François de Halleux grew up in a Belgian village dreaming of becoming a farmer or a chef. His parents wanted him to pursue a safer path, so he studied business engineering and went on to spend ten years at Google.

Then he left Google and the tech world to become a baker. He opened Origo, an organic sourdough bakery in Barcelona with a mission to promote regenerative agriculture through food.

François's story shows how small, deliberate experiments can make a big leap possible, and why being a beginner again is worth the discomfort.

We talk about:

• Giving up on culinary school for a "safe" degree
• Testing a big dream with a small pilot first
• Traveling around the world without flying
• Learning a craft through apprenticeship

Mentioned in this episode:

• Tartine Bakery, San Francisco
• Le Bricheton, Paris
• The Mentawai Islands, Indonesia

Follow François's Work:

• Origo Bakery: origobakery.com
• Instagram: @origobakery
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/francoisdh

Join the Conversation:

• Instagram: @myunlikelycareer
• Substack: myunlikelycareer.substack.com

Layla Shaikley has built an unusually nonlinear career. She completed gruelling studies in architecture (twice!) with the objective of contributing to post-war reconstruction of Iraq. She was an unlikely candidate for programs at NASA and MIT but got herself in anyway. She then landed her dream job at UN Habitat, went to Iraq to work on the reconstruction and decided it wasn't the right role for her. She went on to co-found a successful tech company Wise Systems and become a writer and creator with a huge following on multiple platforms.

Along the way she has had to navigate stereotypes, rejection, public scrutiny, and the pressure to fit into other people's ideas of who she should be.

In this episode we talk about:

• What boredom taught her about creativity
• Overreach and applying for things you're "not qualified" for
• Rewriting the stories people make up about us
• Learning to tolerate rejection and embarrassment
• Walking away from a dream job, and choosing what not to become
• Confidence, Capacity, and Creating more "surface area" for luck

Mentioned in this episode

• "How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area" by Jason C. Roberts
• "The Red Sneakers Effect" by Silvia Bellezza, Francesca Gino and Anat Keinan, Journal of Consumer Research.
• "The Surprising Lessons of the 'Muslim Hipsters' Backlash" by Layla Shaikley, The Atlantic
• "The cost of success is embarrassment" by Layla Shaikley
• The Confident Mind by Dr. Nate Zinsser
• The Stimulated Mind by Dr. Tommy Wood
• Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Follow Layla

• Substack: laylool.substack.com
• Website: laylashaikley.com
• Instagram and TikTok: @laylool

Chris Connors takes us from a childhood in Belfast during the Troubles, through his career as part of an award-winning fashion design team in the late-nineties London fashion scene, to the painful losses that sent him on spiritual journey and new career path.

We talk about:

• Growing up in a war and what constant fear does to a young nervous system
• Burning his suit after a year in advertising, and what came next
• Grief, PTSD, and the difference between suffering and our attachment to it
• Holding many identities at once and the absurdity of linear thinking
• Why the linear career is a fiction, and what our right brain is worth in an age of AI

Follow Chris's Work:

• Chris's site: chrisconnorscc.com
• OPO: opo.world
• Chris on Instagram: @christopherconnors
• Slow Academy at Flussbad Campus, Berlin: flussbad.com

Join the Conversation:

Instagram: @myunlikelycareer

Substack: myunlikelycareer.substack.com