COVID cases in Houston continue to skyrocket. With our family’s self-imposed quarantine now entering its fourth month, I am struggling to answer questions about what’s new and how I’m doing. Nothing is new. Absolutely nothing. I have described my life as closely resembling the experience of Phil Conners, Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day. Each day is identical to the one before it. However, there is a benefit to relieving the same day over and over again. It gives you time to learn something new and practice it. In the case of Phil Conners, he learned to play the piano, speak French, and mastered some form of interspecies communication with the film’s eponymous woodland creature. Due to a general lack of energy and trouble concentrating, my quarantine pursuits have not been nearly as exciting.
Looking at my time thus far, I can say that I’ve worked on my writing and my research skills, both of which have improved to some degree. I’ve definitely gotten physically stronger through working out daily. At the same time, I don’t feel very accomplished. It seems to be one the insidious aspects of our productivity driven culture that a frequently applied measure of our worth is what we produce in terms of goods and services. I have very little to show in that arena.
I take solace in knowing that I’m using my time in a way that is ultimately serving me in my goals to be a healthier more whole version of myself. As I’ve written before, there can be comfort in the familiar and the rote. In this case, I’m focusing on what feels like progress to me, rather than what I think I owe to anyone else. It’s as liberating as it is exhausting and scary. But, as they say, I am here for it.
From history major, with side quests in Medieval Studies and chemical engineering, to nonprofit finance leader, Big 4 tax partner, technologist, researcher, and now co-founder of Divine, nothing about my career has been linear. The throughline has always been systems: financial systems, organizational systems, technological systems, and human systems. I have an MBA in Operations and Supply Chain Management and a PhD in Organizational Leadership Psychology, and I’ve spent my career trying to understand how complex systems shape people’s choices, opportunities, wellbeing, and sense of belonging. Today, my work sits at the intersection of psychology, technology, human-centered design, and digital trust. I am co-founder of Divine, an open-source, decentralized social video app built to put creativity back in human hands and replace doomscrolling with joyscrolling. Divine is part of a bigger question I care deeply about: how do we create online spaces that support safety, creativity, identity, and belonging without defaulting to surveillance, extraction, or control? At Divine, I wear a lot of hats across engineering, finance, operations, and strategy, while helping shape the app’s trust, safety, and values work. I focus especially on teen online safety, human-generated content, participatory design, and healthier relationships with technology. I am a postdoctoral alum of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Computer Science, where I worked with Dr. Pam Wisniewski’s Socio-Technical Interaction Research Lab. I continue to write, speak, and research at the intersection of online safety, digital trust, decentralized technology, and youth wellbeing. I was named a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Data Integrity in 2023. In 2025, I had the honor of serving as President of Division 13 of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Consulting Psychology. I also live with major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2020, I took a leave from PwC to focus on my mental wellness, and I now speak and write openly about mental health, especially in the workplace and in relation to digital wellbeing. This blog, Seriously Jerk Brain, chronicles much of that journey.
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2 Comments
I empathize with you. I’m having a similar hard time trying to be productive. I was learning Spanish before all this mess and continue to do so. (Highly recommend the app Duolingo.) This weekend I started trying to play piano again, something I haven’t done much of at all in the past few years. It’s almost starting over. I’m taking some classes to fill in some technical skills for work on udemy. I am of course still active in swimming, cycling, running, yoga. I have made many new recipes. (Too many food pics on instagram lol). Unfortunately I still end up wasting a lot of time because each of these together still doesn’t make a full work day. Keep trying Liz. I’m sure this COVID stuff makes things more stressful, but I have faith in you.
Same here. Although I would be happy for social distancing etc to be a thing of the past, I am using this time for self improvement. I feel like a caterpillar 🐛 inside my cocoon. I have finally dropped the extra weight from my working days. Seems like all those social lunch meetings were keeping me chubby. Good thing I enjoy cooking and can pass on Uber Eats.
Seriously, Jerk Brain?! 
I empathize with you. I’m having a similar hard time trying to be productive. I was learning Spanish before all this mess and continue to do so. (Highly recommend the app Duolingo.) This weekend I started trying to play piano again, something I haven’t done much of at all in the past few years. It’s almost starting over. I’m taking some classes to fill in some technical skills for work on udemy. I am of course still active in swimming, cycling, running, yoga. I have made many new recipes. (Too many food pics on instagram lol). Unfortunately I still end up wasting a lot of time because each of these together still doesn’t make a full work day. Keep trying Liz. I’m sure this COVID stuff makes things more stressful, but I have faith in you.
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Same here. Although I would be happy for social distancing etc to be a thing of the past, I am using this time for self improvement. I feel like a caterpillar 🐛 inside my cocoon. I have finally dropped the extra weight from my working days. Seems like all those social lunch meetings were keeping me chubby. Good thing I enjoy cooking and can pass on Uber Eats.
Stay safe Liz. I do enjoy your posts.
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