hey there!
Welcome to debrief, a newsletter investigating culture, work, and being alive.
Who the heck are you?
Great question. I’m Cece Xie, and at the start of 2022, I was a senior associate at a biglaw firm in Manhattan who had reached a fork in the road:
Option 1: Continue on this career conveyor belt that I had jumped onto when I was 23.
Option 2: Deviate from the tried-and-true blueprint of success for the first time in my life and try to figure out what else was out there in the world.
I chose Option 2. Armed with my annual bonus, some savings, my partner’s health insurance, and a TikTok following of 400K (many of whom, I would later learn, felt quite strongly about my departure from biglaw), I bid farewell to my wonderful colleagues and got into an Uber with all of my boxes.
I instantly felt scared, unmoored, and… perhaps regretful? Had I just made the biggest mistake of my life?
Fast forward nine months of sheer terror about what I was doing with my life, recurring anxiety from publicly showing that uncertainty online, and forcing myself to stop letting perfect be the enemy of the good—something finally clicked. I got a book deal. I realized that I needed to go back to therapy. I gained more clarity about what I liked to do and what I didn’t like to do.
And the thing I love to do the most—is write. And research, and get lost in microcosms, and ponder the past, and reflect on what any of those things mean for society at large. And write about it. So in an attempt to do more of what I like to do and less of what I don’t like to do, I launched debrief.
What can I expect from debrief ?
I like to write about the many facets of living in a society and being alive—expectations in a corporate setting, being power-hungry, family abolition. This will occasionally veer into media criticism of shows that people are talking about and musical ecosystems like K-pop. I also write about whatever is on my mind at the moment, so don’t be surprised by personal essays and musings on creativity and what it’s like to write a book or try to earn money through creative endeavors.
Additionally, I answer reader questions in the Of Counsel column. (You can submit a question here.)
A lot of your content is free. What’s the point of becoming a paid subscriber?
Because you find my work—on here or YouTube or TikTok or out in the physical world—valuable! And you want to support its creation and ensure that my educational and informational content remains freely available to all.
The economics major in me is aware of the premium I could charge for “Ivy League admissions,” “business,” or “upskilling” content—but I hate the idea of paywalling educational or informational content. Knowledge isn’t free in our world, but it should be. And I’d like to start acting a little bit more in line with how I think the world should be rather than merely reflect how it is. If that mission resonates with you, then consider becoming a paid subscriber. For the price of a matcha latte every month, you make it possible for me to continue producing quality content—and send it directly to you.
I love sharing knowledge with the world; paid subscribers help make this possible. Paid subscribers gain access to my inner sanctum—stripped-down videos and podcast episodes, nascent ideas that need to be treated like newborn kittens, and all the things I discuss and share with friends, colleagues, and mentees (but not the internet at large because nuance often gets lost in translation at scale!)—and the knowledge that you’re supporting the free flow of information and advice.
Please know, though, that having you here and being able to be in conversation with you is the most important thing to me. If you are a student without disposable income, un- or under-employed, or a minimum-wage worker, just email me or fill out this form and I’ll comp you a free subscription, no questions asked.
And if you have the financial means to donate one of these subscriptions, you can do so here. You can gift a subscription to someone you care about here. And you can check out group subscriptions (with a 15% discount for the first year!) here.
I have something else to say. How can I reach you?
Feel free to send your suggestions and comments to cecexie[at]substack.com. debrief is a work in progress, much like my own life, and I welcome your thoughts and feedback on what you would like to see! Please note that because of the volume of emails received, I cannot respond to every message—but rest assured that I read all of them and take them under due consideration.
I truly appreciate your messages and thoughts, as they are a sign that my content has struck a chord in some way. After all, my goal as a writer is to put things out into the world that resonate and help others feel less alone, which I think is the best thing that one person can do for another.
Thanks for spending some of your precious time with me. I can’t fully enumerate how much I appreciate it—but I shall try.
xx,
