Escape 9 to 5

About Escape 9 to 5

Freedom, Agency and Meaning. Ever thought about ditching the regular 9 to 5 to chase what truly lights you up? I'm on this path to. This podcast is all about that leap of faith—no guides, no guarantees, just real stories from those brave enough to pursue a life beyond the ordinary. Join me as we uncover the untold journeys of dreamers and doers who are carving their own paths. Let's figure out this together.

Publisher

Lydia.CLinzi

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

4 Mar 2024

Latest episode

19 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

42 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Alexandra Simon - How to Prototype a Life That Feels Like Yours

   What happens when a life that looked right suddenly disappears? Alexandra Simon had already quit what had once been a dream job and was preparing to move to Mexico when her relationship ended the day before the move. Suddenly she had no fixed home, no clear next step and, in her words, felt like “a balloon without a string.” She took the sabbatical anyway. That decision became the beginning of a much bigger experiment. Alex spent the next year exploring emotional education, group work, mindfulness and community, eventually turning what she had learned into a course at Yale. When people kept asking where they could learn the same skills outside the university, she tried something deliberately scrappy: a one-month public experiment in New York. It sold out, people kept asking for more, and that experiment became Lifeshop. In this episode of Escape 9 to 5, we talk about Alex’s path from Yale and Bain to public-service work, emotional education and entrepreneurship; the swimming-pool-to-ocean metaphor that changed how she understood career choice; the letter she wrote to her future self so she wouldn’t get swept up by someone else’s definition of success; and why she now treats energy as data. We also get practical about what it means to prototype a life instead of trying to think your way into certainty: talking to people, shadowing, testing, noticing patterns and course-correcting. And Alex is equally candid about the less romantic side of meaningful work — the period when she was working all day, teaching every night and felt she was losing some of the soul while doing “work of the soul.” Her longer-term vision is bigger than workshops: a physical place for learning and human connection where people don’t have to “work on themselves by themselves.” Find Alexandra + Lifeshop Website: https://www.lifeshopny.com/ (https://www.lifeshopny.com/) Instagram: @lifeshopny LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifeshopny (https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifeshopny) 🎙️ *Escape 9 to 5* is a long-form conversation series about people leaving, reshaping and questioning conventional career paths, and building lives that fit them better.

2. 

   22 Aug 2026

   Every No Is a Vote for Yourself | Ify Walker

   There are choices I’ve made that still scare me: saying no to the sensible thing, walking away from something that used to fit, choosing a version of myself I can’t fully see yet. Ify Walker gave me language for those moments: each one can be a vote for yourself. Somewhere along the way, without really realizing it, I think I’ve been casting those votes too. Saying no to things, people, events and choices that no longer serve me. Trusting my own judgment a little more each time. Slowly becoming someone my eight-year-old self would probably look at with amazement. That doesn’t mean the choices become easy. Life is still uncertain. Every decision still comes with doubt, and none of us gets to control what happens next. But there is something powerful about knowing: I chose this. I voted for myself. That is what stayed with me after this conversation with Ify. Ify Walker is the founder and CEO of Offor. Her path has moved through teaching, law, fundraising and entrepreneurship, including raising roughly $40 million at Teach For America before building Offor. We talk about her first career rebellion, why “a no isn’t fatal,” the danger of chasing approval until it becomes self-abandonment, what she calls the work twisties, rebuilding trust in your own judgment, and what happens when even meaningful work you chose for yourself starts asking you to change again. And we laughed. A lot. This ended up being exactly the kind of Escape 9 to 5 conversation I hoped this show could hold: relaxed, honest, occasionally ridiculous, and somehow leaving me with a little more strength to keep going. If you’re standing in front of a choice you can’t completely control, maybe the question isn’t whether you can guarantee the outcome. Maybe it’s simply: what would it look like to cast one more vote for yourself? 🎙️ Escape 9 to 5 is a long-form conversation series about people leaving, reshaping and questioning conventional career paths, and building lives that fit them better. 💌 Stay ConnectedThe First 60 Dayshttps://lydiaclinzi.substack.com/Sunday Not Bluehttps://www.lydia-c-linzi.kit.com/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/lydiachenlinzi☕ If something here made you think, smile, or breathe a little deeper:https://lydia-c-linzi.kit.com/products/buy-me-a-not-so-blue-brew© 2026 Lydia C. Linzi

3. 

   11 Jul 2026

   I Was Wrong About Escaping the 9–5 | 36 Conversations Later

   I used to think escaping the 9–5 happened in one brave moment. You quit. You leap. You start a completely different life. After 36 conversations with founders, authors, creators, and people who stepped away from the default path, I no longer think that is how it usually happens. Most people build a bridge long before they quit. A bridge made from private clues, tiny experiments, uncomfortable asks, money fears, and enough small proof to trust themselves with the next step. This is a special solo episode of Escape 9 to 5, looking back at what the first 36 conversations changed for me. I share five lessons: 1. The escape starts before you quit. 2. Proof matters more than confidence. 3. Money fear does not magically disappear. 4. Sometimes you have to ask anyway. 5. There is no arrival. Freedom means choosing the pressure you are willing to live with. The episode includes moments and ideas from conversations with Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Gillian Liu, Erin Wade, Paul Millerd, Andrew Wilkinson, Michia Rohrssen, and other guests who have generously shared the honest, unresolved parts of building a different life. One line from Michia stayed with me long after we stopped recording: “The whole world is waiting for you.” Not necessarily waiting for you to quit tomorrow. But perhaps waiting for you to send the message, run the experiment, follow the curiosity, or begin building the bridge. I’m deeply grateful to every guest who has given their time to this podcast. These conversations have changed how I understand work, risk, freedom, and what it means to build a life that feels more like your own. Explore Escape 9 to 5: https://www.dayzeroproduction.com/escape-9-to-5 Watch the full podcast archive: https://www.youtube.com/@LydiaCLinzi/podcasts About the show: Escape 9 to 5 is a podcast about people who leave default paths and build more deliberate, self-directed lives. Hosted by Lydia Linzi, a former investment banker turned climate-tech founder and creator. Connect with Lydia: https://www.dayzeroproduction.com https://www.instagram.com/lydiachenlinzi

Who has been a guest on Escape 9 to 5

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Gillian Liu
• Michael Gendler
• Johnny Hilbrant
• Ania Wysocka
• Will Mannon

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

1,004,328

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.5 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

47

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

32