Lauren Danziger serves as the Executive Director of the Meatpacking Improvement District, a nonprofit serving the historical Meatpacking District neighborhood in Manhattan. This role supports the financial development of the neighborhood through the management of public spaces, fundraising, and creating new initiatives for the area. While Danziger’s role serves as a fulfilling career and offers a crucial public service to  district, it isn’t the job she initially set out for.

Before serving as a nonprofit Executive Director, Lauren Danziger was working sixty-hour weeks for a New York City financial institution. This lucrative but exhausting position was terminated in 2008 with the onset of the Great Recession. Being resourceful and pragmatic, Danziger tried a few different routes, attempting to start a baking and catering company and later getting her first nonprofit experience in a Chamber of Commerce which put her in contact with other small businesses. Through a tip from a friend, Danziger found the opportunity through the Meatpacking Improvement District and brought her nonprofit experience into a new role with new responsibilities and new ways of serving the community.

There is a lesson to be learned in Danziger’s varied career. Many people entering the workforce today, young people in particular, are anxious about their path. They worry that they’ve wasted thousands of dollars for undergraduate degrees in fields that aren’t hiring. Many worry that they’ll find themselves in some dreary nine-to-five prison doing work that offers no fulfillment or satisfaction. In Danziger’s career, we can see a possible antidote for those anxieties. There’s reassurance in knowing that with some resourcefulness and initiative, a bad situation can be turned around and lead to a new career. Skills and experience from one field can be put to good use in a variety of others, and in the variety of fields, it’s possible to find one that offers much more than the field someone initially set out for.

Danziger, Lauren. ‘Losing My Job Was the Beginning of My Career. Business Daily. 26 November 2017. Web. 3 October 2017.

Last updated on January 26th, 2018 at 01:38 pm