I moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco because of a cold DM on X. I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and, after attending college there, built my career in journalism across the country, first covering local news and then crypto. I liked my comfortable life with friends and family. Then in
I moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco because of a cold DM on X.
I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and, after attending college there, built my career in journalism across the country, first covering local news and then crypto. I liked my comfortable life with friends and family.
Then in February, the chief of staff at Corgi, the AI insurance startup that recently went viral for its seven-day work week, messaged me at X to ask if I’d be interested in a position. I had never heard of Corgi, but I had seen a lot of people in the cryptocurrency world move into the AI industry and wanted to check it out.
A week later, I flew to San Francisco to visit the team, and in March, I joined them as brand manager. My whole life changed in an instant.
Moving from Los Angeles to San Francisco was like entering a completely different value system.
Lee is the brand manager for Corgi. Courtesy of Erika Lee
In San Francisco, there is a strong sense that AI is transforming the city and a level of intensity that I don’t think people outside of the Bay Area fully appreciate. Everyone here thinks it’s early for something huge.
Every day I meet people who have crossed state and city lines to work at startups in San Francisco. Like me, they are willing to make extraordinary sacrifices for the chance to be part of the next OpenAI or Anthropic.
In Los Angeles, one of the first questions people asked me at events was, “What’s your Instagram?” Conversations often revolved around who he knew, what parties he was invited to, and how well he had healed online.
In San Francisco, online curation still matters, but in a different way. People ask about your LinkedIn or X account. Or sometimes they skip social media altogether and ask, “What are you building?” No one seems particularly interested in whether you’re fashionable, attractive, or influential online. The currency is ideas, fundraising and products.
No city is better; They optimize for different things. For now, I’m happy to work with my head down in San Francisco, where I’m more productive and motivated than in Los Angeles.
My experience in journalism was more valuable than I expected.
Coming from journalism, I assumed I would be the least technical person in almost every room.
When you think of Silicon Valley, you think of engineers and founders who have raised millions of dollars. Conversations quickly move from product roadmaps to fundraising. I sometimes wondered if someone with completely different abilities really belonged in this environment.
Over time I realized that I was wrong. In the age of AI, companies compete on narrative, taste, and making people care. Storytelling is becoming infrastructure. OpenAI has highlighted the enormous opportunity for new forms of creative and storytelling work to emerge alongside AI, while hiring roles specifically dedicated to shaping the stories that help executives and clients understand the technology.
Rippling is hiring a head of storytelling to develop its editorial voice and point of view, and Notion now has a full storytelling function within the company. In a world where everyone has access to the same models, the advantage increasingly belongs to people who can synthesize ideas, understand culture, create meaning, and tell compelling stories. The humanities are not becoming less valuable in the age of AI, but rather they may be becoming more valuable than they have been in decades.
Lee misses life in Los Angeles. Courtesy of Erika Lee
Because journalists can identify what matters in a sea of information and explain complicated topics clearly, my experience is incredibly useful in writing, editing and shaping content about the Corgi brand.
Changing industries doesn’t always mean leaving behind the skills you love most. Sometimes, it means finding a new way to use them.
I’m glad I moved despite the emotional trade-offs.
I still miss many things about Los Angeles, like being close to my family, familiar neighborhoods, and the convenience of a city where I always knew the best places to meet friends for coffee. Los Angeles shaped who I am and I don’t think any other place can replace it.
But moving to San Francisco has stretched me in ways that staying comfortable never could have. Not only did I change direction, I moved to a completely different world. I am surrounded by people who truly believe they are experiencing one of the most important technological changes of our generation.
Whether history proves them right remains to be seen, but as a journalist used to documenting periods of change from the outside, I’m glad to be experiencing this defining moment where action is happening.
Like many others, I am willing to uproot my life to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime change. Even with the uncertainty, long hours, and emotional compensations that came with leaving my life in Los Angeles behind, I’m grateful to have said yes to that cold message on X.