Salary Story: I Left A $170,000 Job To Pursue A More Fulfilling Career

In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions and job loss, with the hope it will give young people more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

Been in the workforce for at least five years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here.

Age: 38
Location: New York City
Current industry and job title: Adjunct professor, freelance writer, and working on developing my own business
Current salary: $35,000 to $50,000 (varies due to freelance income)
Number of years employed since school or university: 17
Starting salary: $35,000

Biggest salary jump: From $120,000 to $150,000. I achieved this increase after resigning from my job in finance and taking a new role in a tech startup.

Biggest salary drop: From $170,000 to less than a third of that. This was the salary drop when I left my previous job in the corporate world to pursue my current work.

Biggest negotiation regret: Like many people, I wish that I’d negotiated a lot earlier in my career. Doing so would not only have been beneficial to me but I believe that it would have been valuable to many other Latinas as well. Latinas are the most underpaid demographic across any industry [in the US]. In 2022, Latinas earned only 57% of what non-Hispanic white men earned.

Throughout my career, I was often not only the sole Latina in the room but also the most underpaid person in that room as well. In my first job after grad school, for example, I found out that I was making significantly less than my white male coworker, even though we had the same role and I repeatedly got better performance reviews. After asking for a raise, I was told to wait six months and when I finally received a raise, I was still earning less than my colleague. It took a total of three merit increases for me to finally receive equal compensation.

This experience made it clear that my employer did not value me; however, if I had negotiated my salary upon taking the role, rather than afterwards, I would have been in a better position. It would have also helped set the precedent that Latinas not only deserve more but are willing to ask for it as well.

Best salary advice: Always and consistently advocate for yourself, especially if you are a woman, and especially more so if you are a woman of color. If you want something — a salary increase, improved benefits, equity — you have to ask! The answer will always be no if you don’t ask, but if you do, you might get a yes.

Even if you receive a “no,” then that just means you are now in a good position to make an informed decision: What will you do next? Wait it out? Apply somewhere else? The key is understanding that you can manage your salary expectations and negotiate in a way that is in line with your needs.