A break and a bit

I don't know if y'all like this stuff, so let me know

Series kill me - I don’t know what it is but my ADHD brain breaks down with series. So, I need to take a break from American Lies. I feel like I’ve gotten repetitive and dumber with time.

We’ll loop back to it. Famous last words.

So this week, instead, I’d love to let you know who I am.

My name is Amy McDonald, consultant, podcaster, content creator, and writer. I need to find an easier way to say all of that. I graduated from the George Washington Elliott School of International Affairs. I am the youngest of four children, my parents are both liberal, and I attended my first protest at age 3. It was the AIDS Walk in New York City.

I learned to speak in Hoboken, but my parents moved us to Charlotte, North Carolina before the accent stuck permanently. I went to college in Washington DC and was in front of the White House the day Barack Obama won. The first time. And the day the United States killed Osama bin Laden.

I moved to New York City to work in fashion, then music, then campaigns before settling into a career in real estate at an early stage startup. After a decade in residential real estate, I moved into a more tech forward career, still selling in early stage startups. I worked in real estate, construction, and eventually AI surrounding those industries.

The pandemic started less than a month after my 30th birthday, and New York City was unlike any version of New York City I had ever seen. The stark contrast between the joy of being alive as the sun finally peaked out of winter clouds in May and June versus being the epicenter of the United States’s fight with COVID is something I’ll never forget.

At the beginning of 2024, I started posting on TikTok. And by the end of 2024, I took my first solo trip to Germany. That was the year that changed everything for me. Social media gave me my voice back. While I was raised by two rad rad folks who taught me to fight for what I believe in. Who, when I called a friend an “ignorant bitch,” over her reaction to the Jena Six in high school told me I should have called her an, “ignorant slut,” and proceeded to give me an entire SNL history class. While I knew exactly who I was as a teen, I spent my entire 20s trying to be someone else. Trying to fit in. Trying to talk the appropriate amount of shit. Trying to not be “too much,” or “too passionate,” or even “smile too much.”

Because of other events in my life, I turned to drugs. I spent over a decade doing as much cocaine as I could get my hands on. Among other drugs. I spent so long trying to be someone else that I didn’t remember who I was. I didn’t know how to be me, without feeling like a gaping wound.

So when I started posting, I started with a series, Shit I Didn’t Learn in History Class. I started relearning US History because of testimony I heard from formerly enslaved people on the American History Tellers Podcast about Reconstruction. And the rest is history.

I’m kidding. You’re getting so much more.

And posting on social media truly gave me the opportunity to find that voice again. The voice of a fearless 18 year old. And at the end of the year, I ended up taking my solo trip. Inspired by some of the amazing women I follow on social media, I took off. End of November, into December - I went from Frankfurt to Cologne to Berlin.

I lean type B as a friend, and usually have someone else planning a lot – which is a bit lame, I know. BUT I made really great plans and only forgot one thing. Which was the train ticket from Cologne to Berlin. On that train, a man sat next to me. We’ve been dating ever since.

I’ve made two videos on the internet about it, and I think that plus this paragraph is probably all I’ll ever say, because the internet is scary and y’all can be bitch ass mean about personal stuff.

Wilder than my own Before Sunrise plot, I came home and made moves to create my own new adventure. I put notice in at my job, I didn’t have the means to be doing this, but I did. And then I made a list of everything I wanted in my next job and out of my 10 bullet point list, this next startup hit eight of them.

EIGHT – I felt like I wasn’t giving myself a chance if I didn’t dive in and give it a try. I was let go within 90 days. My heart wasn’t in it. I knew I wanted to be making content, writing, creating, and interviewing folks. I didn’t know I was going to consult just yet, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise to me because I love what my former career has been and I have 18 hecking years doing it.

So that leads me to today. Where I am writing this on a plane, returning to the United States from Berlin. I’ll spend the majority of my time here working with candidates, seeing family, building more content programs, consulting, and most importantly, basking in the humidity, like the swamp rat I am.

In the last year, I’ve expanded my audience to over 100,000 followers across platforms. We mostly talk about history, and why it matters to who we are today. We’re spending more time talking about information that white Americans need to know, and I am debating to tour across the South to talk to white women about the upcoming elections, but I am not sure.

I’ve recorded 70 episodes of the podcast, which will be shifting gears here soon. Right now, The Foolish Optimist Podcast is specifically geared towards interviewing political candidates who have never held office before. But going forward, the hunt for the next generation of leaders will expand slightly. We’re looking to speak with organizers, community leaders, leaders in their respective industries, and of course, up and coming politicians.

I launched an official consulting company late last month, where I am creating sales organizations, unified messaging, and more for mission led startups, nonprofits, and grassroots campaigns.

And that’s how we got to where we are.

I could write for days about my own journey - but it’s pretty average, I think. So I’ll probably stick to history. I’m just inexplicably exhausted for the moment.

Looking forward to next week.