Amber: Don't force the fit.

Season 2 kicks off with Amber (she/her), someone who has never stayed in a life that didn’t fit. From Texas Tech to flight attendant, from a post-9/11 pivot to a master’s degree in London, from being “under-qualified” for marketing roles back home to building a career across sports, student marketing, and ultimately professional tour guiding, Amber’s story is a masterclass in adaptability. Today she leads tours across London, Oxford, and Paris (sometimes in full costume) and has earned multiple prestigious guiding qualifications. In this episode, Kristin and Amber talk about career reinvention, contingency plans, learning as a lifestyle, and what it looks like to stop forcing a fit and start building a life shaped like you.

How to get in touch:

• americantourguideinlondon.com
• @americanldn on Instagram

Transcript

Kristin 0:03

Welcome to Everything Counts But Nothing Is Real, a podcast about careers, detours, and the absurdity of work. Here we explore the twists, the pivots, and the tiny choices that shape our work lives with humor, feminism, and honesty. I'm your host, Kristen. Let's get into it. Hello, and welcome to Everything Counts But Nothing Is Real. Today's guest is someone that has been in my life and my family for many years, but through like in-laws of in-laws. And we've never actually met, but we have been social media friends for a long time. And this interview is our first time meeting. So it's a huge deal, and I'm so excited. Amber, she her, is someone who never stayed in a life that didn't fit. After graduating from Texas Tech University, she took a job she hated and promptly ran off to become a flight attendant. When 9-11 changed everything, Amber followed a long-held dream across the Atlantic, moving to London to earn her master's degree, which she did. Back in Texas, she found herself boxed out of marketing roles due to a lack of experience. So she pivoted into retail management, but London never stopped calling. In 2005, she hopped back across the pond, this time for good. There, Amber built a marketing career across sports and student marketing before making a bold pivot yet again, this time into tour guiding. Today she holds six tour guiding qualifications and thrives, leading tours in London, Oxford, and Paris, sometimes even in full costume. Amber, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm your first international guest. Welcome to you! I mean, you really are. You're making me feel like I am so worldly. So you are, darling. Thanks for wanting to be on the show. I want to know how you usually tell people what you do for a living.

Amber 1:55

For a long time, I told people that I worked in marketing. And it wasn't until I felt got really comfortable in tour guiding that I said I'm a tour guide. And so now I just say I'm a tour guide. It's so funny because sometimes the question I, you know, what do you do? Oh, I'm a tour guide. Oh, really? Where? And I say, London. And they go, Oh, where?

Kristin 2:17

And I'm like, everywhere.

Amber 2:21

My husband affectionately says that I walk the streets for money. Oh, and yeah. And it's true, I do. Uh, but um, yeah, anyway. London. So I'm an I'm a tour guide. Yeah.

Kristin 2:33

I love that. I think it's amazing. It's amazing. It's such a cool job. I can't wait to talk about it more. Um, but what about your work or life is currently like lighting you up right now?

Amber 2:44

Um, I'm I am excited because in January and July, I often do trips to Paris where I do tours, uh big um coach full of students from South America, Kazakhstan, Europe, and they are usually doing um either a a study abroad program or just a travel abroad. And so I get to go to Paris. So I'm really looking forward to going to Paris very soon.

Kristin 3:07

A Paris trip in January. That's so perfect.

Amber 3:09

Yeah. Paris in January and Paris in July. Two great, great times to go. Two excellent. It's not too cold right now in Paris, right? It will be, but that's what thermals are for. So there's a there's a I think it's a Swedish proverb. It says there is no bad weather, only poor clothing. I have heard this from some friends who live in the Midwest. Yeah. So but I'm and I'm I am excited. I just uh just finished a qualification called the Blue Badge, which is a huge tour guiding qualification. It's two years and it is very grueling. It feels like you're doing a PhD. And so I just finished that. And so now I I'm actually transitioning from work that I've been doing in the past where I wasn't a blue badge, to now going into the blue badge work where I'm I'm getting paid a higher rate, but also I'm getting to tour inside buildings, you know, inside the tower, inside Westminster Abbey. And and it's it's there's different clientele and there's there's different opportunities for for tour guiding itself. So I'm I'm really excited about that. It's really great.

Kristin 4:16

That's huge. So so I guess what I'm hearing is there is an accreditation organization. Yeah.

Amber 4:23

So interestingly, there are places like, for example, Italy. Italy, uh, governments really organize and and control tour guiding. You have to have a license, you know, a license to be a tour guide in Italy, for example, but in the UK you don't. There are these tour guide organizations that have come together. They have created, you know, a course that you take, a study course. The other badges I have were each a year long. Um, and uh there, so there's there's a course that you take, and then you take exams, uh, and then you you get a badge from that accredited accredited organization. And uh and the uh Institute of Tourist Guiding, they have created, you know, there's the blue badge course, which is they also have the green badge, which I have one of those as well, and a white badge, which I have one of those as well. So the white badge is for like a building, so St. Paul's Cathedral, I have a badge for that. The green badge is an area, specific area, so City of London, so the specific square mile area that, and now the blue badge, which is a little bit bigger. And so there are accreditations, but you don't have to have that. So, like I started off when I was doing my master's degree here. I was on the double decker buses as a part-time job, you know, and and they do a training course and they teach you everything, and you're on the same route. So you you learn their spiel and then you add things in as you go, and that's quite fun.

Kristin 5:43

Yeah.

Amber 5:44

Um, and then I was like, when I wanted to take it seriously, then I started, okay, well, let me do this course and let me do that course and let me do that one. And I love to learn, love to learn. So I and I also never got to be in the Girl Scouts and I always wanted badges. So I just collected all the badges.

Kristin 6:00

Yeah, and I made a path that has badges. Congratulations. Thank you. That's actually huge, though. Truly congratulations on the blue badge. That's incredible to get to go into those spaces that you didn't do before.

Amber 6:13

It's such, it's it's not okay, it's not a job for me. It is such an experience. I mean, there are people who, you know, you you you plan a vacation, right? You you save up your money, you build your time off, you know, you start planning for your vacation. You're like, oh, should we go on a tour? Should we go do this? Or I don't know what that is, maybe we should go see that or whatever, you know. And I get to be the one here going, hi, welcome. Let me show you my adopted city. Let me tell you about this really cool, interesting fact that you did not know. Or, you know, let me tell you about this really gruesome execution in the 1500s or whatever it is. It's so cool because, you know, when my husband and I go on vacation, we come back and we often remember something that we learned or something we saw, or a tour guide said something, or whatever. And I'm doing that. And it's so cool. I get to help people create memories. And if they have children, perhaps I'm planting a seed for them to love travel or love history or want to get into politics or, you know, art or whatever it is. I absolutely don't see it as just a job.

Kristin 7:20

Let's back up a little and let's talk about your origins, your background. Here's where we usually talk about either astrology or our family of origin, our birth order. What are some of the things that shaped you?

Amber 7:34

So I was an only child for a while, and then I got a younger brother. And then um uh I'm a Leo. I was born in the year of the dragon. Woo! Double fire, so fiery.

Kristin 7:49

Crazy.

Amber 7:50

Um, and I don't understand the retrograde or the passing or the rising. I don't, I don't know what and I have tried, I have tried to educate myself on TikTok with this, and I I can't figure it out. So I'm just like, well, um, yeah, that sure. I don't know. I just know I'm a Leo and I'm a dragon. Let's do this.

Kristin 8:10

As long as those two things fit and feel like they they tell your story, that's all you need.

Amber 8:15

And I think on E N T J, yeah, ENTJ, if we're doing Marsh Briggs. Uh-huh.

Kristin 8:22

So that kind of stuff speaks to you, like helping you sort of have a framework for how you fit into the world. Is that something that you're interested in?

Amber 8:32

I love a personality test. I love going, ooh, what am I? Ooh. And then you read it and you're like, yep, yep, yep, yep. It would be so great if we all had tattooed to our arms, like who we are and what we are, and what inspires us and what triggers us and what motivates us, because I think the we would just all function better. It was all laid out and we all had instruction manuals, right? That would be great, but we don't. But for me, you know, motivation, uh, what motivates me. And I I think the the thing that motivates me the most is um recognition and prestige. And so having the blue badge, for example, or having a badge, you know, as opposed to not being a badged guide at all. You know, there's a there's that accreditation that's important, you know, getting my master's, that was accreditation. That was, you know, something to strive to that motivated me.

Kristin 9:18

Well, the Leo tracks, I appreciate that sharing. Um, I'd also love to know, you built a really beautiful life in London. Do you feel like Texas shaped you at all and how you carry that into your life now?

Amber 9:32

Definitely. You know, in Texas, we, as you know, we are raised to know that Texas is the best state, right? It it they kind of drill that in. I mean, we have a whole year of learn about Texas. No other state does that, right? You know, and being an American, you know, America has that sense of pride and that sense of, you know, that bravado as well. And that is very different to the British psyche and the I mean, culture shock. And I had to experience culture shock twice, really, or three times, if you think about it, because I moved over here and I was a school environment, you know, masters and that sort of thing. Moved back to Texas. And then we moved back again, you know, the final time to come back here. So I kind of experienced culture shock each time I moved for different reasons. Um and it it does shake me. And when I started working, you know, in an office environment and everything, and I'm like coming in all guns blazing, this and that. I've got these great ideas, you know. And it also didn't help that I worked in uh sports marketing, which was football, which is soccer. And, you know, so it was like, who is this young American female, you know, with ideas? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, go make a cup of tea, you know, that kind of thing. And so that was that was hard. And so it has shaped me a lot.

Kristin 10:50

Um, that made me think of, oh, I wanted to know how where you met your husband in all this.

Amber 10:56

So when I graduated from Texas Tech, the first job I got was I was told it was a marketing job. It was not a marketing job, it's a financial document company. And uh he worked there. And for the first two weeks I was there, I sat at his desk and he wasn't there. He was in London working for two weeks because he thought he wanted to move there. And then he came back and he was hot. Oh, so so you know, so we started dating, and so that's how we met. And then he moved. And I uh it's the the industry is it's 24 hours. So it's like seven to three, three to eleven, eleven to seven. And I got switched to the 11 to 7 night shift, you know. So I was one night sitting there thinking, well, if I wanted to go see him in London, how much would it cost? So I'm on this, you know, website for Continental Airlines, and they were hiring the next day. And I was like, What? So I didn't go home and sleep. I went to an interview, got the job, and became a flight attendant. And it was amazing because I'd always wanted to be a flight, like always wanted to be a flight attendant. My parents were divorced when I was four. So I would fly back and forth between Dallas and Houston to visit them, and my mom would buy me these outfits that look like a flight attendant. The flight attendants would let me pass out the peanuts. So I told them I had work experience. It was so fun. So yeah, so I became a flight attendant. I flew, and it was amazing. That was going out on a limb. I put everything into storage and I got on a one-way ticket to Newark, New Jersey, and I lived in a crash pad.

Kristin 12:17

So it's just such a wild ride. And I think what I'm learning is that you have had these closely held dreams, and you're also not afraid to just make a pivot. Just take a chance. And I think that's incredible.

Amber 12:31

I think I was trained that way. Um, so growing up, we moved a lot. I went to like a new school every year. I was constantly standing on shifting sand, you know, and constantly having to be the new person in the room and make friends quickly, and you don't know how long you're gonna be there or whatever. And and it just um, yeah, you know, my my dad and my grandfather were both people that I always saw, you know, they'd go in, they'd own the room, you know, and you know, nobody was a stranger, everyone was a friend, you know, and and and they they just were charismatic and they people were on got on board, you know, and I just thought, well, I can do that. And I did, and it was great, and it served well. It's served very well, and it helps me to be more adaptable.

Kristin 13:16

I agree. These are things I've like always valued when I've watched people who can own a room, and I think that's I want to do that. That's such a skill. When it comes to some of these pivots, did they feel intentional or did they feel instinctual or maybe some combo of both?

Amber 13:30

No, they felt like I was in survival mode because I was reacting in the moment. I mean, my dad always said, do the best you can with what you got and don't worry about the rest. And I I feel like I I did that. For example, so 9-11 happened and I was like, okay, well, I'd been thinking about going back and doing my master's degree. I've always wanted to do my master's, and I always wanted to study abroad, and I never got to do that. So maybe I can do that. Maybe that's a thing. And then I came over here and I was looking at different options, and and one of the options was go to Le Cor d'On Bleu, which is a chef school. And I got accepted to that. And I was like, okay, great, that's wonderful. And then I applied for student loan. And apparently the US government did not see that as a viable place to spend their money. So I was like, okay, then I'll find this uh business program over here, international marketing. Is that is that uh is that schooly enough for you there, US government? Yes, okay, great. So student loan. And uh, you know, it was like, okay, well, then we'll go with that. And but you always have to have contingency plans.

Kristin 14:33

I think that that's such a lesson that you're drawing out is to have those multiple tracks because life does change. You know, 9-11 was obviously nothing that anyone predicted, but you had other things on your mind and ways in which you could pivot.

Amber 14:48

I didn't want to leave the airline. I saw myself as, you know, when I got in, especially when I transitioned from being a flight attendant to operational performance department, I saw that vice president wasn't the title of one person, but a title of many. There were many vice, and I thought, well, I'll just be a vice president of something, you know? I'll find an amber-shaped vice president hole and I'll fit into that. And so, you know, and I'll fly around the world for free and it'll be fun. And that was the plan.

Kristin 15:16

Yeah, clearly that didn't continue. It's so interesting how the things that are out of our control shape the things that we then choose. Talk to me about whenever you were told that you lacked experience and you're sort of having a hard time landing in that marketing world. Talk to me about that time.

Amber 15:35

So, the program I did here in London, it was a program that included study, obviously, studies and exams and classes and all of that stuff. I did an internship when I was here, which was great. And I did a thesis. Okay, so I did all of those three elements and then graduated. And I like at the same time that I graduated, uh, Clint's company was going through redundancies. And so his con London contract ended. So he had to get shipped back to Houston. So we moved back to Houston. And yeah, I I was looking everywhere for jobs, marketing jobs, and I would go on these interviews, and they're like, well, you have a lot of great, you know, education, but you don't have any marketing experience. And I was like, okay, and like you don't have any management experience, you don't have any of that, you know. I it was just uh, you don't have real world experience. And I was really stressed about that. So I thought, well, okay, well, what can I do? So I went and worked in retail. I was an assistant manager at Coles. That gives you lots of experience. I mean, I had worked in in the mall in high school. So it, you know, that was just something I kind of fell back on. And I wanted to get in marketing, but you know, retail has elements of marketing and and you know, there's there's so much. So I I enjoyed it and I learned a lot of skills. And at that point, I knew that no matter what I do moving forward, I have to look at it as this is a skill, and I'm gonna put this in my backpack for later.

Kristin 16:56

Oh, that resonates with me so much because that's how I've made all of my choices. Like I'm going somewhere. And that is really where the everything counts comes from, is that is something that guided me for years because it's gonna count. It doesn't, I don't know what it's counting towards at the moment, but it's gonna count. You're you're for sure an embodiment of that.

Amber 17:14

You know, when I was a candy striper in high school for a summer in radiology department, I never had an an inkling idea to go into medicine and never thought radiology was something I wanted to do or anything like that, but those skills of volunteering, showing up every day, you know, understanding how to how to have a boss, how to manage my time, how to manage my commute, and then having compassion for people and answering questions and answering phones and following instructions and all those things, they were all in that experience.

Kristin 17:47

For sure. Especially the soft skills, the people skills. That's the stuff you can't be taught. One last question about how London keeps calling you back. What is it about London that calls to you, that keeps you it, that keeps you there, that keeps you grounded?

Amber 18:01

I get asked this question a lot from my clients. What made you love London? I don't know. Try to think back. My third grade teacher, she read us The Secret Garden, and I found that fascinating. Um, and that's the story of Mary Lennox in Yorkshire. So it's not even in London, but it's just in England in general. Uh, loved Mary Poppins, of course. Big fan of her. Loved the Beatles, loved Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth and Henry VIII and all of his wives, you know, and and all of that. So the history and the fact that you get here, and especially when when we are when I arrived here in 2001, we'd walk down a street and you'd be like, wow, this street has not changed in like 300 years. You know, it look the gutters look the same, and it's just there's something very cool about that. It's the history, it's the the people. I love thinking about the people that would have walked in the same street that I'm walking on right now and what problems they dealt with. I've recently been researching some history about street food vendors in the 1700 and 1800s, and I'm like, they have street food? Cool. I love street food. Just, you know, it just boggles the mind, and there's so much to uncover, and there's so much we can learn and apply today, too.

Kristin 19:19

You're so right. There's so much history. I think growing up in Texas, for me, everything's kind of new, right? We don't, we're not talking about hundreds of there's history there, but it's been erased, right? Nothing feels like it does in Europe or even, you know, New York City compared to Texas. When I moved up here, I remember telling my partner at the time, I want to go see some history. And they were like, You're in it. It's right here.

Amber 19:43

I was like, oh, okay, cool.

Kristin 19:45

It is just different when you grow up somewhere that has sort of erased its history versus somewhere that has really honored its history.

Amber 19:52

You've just triggered a memory for me. So my grandparents took me and my cousins uh when we were little on like an RV trip, and we went to San Antonio and to Austin, and they took us to the LBJ Presidential Library. But the one of the places that took us was this the Alamo. And I remember that trip. You just triggered it for me. And I remember thinking, wow, this building is so old and there's so much history. Maybe that was was also one of the seeds that grew. Who knows? It's because but seeing old things and and having a connection to the past and a continuity into the future. I don't know why that fascinates me, but it does.

Kristin 20:34

We're gonna go into your current chapter of work, which is the tour guiding. But let's stay here in this history and learning space and let's talk about what happened when the pandemic hit, and you pivoted online. You stuck with history and you pivoted in a really cool, innovative way.

Amber 20:51

So your mom told me about Out School, which is this online platform for homeschool and for kids. I've never left marketing 100%. Okay. So when I was working in marketing agencies here in London, uh, I was kind of in the early days of social media campaigns and things like that. So I've always been fascinated and I love marketing. And so I always had my kind of finger in that. And I was teaching social media classes, and I teach at a place here in London for adult education, and I teach a lot of these classes and things. So there's a teaching element, and and I have a teaching certificate for teaching adults. And the pandemic hit, and I always feel like everybody had a different lockdown. Because when I talk to our family on the phone, they're like, Yeah, we're driving around, we're going here, we're going there, we're not wearing masks, you know, whatever. London was different. London is very different. You know, everybody rides the tube, and it's you can't really social distance on the tube, so you just don't ride the tube, you know, or or it was only essential workers, and there was just a lot of rules. And and first it was like, you cannot have more than 30 people in a location. And I'm like, Great, my insurance goes up to 30 people for a tour. And we're outdoors. We should be okay. And then it went down to 10. And then it went down to six. And then it was none. And it stayed none for a long time. And, you know, I would get on my bike and I'd because we were allowed to go out and exercise for an hour a day. And I would go and I would ride into London and I would sit outside the Tower of London and I'd get some takeaway chicken. I'd sit there and cry my eyes out because I missed my job. I missed everything. And your mom told me about Out School, which is this online platform for kids. It's homeschooling. And I thought, well, I'm I don't have a teaching certificate. And she's like, You have a master's degree? I went, Yeah. She's like, okay, you're good. So I went online and sure enough, yes, I was able to do that. And everybody else on there is teaching math and you know, things like that. And I thought, well, you know, I I do history. I do, so I turned my tours into online classes. And I started with 43 to 1066. And then I just kind of did them in sequential order. I thought maybe if somebody takes one class, then they'll take the next one and the next one and they'll just journey through history with me. And that's what happened. And then I added some additional classes like an afternoon tea class and an all about the guards, and and it was great. And so I did that. It it you know, it it gave me something to do. It didn't make me wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, and that wasn't really what I was doing it for. I needed a sanity project, and that was it.

Kristin 23:23

You're also just such an extrovert. You needed to put your energy into the world. Amber, looking back, what would the version of you 10 to 20 years ago think about where you are now?

Amber 23:34

It's so funny because 10 years ago, she would be like, Oh, I don't need to do the blue badge. I'm good, I'm fine, I'm happy. 20 years ago, well, she wouldn't have foreseen any of this. She would be delighted. She'd be a little shocked. I, you know, I just I always thought I'm gonna be, you know, indoor marketing executive, nice clothes, briefcase, blah, blah, blah, all that whatever. And here I load up on flannels and layers, and I'm outside most of the day. I have an extensive umbrella collection. I definitely didn't see that coming. And she just would, she would just be like, wow, really? Okay.

Kristin 24:10

I think she was so proud. Because also, like, do you feel like you, you know, you were searching for a career that felt like a home? You were you were meant to be in the spotlight a little bit and like in charge, even though, you know, I cause Sam, like it's hard when you're a young woman and no one wants to put you in charge of anything. So now you've done this thing, you've created, you created it for yourself. I feel like she'd be proud of you.

Amber 24:36

I had to, I think, because I really struggled to fit in. I've always struggled to fit in. And every time I I wanted to fit in, and then you end up, you know, it just doesn't work, you just can't make it, or you're just not right the and that's a that's a terminology they say here in in work is they say, Oh, you're not the right fit, or are you the right fit for the job? You know, do you fit in? And and and that can be triggering for someone who's always had to be the new girl trying to fit in. So I I had to do uh whatever it was that I could to try to find an amber shape somewhere. And and the amber shape fits in in my world where I I like the idea of a portfolio lifestyle. I like the idea of not, you know, sitting in one place and looking at screens and and doing this and and whatever. I like being out and about and I like having more than one job. I really like having more than one job. When I was little, you'd ask me where you want to be when you grow up, and I'd say, I want to be a singer, a dancer, an actress, and an astronaut. And I firmly believed I could do all those things. I'm not any of those things. But I'm very happy with how it's turned out because I can add things where I want to and and delete things where I need to.

Kristin 25:58

I think it's beautiful. My younger self sees your younger self and is really proud of you.

Amber 26:03

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

Kristin 26:08

I think it's amazing. Let's do the lightning round.

Amber 26:11

I'm excited. Let's do that. I did practicing. We're good. We're ready.

Kristin 26:14

Okay, I'm excited for it too. That's why I was like, yeah, let's do it. Um, okay, lightning round. What was your very first job and what did it teach you about work?

Amber 26:23

Uh I worked at AMC Movie Theater.

Kristin 26:26

Oh.

Amber 26:27

Yes. This was back when the movies were the movies, when you got a paper ticket and I had to wear a little bow tie, a little vest. I had an outfit. It was awesome. Loved, I loved that. So that was my first job. I think what it taught me is exactly what you and I have been talking about is that whole, you know, different skills. Because I started in the concession stand, right? And then I got to work at the ticket office and which is ticketing and money and things like that. I got to help do ushering and cleaning. I was even interested in projector. I think what it taught me is if you're interested in things and if you're hungry and you're willing to try, you never know what new thing you might get to do, which could then lead to something else that you don't know about.

Kristin 27:12

What is the best or worst piece of advice you've ever gotten?

Amber 27:15

So when I graduated from Texas Tech, uh the guy at my commencement speech, which normally you don't listen to these things, right? He said something so profound. He said, The jobs that you will all hold have not yet been invented. And well, damn if that ain't right. Oh my gosh, right? That was so foreshadowing for you. I mean, the jobs that you've had you will hold have not yet been invented. I mean, I worked in social media. We didn't know what that was back in you know the day. And yeah, I didn't know it didn't exist, didn't that barely got the internet, you know? So that was really profound, and that's always stuck with me because okay, a tour guide obviously is a job that had been invented, that that was a thing, but maybe it wasn't in in my trajector in my trajectory, where I was gonna go, what I thought I was gonna do. And that that just stuck with me.

Kristin 28:13

At every turn, even if a job had already existed, you made it new. And that's incredible. That really did foreshadow your career. Tell me about your most embarrassing work story.

Amber 28:26

So I was working for this sports marketing company here in in London uh as a marketing manager, and I had to travel with uh two of my colleagues. They were salespeople, and they were maybe about my age, maybe a little bit younger. And we had to go to Manchester, got off the train, got in a taxi, and I need to sneeze. And so I sneezed, but I always when I sneeze, I I hold my nose because I just do. I'm trying not to do that because apparently you can blow your ears out. Don't do that. But so I held my nose and I went to sneeze, and it also came out the backside. Woo! Yes, so fun. So and they looked at me and I go, Oh, I think that came out of both ends.

Kristin 29:12

Wow, that's a really good one.

Amber 29:14

It the thing is, is that I do things like toilet history tours. I do a farting tour, I history of farting tour, the glorious history of farting, I should say. Farting tour. I do, I dress up, I you know, walk around town in crazy costumes or whatever. So I guess my embarrassment level at this point is just so low. I was just thinking back, there's just not much that I'm embarrassed about, but that was really embarrassing. Really embarrassing. Yeah, you're younger and yeah, yeah. It was, it was humiliating.

Kristin 29:47

Who am I? Um, what is your socially acceptable work vice?

Amber 29:53

I think I'm gonna have to either say candy or sushi. And I can't uh I can't have dairy anymore. And so, and here in London, I mean, it's it's really allergies are really easy to get around. I mean, go to Paris and that's a problem. But you know, you can say, Oh, I'm dairy-free or whatever you can find stuff. But like here, they put butter on everything, you know, there's cheese on everything or whatever. And so usually I'm like, I'll just go have some sushi. I'll just there's a lot of takeaway sushi here. So I sushi is a big crutch. And the other crutch is I love candy. Love candy. I I like sour. I don't like super mega blow your head off sour. That's that's just like okay, that's just proving a point that I don't need to prove. Um, but there's I like sour. I love those little raspberry, blackberry things with the little candy, hard candies on the outside, gummy on the inside. Yeah, I really like those, those are really good. Those are really good. I love um, oh my god. I I love the, you know, the one that's like usually get them at like um uh Mexican grocery stores where it's uh uh like mango and then like the spicy tahine mixed in within it. Uh there's a name for it, I can't remember. Uh Tamarindo, something like that. Very good. Very I love I love that type of stuff. Yeah.

Kristin 31:06

Tell me something about your job that sounds impressive, but isn't actually that glamorous.

Amber 31:12

You know, I'm a I'm a London tour guide. I do London tours. That sounds really sexy and wonderful. But what I guess is really not glamorous is the fact that I have to sometimes do the same tours over and over again. Now, I think before the pandemic and before TikTok and all of that, I used to do a lot more niche tours. And I still I'm ready to do those. Like, tell me tomorrow and I'll take you on my history of hair tour, right? Or I'll take you on my, you know, powerful women of covent garden tour, you know? But but those are not the five things to do on TikTok, you know. So that's really that can be unglamorous when you're like, I have all this really cool history and I want people to know about this, and there's some great stories I could tell. And yeah, it's not the, yeah. So that's kind of frustrating.

Kristin 31:56

Do you fix typos and casual communication?

Amber 31:59

Oh yeah.

Kristin 32:00

Okay.

Amber 32:02

I have always been like a spelling nerd, and I like the right, and and what's frustrating is because I moved here and they throw U's in everything. I've gotten to the point where I correct myself and I use UK spelling, but then I realize, oh, I'm talking to an American. I should probably Americanize that, you know. That's trouble. No, we gotta get the right, the right, um write the right spelling, and I do I do edit.

Kristin 32:29

Okay. I I respect it. Especially especially in your line of work, but I respect it. What would you say to someone who feels off track right now? Whatever off track means.

Amber 32:42

Be open. Be open to stuff. I read a fantastic book called Making a Living Without a Job. I'm not a good reader. I'm not a fast reader. I read that book three times.

Kristin 32:57

Wow.

Amber 32:58

You know, be open to to things and ideas and opportunities. And you know, I volunteered to be a a guide at Westminster Abbey. And that then later helped me with, you know, getting through the blue badge and learning about the Abbey. Just be open to things that you would have said no to before. Why are you saying no? Why are you cutting that off? May maybe be open to that path. It could lead to something. You could go down it and go, yep, not for me. Thank you for playing. Turn around, come back. But be open and be curious and do the work and do the research, but be open.

Kristin 33:37

Now, the fun part. Where can people find you if they want to connect, follow, take a tour?

Amber 33:43

So I'm American, I'm a tour guide, and I'm in London. So that's American Tour GuideInLondon.com. And I'm also on all the socials, American Tour Guide in London, and the handle, the username handle is American L D N, like London L D N. So that is uh that's me. I'm on the socials of the website. And you can go and find me and find a tour, drop me an email, uh, like all of my videos, whatever it is, comment. It's that would be great.

Kristin 34:15

Yes. Let's all go find her, like all of her things. Amber I will put all of that information in the show notes so that folks can find it. Um, do you have any other any other closing words?

Amber 34:27

I do want to say the podcast has been amazing. You've created and carved out this great little space. I wish you so much luck and success and so many awesome and diverse people to come on it. I hope that will be great. Uh I just think that it's really great and I'm so proud of you.

Kristin 34:47

I'm thank you. I am honored that you listen and that you were really one of the first people to be like, hi, I would like to volunteer for this. And that means a lot. And really, thank you for this time. This was fun, and what a fun way to officially meet you. Oh, we are so back. I missed y'all. I missed this. What a fun first episode to start with. I think that Amber, there's a lot of things that struck me about Amber's interview, but I actually want to go right back to her own words. The very first line of her bio says, Amber is someone who has never stayed in a life that didn't fit. I mean, that is that is perspective. That is owning every pivot. And I think it's a very everything counts spirit. And, you know, she she also says a couple of times, I found an amber-shaped hole, or I was going to create an amber-shaped job for myself. Um, and I think it's a a lot about sort of not forcing a fit. I think, you know, if we think about times that we haven't fit in and like ways in which maybe we've tried to force it or code switch and it just isn't working. What is the thing to do from there? Is that thing to just refuse? Refuse something that isn't for you and go build it yourself. Sometimes we build it ourselves quite literally. She literally built herself a business. Sometimes we build it for ourselves inside of our roles that we already have. We can be in a role and say, these things aren't aligned. I don't feel like myself. How can I change that? How can I make tiny incremental steps towards authenticity? And we know that once we are embracing authenticity and embracing ourselves and forgetting about the things that often keep us like locked into boxes that are rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy, when we can spread our wings and be ourselves, that's when we're going to not only find our own happiness, but create the same space for others to watch us, to learn, to lean in, to be themselves. I just, I love Amber's story. I love, I even love the parts where she talks about it ultimately being about survival because that is what we're all doing. Work is about survival. We have to make money because we have to live. And sometimes we really are just putting one foot in front of the other. And sometimes by putting one foot in front of the other, we're building something really meaningful and we're getting to be our whole selves. Um I come to you all with two broken arms today post-a snowstorm here in the Northeast and full of, I have I'm full of reflections and I'm lacking words. It has just been such a roller coaster. Someone who does not like to sit still, does not like to stop. Um, I literally can't do anything else. I am having trouble doing some of the most basic things. I had to buy a jar opener to be able to open my doorknob to get out of my own home. And so I sort of just come to you honored to be here, forced to slow down. That slowdown has made me even more reflective and excited about everything that lies ahead of us and the ways in which we get to build community together and share our stories together. I'm really, really glad that you're here. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. If you enjoyed this episode, if you enjoy the show, please do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And please do leave us a review, send us a note. It helps us feel so grounded and like we're not just, you know, shouting into the ether. I know that we're not. I know that these stories are important. And again, I'm just so grateful and so thankful. Thanks for listening. Everything counts, but nothing is real. Remember, even when nothing feels real, everything you do counts. Capitalism may be absurd, but so are we. And on that note, well, it's been real. Don't forget to subscribe. I'm Kristen. See you next time.