Replay: A Look Back At How Shinah Chang Went From High-Powered Attorney To A Million Dollar Calligraphy Business

Lessons from a Quitter

This week's episode is a replay of Episode 31: How Shinah Chang quit the straight path of law for Crooked Calligraphy. And stick around for an update from Shinah at the end!

Shinah is a whiskey-loving, curse-word slinging, Harvard-trained former corporate attorney who left everything behind to find her passion. Shinah spent her entire life on the straight, "proper" path. She went to an Ivy League college, then a prestigious Law School, then worked her butt off as a corporate attorney for a big international law firm. But, after one too many days of uninspiring work and nights of sleeping under her desk, she decided she wanted to reclaim her life! She quit her job and explored so many creative avenues - knitting, woodworking, drawing, graphic design. But CALLIGRAPHY is what she fell in love with.

Shinah needed plenty of inspiration along the way, but the usual sugary, sincere stuff about beauty and dreams didn't reflect what she was really feeling. So she created Crooked Calligraphy to spread creativity, courage and honest, gritty life inspiration through calligraphy.

Crooked Calligraphy has worked with huge brands like Disney, Anthropologie, Jo Malone, and Dom Perignon, but Shinah's favorite work is teaching calligraphy and encouraging her students to look their fears in the face and move toward a life that will make them happy.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

• How she spent her childhood working towards the predictable path to "success" including getting a 1600 on her SATs and getting into Harvard
• How affirmation and praise can become a drug that keeps you in doing things you hate
• How she started realizing that she wanted to quit her job as a corporate lawyer and what steps she took before quitting
• How she quit law without having any idea of what to do next
• What she did in order to figure out what her next steps would be
• The importance of exploration and experimentation in finding your passions
• How she found calligraphy and how it turned into a business
• How she figured out her unique brand and voice with Crooked Calligraphy