Hey, I'm Candice Lim.

And I'm Kate Lindsay. And you're listening to I see why am I.

In case you missed it.

Slate's podcast about internet culture.

And Candice, I don't think I've ever asked you this, but I want to hear about your first scrappy, like out-of-college job.

Yes, yes, at NPR. That was a very fun time. I honestly

think it really, it really felt like I was in my early 20s, hustling in D.C., like running from

studio to studio, passing by, you know, all these people I loved at NPR. But I will admit, definitely not well

paid. Definitely overworked. Definitely too scared to ask for overtime. I remember that very, very

clearly. And I do remember the best day of my life during that time was when I got promoted

from intern to like temp. And I remember someone was like, oh yeah, the best part is you finally are going to get paid more. remember someone was like oh yeah the best part is you

finally are going to get paid more and I was like oh my god how much and they said

$21 and 25 cents an hour and I truly was like everyone drinks on me yeah I am Elon Musk yeah

yep yep yeah what about you do you remember yeah so I weirdly I basically cobbled together a lot of gigs right out of college.

Because while I was in college, I started writing for a website for, speaking of I Am Rich, $25 an article.

Yep.

And I would churn those out and, you know, dine like a queen at the one bar on campus. And then when I was doing that in New York,

I got an internship at a different website. Both of these websites, by the way, don't exist now.

And I was also working at a yarn store. And so at one point, my weeks looked like I think I had

Thursday off. That was my only day where I had nothing because I had just

stacked all these things. I was doing morning shifts, evening shifts. And again, the word hustle

comes to mind. That's what I told myself. I'm hustling. It sounds like you had the same thing.

...