Michael Karnjanaprakorn

After spending a great year in New Orleans, I’ve decided to move to NYC next month. It was a very hard decision to make but I feel it’s the best thing for my career and personal life.

While I was living in London, I had a strong urge to be in New Orleans. After watching Hurricane Katrina destroy New Orleans, I’ve always wanted to be there to help rebuild one of the world’s greatest cities. Looking back, I’m grateful for going with my gut and moving to a city to help rebuild.  It wasn’t easy.  Especially when I moved here knowing zero people.  Nevertheless, it’s been a humbling and eye-opening experience. Something I wouldn’t trade for anything. Not even a mint Michael Jordan rookie card. (Does anyone even collect cards anymore?)

One observation I’ve made is that a lot of young professionals want to change the world. Right after graduation, they enter “community service” programs like Teach for America and Peace Corps. In 2007, I decided to create my own New Orleans “program” which revolved around my biggest strength – advertising. Trumpet took me in (thank you so much) and created a newly formed role for me as a Connection Planner. While here, I’ve spent every waking moment getting involved with everything from hosting Likemind Coffee to creating AllDayBuffet. That paid off as I got featured in the Times Picayune as an emerging leader. And let’s not forget about overindulging myself with eating, drinking and staying out way past my bedtime. Even as I write this, I know that I will miss drinking and dancing in the street and the cheese fries at F&M’s at 3 in the morning.

All good things can not last forever; they must come to an end.

The best advice I got this year was that, “you have to know where you’re headed to make good decisions. Everything you do and all the decisions you make should put you one step closer to what you ultimately want to do.” After a lot of self-reflection, I realized that my passion lies in Creative Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I think a lot of people hop from job-to-job to “figure out” what they want to do. This results in a horizontal career path with no upward mobility. Even though I went to school for “advertising”, I want to move one step closer to becoming a successful creative entrepreneur. I know that I can do this in New Orleans but I feel that I need to be in NYC right now to accomplish my next set of goals.

So, that’s that! I’ll be here in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and moving to NYC in a couple of weeks. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to start this new chapter in my life. Most importantly, my gut is telling me this is right. And going with my gut has never let me down yet.