For many multicultural creatives and industry professionals, the first big job is often seen as a major badge of honor. In a culture that frequently demands minority professionals work twice as hard just to be seen, success becomes synonymous with constant visibility and being at the top of one’s game at all times. This pressure often leads to a cycle where personal value is determined entirely by professional output.
“For a lot of multicultural creatives, work became tied to worth as soon as they started their first big girl or boy job,” Cristina Jerome, tells GU. “As a creative and Afro Latina myself, it is a flex. I get it, but when your identity is completely attached to your career, burnout starts to feel personal. As soon as you get laid off or move to another industry, it is easy to feel invisible.”
Off Worque, a non-profit social club founded by Jerome, focuses on teaching people to detach from their job titles to reconnect with who they are outside of productivity. Jerome explains that many people do not realize how much of their identity has been consumed by their career until someone asks them who they are outside of it. To combat this, she launched a Worque Life/Balance card game that removes the standard professional icebreakers.
“The energy changes immediately,” she says. “The second people cannot lead with their job title, the conversation gets way more human and interesting. Instead of networking mode, people start talking about what actually makes them happy, what they are struggling with, or what they want outside of work. There is less performing and more connecting. Honestly, that alone feels healing for a lot of people.”
With no federally mandated paid time off in the United States, taking a break can feel impossible for freelancers and gig workers. To address this gap in accessibility, Off Worque is currently raising $100,000 for the Out Of Office fund to provide financial support for rest.
“What rest looks like will be different for everyone and that is the point,” she says. “For some people, it may mean finally catching up on sleep at home. For others, it could look like a spa day, spending uninterrupted time in a creative studio with no pressure to produce, or taking a class that helps them reconnect with themselves outside of work. We want people to define rest for themselves instead of forcing it into one aesthetic or experience. Rest should not feel exclusive. It should feel accessible.”
While Gen Z is often mislabeled as lazy, 77% of workers are actually experiencing burnout. Jerome believes this generation is simply setting better boundaries and recognizing that the old way of working is no longer sustainable.
“It is easy to call the younger generation lazy when they have actually figured it out: no one needs to work this hard,” Jerome explains. “Our programming is intentionally designed to help professionals reconnect with themselves outside of productivity in tangible, everyday ways. Most of our events take place after work hours, usually starting around 6PM on weekdays, because we want people to choose themselves before automatically going home to open their laptop again.”
This mission also shifts the focus away from individual self-care toward community-centered experiences. Jerome argues that the traditional, isolated methods of coping with stress are no longer enough to fix a systemic problem like collective burnout.
“You cannot face mask and journal your way out of collective burnout. We need each other,” she shares. “In our major hub cities like DC or LA, the majority of our community are transplants looking for friends outside of the workplace to connect with outside of the workplace. There is only so much healing you can do on your own. By promoting togetherness, you become heard. We become an expression point for most and it is fulfilling to do it in a space that gets it.”
You can donate to the Off Worque Out Of Office Fund online at Give Butter.