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Seriously, Jerk Brain?!

Seriously, Jerk Brain?!

"Self-preservation is a full-time occupation." – Ani DiFranco

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Author: liz

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.

Whose story is it anyway?

As human beings, we tell stories and form narratives that create the base of our worldview and perspective. We all must be aware of the stories we tell, consume, believe, and act upon, their providence, and our right to tell them.

depression, job, mental health, what to say

Recovery update: Do-si-do your doctor

An update on my recovery from my long-term major depressive episode. Changing doctors, finding a new therapist, and trying to get #jerkbrain to stop telling me over and over again that I’m failing at getting better.

depression, job, medication, therapy

Enough about you, let’s talk about me, me, me!*

Depression is all about itself. As humans, that’s tough for us to process, but critical for us to understand.

depression, mental health, self image, what to say

Liz(zie) 4.1

Yesterday was my birthday. It changes everything and nothing. My gift to myself is that I get that now.

birthday, depression, priorities, self-care

A synonym for “nothing left to lose”

What does it mean for me to be away from my professional career right now? Is this freedom? If so, what am I free from exactly?

career, depression, job, work

An object at rest

My experience with exhaustion through the lens of my depression, informed by Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Classical Mechanics.

depression, fatigue, inertia, jerkbrain

Crazy, insane, nuts

It’s about being aware of how what you’re saying affects those around you, not policing your words.

inclusion, mental health

Tom Petty was right

The waiting is the hardest part. Psychiatric medication changes take a lot of time, trial, and error. Patience is not one of my virtues.

depression, medication

And the Oscar goes to…

Don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t realize I was depressed. I worked hard to make sure you couldn’t see it.

depression, fear, hiding, pretending

What to (and what not to) say to someone who is depressed

Inspirational quotations are not therapy. Toxic positivity is not a treatment plan.

anxiety, depression, toxic positivity, what to say

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