Meta layoff crushed her confidence – now she says, ‘start before you second-guess yourself’

When Meta laid off Emily Pitcher in 2023, she felt like her world had collapsed. The 26-year-old content designer had tied much of her identity to working at a Big Tech company, and suddenly, that sense of purpose disappeared.

The layoff initially felt like a personal failure slowly turned into something else, the beginning of a completely different career. Today, the Los Angeles-based creator is working as an indie game developer, content creator, and voice actor. She is also preparing to launch her upcoming game, ‘Lily’s World XD’, with a publisher later this year.