Ep. 52 - Trouble comes in threes w/ Amanda Snyder Cathey
Sep 9, 2026 · 46 min · 8 segments
It’s James here. A few months back a friend sent me a text to an article with the headline “…
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Sep 9, 2026 · 46 min · 8 segments
It’s James here. A few months back a friend sent me a text to an article with the headline “…
Amanda Snyder CatheyGuest
James ChaeHost
Drew LitowitzHost
designers, specifically designers who are working with a larger employer at an institution or a larger company.
You know, I remember being a young designer and like having my first meeting with HR being handed all these different forms and documents and not having like a clue as to like, what's my insurance benefits package was a 401k.
And like, wishing like i really wish i had a better understanding of this and then on the flip side like you know i this wasn't the case when i was was laid off in the past but like yeah how to navigate that fog like all right like what are the few things that really need to be covered and whether it become rent or if I have prescription medication or have student loans, like that was like a huge thing that I needed to solve at that time too.
And for many designers who have paid for a very expensive design education, like that's a huge burden, right? Like...
And so what I love about your tool is that you have at the bottom here after you can like search through the different types of programs to that you have very well organized and after selecting your state.
You have a checklist like what is the first week checklist like what things that you need to kind of look for and and look into.
As you mentioned, like that fog, like, okay, what, what's the next step? Like, how do I put my foot forward in, in dealing with this situation? Even if you had some foresight into it, right? Like, It's a totally different thing once the decision has been made and the letters have been sent.
And I think that was one of the things that was so beautiful and humbling about you know, getting this out there initially on LinkedIn was just like the outpouring of like people that were so grateful for it.
Cause I always knew like I cared about people, right? Like that was one of the things, even in my career, like I was always about the people and supporting teams and excited about seeing folks grow even though i wasn't a manager but i think that's definitely something something that resonates for me so yeah i just wanted it to be something that could just help folks in this time that that i you know had experienced myself that can be just so tricky and even things like you know i didn't know that if i have a severance package can i even file for unemployment.
Also too, like I ended up, we qualified for Medicaid, which I had no idea.
designers, specifically designers who are working with a larger employer at an institution or a larger company.
You know, I remember being a young designer and like having my first meeting with HR being handed all these different forms and documents and not having like a clue as to like, what's my insurance benefits package was a 401k.
And like, wishing like i really wish i had a better understanding of this and then on the flip side like you know i this wasn't the case when i was was laid off in the past but like yeah how to navigate that fog like all right like what are the few things that really need to be covered and whether it become rent or if I have prescription medication or have student loans, like that was like a huge thing that I needed to solve at that time too.
And for many designers who have paid for a very expensive design education, like that's a huge burden, right? Like...
And so what I love about your tool is that you have at the bottom here after you can like search through the different types of programs to that you have very well organized and after selecting your state.
You have a checklist like what is the first week checklist like what things that you need to kind of look for and and look into.
As you mentioned, like that fog, like, okay, what, what's the next step? Like, how do I put my foot forward in, in dealing with this situation? Even if you had some foresight into it, right? Like, It's a totally different thing once the decision has been made and the letters have been sent.
And I think that was one of the things that was so beautiful and humbling about you know, getting this out there initially on LinkedIn was just like the outpouring of like people that were so grateful for it.
Cause I always knew like I cared about people, right? Like that was one of the things, even in my career, like I was always about the people and supporting teams and excited about seeing folks grow even though i wasn't a manager but i think that's definitely something something that resonates for me so yeah i just wanted it to be something that could just help folks in this time that that i you know had experienced myself that can be just so tricky and even things like you know i didn't know that if i have a severance package can i even file for unemployment.
Also too, like I ended up, we qualified for Medicaid, which I had no idea.
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