1A Journalist Jodi Kantor On Finding Your Life’s Work
May 12, 2026
Jodi Kantor, a New York Times investigative reporter and author best known for exposing Harvey Weinstein, discusses how young people can discover meaningful work. She reflects on commencement hesitation, the pressures of today’s job market, the value of craft and teamwork, pairing skills with societal need, and practical steps for starting a durable, fulfilling career.
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Use Durable Strategies To Start Your Life's Work
- Ask yourself what practical steps will make you the author of your life rather than letting uncertainty paralyze you.
- Jodi Kantor urges durable, time-tested strategies over glib self-help amid AI-driven labor shifts to regain agency and hope.
Campus Anxiety Mirrors A Decade Of Labor Disillusion
- Rising campus disenchantment reflected broader labor anxieties seen in Kantor's reporting since 2017.
- Students began avoiding the word 'job' and expressed fear that work had become dystopian even at elite schools.
Exaria Meekly's Unpaid Research And Sacred Motivation
- Exaria Meekly kept working unpaid in a Columbia lab after funding cuts while bartending nights to pursue a research psychology path.
- Her brother's overdose motivated her addiction-research goal and exemplified stalled but sacred student ambition.
