From full-time career to following mycelium

Originally published 28 August 2023 on the blog Running with Mushrooms

Image description: AI generated artwork in an impressionist style painting using thick wide brushstrokes, of an abstract world map populated by mushrooms.

INTRO

It’s mid 2023 and this is my first blog post – not ever, but in a very long time. Plugging thoughts to blank screen is daunting, but engaging with mushrooms has surfaced a creativity long since buried under the weight of burnout and back-to-back meetings.

Running with Mushrooms is sharing my research into the culture and industry of mushrooms as the ‘shroom boom’, ‘psychedelic renaissance’ or ‘mushroom wave’ puts fungi on the global radar as a ‘trend to key an eye on’.

Here my travels are leading me from one investigative myco-chat to another, and I’m eager to share the podcasts and conversations I’m having with mushroom folk.

For those who learned as little in school as I did about funga, ‘myco’ = ‘relating to fungi’.

TRANSITION

This is primarily a personal journey: in 2023 I quit my job to run with mushrooms. Since 2006 my work as a Director of Cultural and Consumer Insights & Research at some great agencies helped brands to strategically connect with consumers in culture.

Now, I’m choosing forests and fynbos over full time office life, exploring myco-culture while aiming to create a sustainable lifestyle in partnership with nature and magical mycelium. This is a shift from ethnography to ethnomycology, and it might sound mad but the mycelium are leading the way.

CLARITY

Developing a mushroom obsessionwas never part of “life’s plan”, if that is even a thing. It hit like waking up the day after a hefty hangover: extreme clarity. What started as an infatuation instilled by hearing that magical word “myceliummmm” purred by a particularly well spoken, well groomed and fabulous gay-work-bestie describing Stella McCartney’s mycelial fashion ambitions… swiftly turned into an after-work personal research project.

Hours turned into weekends and a single row spreadsheet turned into a growing database of humans doing interesting things in the fungal queer/queen/kingdom.

The moment of extreme clarity was about how, somehow, working with mushrooms would tickle all my buzzwords: alchemy, interconnectedness, de-criminalisation and preservation of nature, ancestral wisdom, environmental problem-solving, prioritising land, challenging extractive capitalism. Mostly, the holy grail of working more with one’s hands more than one’s head – imagine!

QUESTIONING

In 2023 I leaped into a sabbatical, with big questions: How does a 38-year old director ditch a healthy 15 year career for something entirely different? How are strategic insights, research and ethnographic skills transferable to the mushroom world? How do people fund career changes?? 😱

It’s tough to shake that icky societal conditioning that questions the sanity of this risk, and I’m grateful to my friends and family for the unwavering loyalty and support. The way in which this tour has organically evolved helps me believe this isn’t, in fact, entirely mad.

ETHNOMYCOLOGY

Running with Mushrooms is an exercise in applying research and ethnographic skills to this fungal passion, as I travel and engage with people working in the mushroom world willing to share their insights.

Recommendations from personal connections have proven to be valuable, as interviewees are more open and receptive to the project. Occasionally my inner weirdo takes a leap of faith and reaches out to strangers. Some ignore my requests or politely decline, but I remain hopeful that our fungal futures might align one day.

Undoubtedly, most connections are the mycelium at work, spreading its myco-love from one good MushFolk to another. To everyone who agrees to chat: I Thank You! You make this project possible and your insights are contributing to a bigger study into how fungi can and will impact society and environments.

EXISTENTIALISM

This journey is not only about answering existential questions but also about fostering connections and exploring the mycoculture through a diverse range of perspectives and interests, from individuals who share my fungal fascination to entrepreneurial innovators, to people just curious about mushrooms. 

Mostly, it’s a series of great chats with mushroom folk about mushroom stuff. You’re invited to join me on this adventure and I hope you enjoy the ride.

MUSH LOVE 🍄❤️