🙏Week 1 – Faith, Work, and Silicon Valley
Hello friend,
Thank you deeply for subscribing to The Valleyist! I'm honored that you're joining me on this 52 week journey.
So what exactly is The Valleyist?
It's a weekly newsletter on three topics: faith, work, and Silicon Valley.
Some weeks I might focus on a single topic while other weeks I might weave them together. I don't know exactly where you and I will go over the course of this project, but I promise that I'll always be honest. No pretenses here 🙅
In fact, I'll get that out of the way right now: I'm anxious about this newsletter. In addition to the normal, ravaging-self-doubt pit in my stomach that comes from openly sharing personal thoughts, I also have a covering-new-territory-for-the-first-time-with-a-new-audience kind of pit.
The first pit I can handle. But the second? The second pit is a doozy, folks.
Before we begin, I thought it might be helpful if I gave you a little context on who I am and where I'm coming from. So here it is, broken down by topic:
Faith
I try to live like Jesus with the help of others. I try to stay silent long enough to hear from God. I try to love those around me.
Work
I'm a designer. As a designer, who I am and what I do are inextricably linked -- design is the lens through which I've seen the world since childhood.
Besides wanting to be a construction worker (3 years old) and an NBA player (the dream died in 4th grade -- I didn't think scouts would be able to find me in Japan), the only thing I've ever wanted to be is a designer. It's God's calling on my life.
Silicon Valley
I moved to the Bay Area in 2014 to start my career at Google (I had just turned 21), and five years later it's the longest place I've lived outside of Tokyo.
I've grown to love Silicon Valley, but when you love something you should also be its harshest critic. Love is both because of and even though.
At the end of each newsletter (congrats! you've reached the end 😅) I'll ask a question that's been placed on my heart.
If you feel like it resonates, please reply to this email with your reflections!
Over the course of the newsletter I'll share some of the responses (anonymously) at the bottom of the next email in a section called "Fellow Valleyists." I hope this creates a sense of camaraderie.
Today's question:
How would you describe yourself in the context of faith, work, or where you live?
In peace,
Justin