[Bob] Irwin was available in response but for a long time nobody asked. Nobody knew what to make of the offer, and Irwin was no help: he didn’t have a clue. “Curators would ask me, ‘If we invite you, what are you going to do?’ and I would have to say, ‘Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do; I’ll just spend some time there and then decide.’”
— Lawrence Weschler, “Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees”
“Every year, at my school in England, career advisers arrived, spoke to you for thirty minutes, and a week later revealed what you were cut out for. I was told that I should be a customs officer.”
— Michael Ondaatje, author of “The English Patient”
I am a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction, recently published in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity, and working on my first novel, VANNA. I write “Divinity School,” weekly letters about city life, over on Substack. After 10+ years running Redbeard Bikes, a bike fit studio and shop in DUMBO, Brooklyn, together with Ilya, my husband, I am looking for my next adventure.
I’d like to do “deep work” (see Cal Newport) as part of a team of smart, funny, kind people, ideally at an organization or company that seeks to extend the habitability of the earth for the maximum number of species. (At a minimum, the organization must acknowledge and address climate change in their day-to-day operations and long-term planning.)
I am:
obsessed with language and constantly improving everything I touch
interested in editing and UX writing roles
willing to spend some time at your organization or company and write my own role
When Ilya and I launched Redbeard Bikes in 2012, I had zero bike industry experience. I learned on the fly to manage every aspect of operations while also selling bikes and bike fittings. I navigated many challenges – lack of outside financing and long-term lease, shortage of qualified staff, and supply chain issues during COVID.
After the pandemic, I managed the shop’s transition to a bike fit studio that delivers custom builds, high-end service and special projects, all by appointment.
What else can I tell you?
I’m a reader. Runner. Traveler. Seeker. I like birds, coffee, and post-volcanic landscapes. I compost.
I like the On Being / Poetry Unbound projects, and the work of the Sheldrick Trust in Africa.
I was born in Kalisz, Poland, in 1985. New Yorker since 1990.
Request my CV & portfolio … &/or make me an offer!
kasia (a) redbeardbikes.com