#127 The Art of Quitting & Reinvention - Nina Simon on living "off the grid" in an intentional community, taking "turns" in marriage and work, having kids on an unconventional path & leaving her dream job at NASA

At each professional crossroad, Nina Simon has made the choice most likely to disappoint her mother. She left an electrical engineering job at NASA to design spy museum exhibits, said goodbye to a museum directorship to start a global movement for more inclusive cultural organizations, and now has put down her CEO hat to write crime fiction. Her first novel, Mother-Daughter Murder Night, will be published in 2023 by William Morrow. Nina lives off the grid in the Santa Cruz mountains with 20 people, 16 chickens, 2 trampolines, and 1 zipline.

We talk about:

• Leaving her dream job • Living in an intentional "off the grid" community • What she learned from her ambitious days as a museum industry leader • Marriage & kids on an unconventional path • Writing her novel

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• Her Website: NinaSimon.com • Twitter: @ninaksimon TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Audio intro 0:12 Introduction 1:37 The scripts Nina grew up with 4:43 Did Nina see herself as creative growing up? 5:39 Nina's education and why she hated her dream job at NASA 12:17 Fitting your life into your job vs fitting your job into your life 14:39 Nina's approach to money, building a marriage that supports entrepreneurship 19:55 Writing books 27:39 Giving herself a permission 33:17 Making choices that are not "the right choice" 38:37 The non-traditional paths and having kids 46:08 Reinventing yourself, knowing when to leave 52:42 Constructing backward narratives about our lives

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