Wow, who made all these new illustrations?

Hey there Informational Interviewers!

Today I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to Anna Sorokina who has graciously agreed to illustrate my weekly articles.

When I started this newsletter, I knew it would be important to have a visual component to my writing. With that in mind, I created a few illustrations to go with the first few articles I wrote. I’m actually pretty proud of those illustrations. I think they’re kind of cute, if I do say so myself. That said, they took me a really long time to create. I was also aware that a professional illustrator might be able to create more interesting and compelling visual elements. So, I decided to pause and hire a real and proper illustrator for The Art of the Informational Interview.

I was amazed to receive over 150 applications for the role of illustrator (I posted the gig on the Listings Project, which you should definitely subscribe to). It was super fun and interesting looking at everyone’s artwork. There are a lot of talented illustrators and designers out there. In the end, however, Anna’s work really stood out.

I was intrigued by Anna’s art because it felt sophisticated and ambitious. For me, it evoked the complex, multi-dimensional aspirations of the modern informational interviewer. There’s melancholy, ambition, optimism, hope, sophistication and ambivalence in her illustrations, all of which are very real parts of vocational self-discovery.

I also liked how Anna didn’t go for the on-the-nose interpretation of my articles every time. She came up with interesting figurative and metaphorical ways of illustrating the concepts I was trying to explain. Her work felt like it would add its own though provoking element to The Art of the Informational Interview.

I’m very excited to work with Anna and to continue writing and publishing articles on informational interviewing. As this publication grows and evolves, I hope to bring in additional illustrators and maybe even some guest writers. I know there are many many talented artists and writers out there who might have something to say about informational interviewing and vocational self discovery.

For now, though, I have quite the backlog of articles to write, that I’m excited to share with you, along with Anna’s visual interpretation.

Please join me in welcoming Anna to the Art of the Informational Interview. And if you haven’t done so already check out her:

• Website

• Instagram

Best!

Emma