timer. The app gave me the option to listen to background music while I walked them. I finished our walk early and ended the timer.

My dogs won't let me forget to take them out, but I often find myself forgetting to take my medication during the day. Having that reminder on my iPhone lockscreen is really helpful.

Overall, I found Tiimo super helpful for organizing my day as someone who doesn't use written to-do lists and relies on my own brain to keep track of everything that needs to be done. It was nice to dump things into an AI chat and have a virtual assistant send me reminders, incentivizing me to mark things off my daily list. Consistency is hard for me, but I would keep using Tiimo to help change that.

• Day Job is the creative agency behind brands including buzzy tech industry podcast TBPN.
• Known for its CPG clients like Recess, Day Job is working with tech brands to make them less boring.
• Cofounder Rion Harmon spoke about how Day Job approaches its work and why AI needs a rebrand.

How can a new media company make a big splash in the tech world?

One answer: call Day Job, a Los Angeles-headquartered creative agency.

That's what the hosts of the "Technology Business Programming Network" — better known as TBPN — did when they wanted help nailing the podcast's branding and style.

Day Job cofounder Rion Harmon described the vision: a "cacophony of logos" slapped all over the screen (a nod to Formula 1 racecars), a "country club" forest green, and a VHS visual effect.

It'd be somewhere between a news station and a sports-casting channel — hence the rebranding from the "Technology Brothers Podcast" to TBPN.

"They're doing something new," Harmon told me. "It doesn't feel like a stuffy, sort of normal sort of journalism thing. It feels more alive. It feels vibrant. We were trying to capture their energy, right? It's funny to just be overly sponsored."

TBPN has had a big year. The podcast, which launched in 2024, has become a new center stage for a rotation of headline-making Big Tech guests like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Palantir's Alex Karp, and Anduril's Palmer Luckey. Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal profiled the hosts, John Coogan and Jordi Hays, reporting that the media company expects $5 million in revenue this year.

That, in turn, has helped make Day Job a hot commodity in the tech world, as startups and VCs seek to stand out with their branding. The growing attention from Silicon Valley is paying off. Harmon said that this year, Day Job has doubled its revenue and head count.

"With Day Job, what separates them is they will make four or five different brand directions that are all viable and all justifiable in different ways," Hays said.

From CPG brands to tech startups

Founded in 2018 by Harmon and Spen Madsen, Day Job is a bootstrapped and has a team of about 20 split between LA, New York, Portland, and Europe. Since its launch, it has worked with hundreds of brands, such as Millennial-coded pastel CBD Recess drinks and the chili crisp sauce brand Fly By Jing. Harmon had also worked on Coogan's Zyn competitor, Excel.

The firm collaborates with clients on a wide range of projects, from brand ideation at the earliest stages, including coming up with a company name, to fine-tuning product and creative design or running advertising campaigns.

While Day Job's roots are in consumer packaged goods like Recess or recent viral protein bar David — which Day Job helped name and created giant billboards of cod in New York City for — more and more tech clients are flocking to the creative agency.

Patron, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on consumer startups, hired Day Job to rebrand the firm and overhaul its website. Stuut, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed AI startup, also got the Day Job treatment this fall. The agency recently worked on advertising campaigns for customer service startup Bland AI and crypto exchange Gemini, too.

"Tech is in an interesting point where brand is becoming more important to them," Harmon said. "There's so much noise. You have to figure out how to talk to your consumer in a more profound way."

Tech needs better branding

Tech brands often look and feel … the same.

"There's this addiction to homogenous design choices right now," Patron's Amber Atherton said. "Every site has the same font, every interface feels so familiar."

Making a company stand out is hard, especially for AI startups.

"AI just kind of has a branding problem," Harmon said. "The valley adopts it … but there's something sort of ominous about something coming for your job."

Day Job worked with Stuut, which uses AI to process payments, to push against that narrative and presented it as a fun tool.

"This isn't some scary tech thing," Harmon said about Stuut's branding. "It's helping you get your job done so you can go home at five to hang out with your family and can go to your kids' soccer game."

Harmon highlighted how Stuut's mascot, a cartoon inspired by vintage clock-in-clock-out machines, is shown eating invoices, and when scrolling to the bottom of the site, "gives you a little kiss."

"Storytelling is kind of everything," Atherton said. "Whether it's fundraising, or hiring, or IPOing — that is so important."

VCs need branding, too.

Atherton said she came to Day Job after hearing about their work with TBPN. The firm wanted "the most non-VC website possible," she said.

When working with clients, Day Job will act as a sort of therapist, probing founders with existential questions. For instance, when working with Patron, Atherton said Day Job asked the VC firm's founding partners to "talk about each other and why you like working with each other and what makes you a strong partnership."

Day Job's style isn't for everyone.

"You've got to be bold, a little bit, to work with them," Atherton said.

Hays compared the agency's vibe to the hip LA neighborhood of Silver Lake, adding that Day Job's aesthetic is "timeless yet internet native."

Demand for creative minds

"It's never been easier to generate creative assets," Hays said. "Anybody can go on ChatGPT or Nano Banana and say, 'Make me a website.'"

But Hays said that AI is "creating more demand than ever" for creative minds who can "think differently" and "break through the noise."

It's something Harmon is taking solace in as he looks forward to the future of creative agencies like his own.

"No AI is going to tell you to name your protein brand David," he said.

And brands are, meanwhile, learning the hard way that not all AI will help you stay relevant or in favor of consumers.

"We may become more valuable in a way because everything goes to the mean," Harmon said. "AI is good at outputting things that have already happened, but they're not good at figuring out what's next."

• Komal Amin joined the gaming company Mighty Bear Games in 2024.
• It introduced a companywide AI mandate in 2022.
• She was daunted at first, but says AI now buys her time to get creative.

This as-told-to-essay is based on a conversation with Komal Amin, 39, who is the head of growth and marketing at Mighty Bear Games and based in London. Her employment has been verified by Business Insider. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm more creative than technical, so the prospect of joining Mighty Bear Games — an independent gaming studio that has had a company-wide AI mandate since 2022 — was daunting.

Now, 20 months after I joined in March 2024, I use AI all the time, both in and outside work: from aggregating news to sending invoices, and planning dates.

The mandate, which requires employees to use AI tools to generate half of their output, encouraged me to find smart ways to focus less on the work I don't like doing and unlock more time to get creative.

The pandemic ended my acting career, but made me a marketer

I wanted to be an actor since I joined a local theater group as a child. Acting was a great way for me to express myself creatively. I went to drama school and for a decade performed in theater, movies, and on TV.

I found other work to pay the bills between jobs. I started by offering theaters and small theater companies help with marketing and social media.

Then COVID-19 hit and I suddenly had loads of time on my hands, which I used to learn about cryptocurrencies and NFTs. I fell in love with the idea of cryptogaming — gaming that uses blockchain technologies — and started creating content about it.

I met Simon Davis, the cofounder of Mighty Bear Games, through an investor I knew. Simon told me the company makes gaming experiences optimized by AI, which speeds up creating content. You play the games on Telegram, be it Solitaire, tower-defense games, or ones where you can win prizes.

I loved the sound of it and joined the company as head of growth in 2024, with the goal of finding users, launching a token, and improving their marketing.

Adopting AI was intimidating at first

When I first discovered an AI content-generation tool, before ChatGPT was released, it felt like I'd discovered some magical universe.

Joining a company where AI use was mandated was mostly exciting — I've always loved being at the forefront of technology — but also intimidating for someone without a technical mind. I'd previously tried to learn to code twice, but I got bored easily.

In my early days on the job, I remember hearing about Claude Code, an AI-powered coding assistant that lives in the command-line window of your computer. It seemed challenging, but Simon helped me set it up and explained how it works. I just needed that push to start using it.

I think the tipping point was when I saw people at the company doing amazing things with AI and realized I could do it too. It inspired me to do more research. I discovered Lindy, for example, which allows you to use plain English language to automate workflows.

I started to see AI as a way to solve some of the pain points in my job.

I've automated boring tasks like invoicing

One major pain point of mine was boring things like monthly reporting or sending invoices. With the help of AI agents on Lindy, I automated those tasks. It enabled me to focus less on rote and process-driven tasks and unlock more time to research the market by seeing what people were sharing on X or TikTok.

I've also saved at least an hour a day by automating a daily scan for the most impactful news related to the gaming industry, AI, and in Telegram channels. This news aggregator summarizes the information and gives it a title, provides source links, and puts it in a dedicated Telegram channel.

My "sentiment scraper" was meanwhile born of trying to get more people onto Telegram by understanding their sentiments about it and whether they knew it was also for gaming and mini-apps, not just chatting.

It scrapes TikTok to find all the posts about Telegram from the past year, captures the content, transcribes it, and sends the data to Google Sheets.

In the past, we would have had an intern scrolling through TikTok trying to make an assessment, but this is a way for us to quickly extract high-level themes using AI tools. It's allowed my team to focus on the next big things without being bogged down by smaller, onerous tasks.

There are downsides to AI but I'm optimistic

I use a variety of AI tools, from Lindy to Claude Code to ChatGPT. I've come to see that AI isn't great at everything. It can hallucinate, and of course, there's a lot of hype about how it's going to take our jobs. It would be naive to say I'm not worried about it taking jobs like mine.

Still, I'm cautiously optimistic. There's so much knowledge required to do a job, and you need experts in every industry. In my line of work, if you're using AI to create memes but not spending time at the source content, how do you know the meme is funny?

I think it's better to do your own research and come to ChatGPT with specific questions rather than using it to create ideas — don't stop using your brain altogether and completely outsource things.

For example, if I want to write something for my blog, I do a mind dump and, knowing that my grammar and syntax are terrible, ask AI to organize my thoughts while preserving the essence of how I write.

Outside my job, I've used ChatGPT to get advice on trading stocks and even to plan dates with my partner. I'll ask it for fun, romantic things to do in London, and I'll prompt it again, suggesting something without alcohol or that's more sporty. I absolutely love it, and it works well for us.

I have more hours in the day now I use AI

Nowadays, thanks to AI, I simply have more hours in the day to follow rabbit holes of my choosing.

I'm constantly experimenting with new tools. I've got about 20 failed experiments behind me, a reminder that there are still limitations to the power of AI. There's still a lot of AI slop out there.

You need to know which guardrails you need, and the output still needs to be authentic to you. But ultimately, thanks to the mandate, I've unlocked more time to be creative.

• Conservatives have tried to cut federal funding for public media for decades.
• This year, they succeeded and clawed back $1 billion from NPR and PBS.
• PBS CEO Paula Kerger says she has to plan on living without that money forever — but still wants to convince Congress to fund her again.

Public broadcasting in America traces its roots back to 1967 — when Lyndon Johnson was President, and there were three broadcast TV networks, no iPhones, and no internet.

Things are very different now, which might explain why major cuts to PBS to NPR, enacted this summer, haven't generated much news now that they're actually working their way through the system.

But they're very top of mind for PBS CEO Paula Kerger, who instituted a 21% budget cut following the clawbacks. She's been spending a lot of time looking for donations to shore things up. She is also still holding out hope that Congress can be convinced to restore the funding.

Kerger is also aware that many Americans don't really know why PBS exists, or how it's funded, or — in her words — why it's crucial it sticks around. She made her case to me in the latest episode of my Channels podcast; an edited excerpt of our conversation follows.

Peter Kafka: Congress clawed back $1 billion from public media this summer. Those cuts are starting to hit your operations now. How are you holding up?

Paula Kerger: The lion's share of the money the federal government appropriated was to stations. For some stations, it's a relatively small portion of their budget, but particularly in rural parts of the country — where I always say we have an outsize influence and importance — it's as much as 30 or 40%. And in the case of Eureka, California, 56% of their budget comes from the federal government.

As soon as the monies were rescinded this summer, a small group of us began working quickly to put together resources for the stations most at risk.

You've brought up the notion that some stations may have to close because of the cuts. Has that happened? Has the bridge funding been enough to keep them alive?

The bridge fund is now close to $65 million. So that immediately puts money into the pockets of stations.

There was one station out of Penn State University that announced it could no longer sustain. It appears that station is going to be supported by the station in Philadelphia, so that is one that could have gone dark. We haven't seen stations yet go off the proverbial cliff, but we're watching very carefully, and I would not be surprised if some stations — whether they get some of this bridge funding or not — realize that it's going to be a bridge too far.

The other issue is the funding of content. We've made some shifts because suddenly a significant amount of money has come off the table.

I've been most focused on NewsHour because that's a nightly news operation — you have to make sure that is funded. They have made some cuts to sustain the core NewsHour service.

Is there any scenario where the money comes back?

We're trying to get a good fix on whether there are opportunities to bring back some of this money. I have been talking to legislators since July — when we were defunded — who didn't quite realize it was their local station that was going to be impacted.

If we could get back some money for them, I think it would make the rest of this easier to figure out. I have not given up.

Where I'm most concerned — because a lot of our stations are doing good work raising money locally — is that people have always been confused about us: Where does your money come from? Does it come from the government or from wherever?

This at least helps people realize, '"Oh, that's what 'viewers like you' means." We've had good success with fundraising, and some stations are doing OK.

But I want to make sure we're not losing stations in places like Cookeville, Tennessee — a part of Appalachia not well-covered by media.

Being able to fill some of those gaps is really critically important.

Let's say you convince Congress to re-fund you. Would you run PBS differently, even if you had your money restored?

This defunding event accelerated a lot of decisions and discussions we were already engaged in.

Over the last year, we've been deliberately working to push our content out on multiple places. We have a very good relationship with YouTube, particularly YouTube TV.

I don't know what media is going to look like five years from now. I do believe there's a continuing role for broadcast. It's one-to-many, and in parts of the country, it is the only way content is accessible. One of the things we tried to talk about during the whole defunding discussion is the work we do with Homeland Security around emergency preparedness. We're pushing content out to first responders, using our broadcast spectrum because it doesn't melt down when there is high demand, which is what happens in an emergency.

And if the money never comes back?

We have to plan [as if] the money is not coming back. If we build a strong foundation for how we operate moving forward, then if we get any piece of the money back, that makes us even stronger.

The original premise for PBS in 1967 was that it was providing a lot of stuff commercial broadcasters didn't. But now there's so much stuff available from so many places. It seems like an anachronism.

I'll tell you why you're wrong, and kids is a great example. There are some good kids' series out there, and I'm not going to say we're the only place for educational kids' content. But our content is deeply tested.

There's a whole generation of kids who grew up on "Sesame Street," but also newer series like "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," and we've done longitudinal studies showing that at age 14 or 15, they can still remember the lessons they learned.

We've been in this business a long time. We are focused on education, not entertainment — though to reach kids, it has to be entertaining. It's the flip side of what everyone else is doing.

You do have way more options now. I'm not suggesting we're the only place, but we have a brand that means something. We put rigor behind our content, and there is a value to it.

So let's stipulate that all the work you do is valuable. But why should the federal government fund it?

Let me just clarify: Federal funding is about 15% [of public media]. A lot of our money comes from philanthropy. A lot of it comes from viewers like you.

I do think that some mix of earned revenue, philanthropic revenue, and strategic partnerships with other media organizations is how you can build this out.

What if a benevolent billionaire or two stepped in and said "I'll replace the federal money you are missing, for years." What would that financial backstop let you do that you're not doing now?

I'm not sure if someone funding us for 10 years is necessarily a good idea, either — because one of the things that has made us who we are is that we've largely been funded by lots of small contributions.

What has made us strong and accountable is that for years, people have written us checks for something they get for free. You only support organizations you believe in, that you think are providing value, that you trust.

So whatever our funding scenario is moving forward, people need to feel bought in — that they own it. This is media for everyone, and people should feel like they have a piece of it.

That said, if we were not worrying about finances all the time, I would love to see us go deeper in the work we do for kids. I see the impact it has had, and our team is relentlessly focused on figuring out how to use emerging technology for the benefit of kids — and to do it in a safe way.

• Startup Firestorm Labs aims to boost US drone production with 3D printers on the battlefield.
• Firestorm has secured $47 million in Series A funding and a $100 million Air Force contract.
• The Pentagon wants to buy hundreds of thousands of US-made drones over the next two years.

The US is light years behind its adversaries in military drone production. A San Diego startup wants to help solve that problem by bringing 3D printers to the battlefield.

Firestorm Labs has designed a small, mobile factory that the company says can fabricate virtually any model of drone or drone part. Each factory consists of two 20-foot shipping containers, outfitted with industrial-grade HP printers. Set-up requires just two to four people, and the company estimates that each factory can currently churn out about 17 small-to-mid-sized drones drones per week. The company also has two of its own drone designs.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has challenged the tech industry to help the US catch up on drones, and Silicon Valley is eager to cash in. Firestorm last year won a $100 million Air Force contract to research and develop unmanned aerial systems. This year, it raised $47 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates, Lockheed Martin Ventures, and others.

Homing in on drones

Chad McCoy, cofounder and chief growth officer at Firestorm, served in the military for 23 years as a pararescueman, a medic trained to jump from aircraft and rappel down mountains to rescue service members or civilians in perilous situations.

One of the pieces of equipment he sorely needed was a small, waterproof box with a single plug to power his medical devices. It took four years for the military to develop and procure it, McCoy said in a 2023 podcast interview. Now, he wants to help the military iterate and produce things faster.

"Logistics is the way we win wars," McCoy told Business Insider. "And if we're able to empower the soldiers and sailors and Marines at the forward edge of the battle, it completely changes the game."

Chinese companies, led by market leader DJI, make tens of millions of drones per year, according to Bobby Sakaki, chief executive of UAS Nexus, a drone industry consultant. As the US races to ramp up its drone capabilities, one big challenge is a lack of parts for the type of drones being used on the battlefield, he said.

When Firestorm co-founders Dan Magy and Ian Muceus pitched McCoy on joining their company a few years ago, they proposed making cheap cruise missiles that could be built in mass quantities. Magy had founded Citadel Defense Company, which made counter drone technology and was acquired in 2021 by BlueHalo. Muceus had worked in aerospace and defense manufacturing at Origin, a 3D printing startup that was acquired by 3D printing company Stratasys.

McCoy, Magy, and Muceus eventually settled on creating a manufacturing solution for drones, which were becoming ubiquitous on the battlefield in places like Ukraine.

It was a fortuitous choice. Hegseth last week announced a plan to solicit bids from US companies to manufacture hundreds of thousands of inexpensive, unmanned drones over the next two years. The Pentagon plans to spend $1 billion on the initiative.

"We cannot be left behind," Hegseth said in a Defense Department video posted on YouTube.

For Firestorm, one challenge could be convincing the Pentagon to use drones made out of nylon instead of materials like steel and carbon fiber. The startup may also have to adjust its move-fast mentality to the reality of working with the federal government. Hegseth has said he wants to speed up the Pentagon's notoriously slow acquisition process.

A go-anywhere factory

Firestorm's pitch is that its mobile manufacturing facilities could help the US reach its drone ambitions.

"If we could create weapons anywhere in the world," McCoy said, "that would be a massive force multiplier."

Firestorm's mobile factory is called xCell. The sides of each shipping container pop out to create more space inside. The facility is designed to work in a range of climates; the company has tested its HVAC systems in arctic conditions in northern Canada, McCoy said.

Firestorm has a handful of xCells in the US. The company says that by the first quarter of 2026, it will have one stationed somewhere in the US Indo-Pacific Command, a vast area stretching from the west coast of the US to India and from Antarctica to the North Pole.

Firestorm's two drone designs, called Tempest and Hurricane, are customizable with open software development tools.

Eventually, McCoy hopes xCell can print more than just drones, perhaps venturing into prosthetics or medical devices.

"I think we can change how combat is fought and how logistics are done," he said.

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