Without much luck finding work upon graduating from Georgetown University with a master's in business administration in 2011, Christina Mercado decided to write and illustrate a children's book, with garnered success.
Mercado wanted to use her degree to pivot from project management to social enterprise. She landed an internship, but it led to nowhere.
Once she graduated, realization struck: there are limited full-time jobs available, and competition is fierce.
"There were a number of times that I had come close to landing my dream job, only to get rejected after a number of grueling interview rounds," Mercado told The Huffington Post. "There were also a few times I applied for awesome jobs, only to have the company announce months later that the jobs were being pulled due to lack of funding."
Still unemployed, Mercado took to painting as a way to relieve stress, depicted herself in the character of "Bunny," who appeared in episodes related to her job search. The paintings started to make sense to her as a children's book.
Other job seekers who saw her manuscript and sketches really liked them. She had no experience in illustration, writing or publishing, but given her studies in marketing and her experience in project management, Mercado decided to try to raise the money online and self-publishing.
One person she made contact with was Dina Gachman, who writes about unemployment and the economic divide on her blog, Bureaucracy For Breakfast.
Mercado said it was scary to expect to follow one career path, and then have to rethink everything, but she's happy with how things have turned out. The experience helped Mercado land her current job, where she is responsible for marketing and project management for a serial entrepreneur.
"You Can Do It, Bunny!" is now available at select bookstores in paperback, and she said a "light version" is available from the iTunes store. A limited number of paperbacks are also available on her website, and she's selling pre-orders of the hardcover version through Kickstarter.
