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Editor’s note: In April 2023, Dawn Solér, the SVP Music for ABC Signature and a 16 1/2-year veteran of the studio, was one of several executives who left Disney TV amid the ongoing contraction occurring in Hollywood. Here, Solér reflects on the past year and the lessons she learned since leaving the corporate world.
It’s been over a year that I officially stopped being an employee.
No bitterness, because the journey got me here. Wisdom can only come from experience and should be used to better those who come after.
I will always hold so much love for my last company, for its legacy, the fantastic stories, the memories I have to share and the things I got to create with them. I fully appreciate that working for Disney has, in part, contributed to the life that I have and the opportunity to now follow my own dreams. This, after all the hard lessons I learned about people and realizing how I didn’t fit in there. So thank you.
This last year gifted me with perspective and such crazy, free joy. I’ve not looked in the rearview mirror with anything but gratitude for today and tomorrow, with the tools gained from endurance of what is behind me. So in celebration, here’s some advice about and appreciation for what it meant to be an employee.
The day after I was laid off from ABC Signature, I went to a pre-scheduled music festival with one of my besties. My friends and community made it a celebration for me. When we returned on that Friday, my dear friend got the worst call a parent can get. I got her back to Nashville and spent the next couple weeks with a much more life-defining job of being a friend, protector and appreciator of what I have. It was a bitter gift of perspective and definition of self.
So don’t come with that pathetic “How you doing” like the world stopped because I don’t commute anymore. I want to laugh with you, not at you.
I’m sitting on lots of eggs, patient to see which will hatch, knowing that I don’t waste time on rotten ones — certainly not on someone else’s. I nurture and wait for my chicks and fill my days with all the other things that used to have to wait until I just got through someone else’s this or that.
My skin and garden glow, my body and friendships are toned and firm, my head and heart are filled with the joy of possibilities, and best of all, I get to take time to be present in my days.
So from SVP to CEO of my life, don’t let others define you by your job or title.
So from SVP to CEO of my life, don’t let others define you by your job or title. It’s a definition that is fleeting and that which you have no command. Find your definition in all your other layers, the way you treat life and people. Cultivate and invest in layers. It’s like gardening — the best flowers come from enriched soil.
Work colleagues are not your friends, sorry.
Corporations are the upside down where the real monsters come out. Choose those who use their precious time to know you in the sunshine, where titles and group mentality don’t count. Just make sure it’s an equitable relationship that feeds the real you, not your insecurity.
Beware of those who start calls or emails with “hey my friend” — a red flag to trouble. They have no capacity for real friendship and will drain and use you.
Don’t share too much of yourself. This was the hardest one for me. I’ve always been a pleaser and caretaker who wanted to fit in. It will only be used against you. Save yourself for those who matter and appreciate your essence.
It’s not the number of friends you have, but the quality of them. Like cream, the true friends float to the top, especially when you exit a job.
HR is not there to protect you, they protect the company. Like enemies, keep them close, use them strategically and never forget that, like the Supreme Court, they are as flawed as anyone and probably get away with so much more because of their position.
Always keep important correspondence on a personal computer.
If you are creative, be aware that you will not only give your ideas away, you will never be rewarded or acknowledge for creating them.
If you must take the job, negotiate exclusions that are most important to you.
Stand with your creatives (the real ones, not the execs) and support their vision, not the ever-changing opinions of the companies or the executives who happen to be the lead on the call that day. Run with corporate scissors in hand to support creatives; they are the relationships that will endure and fill your passion.
Conversely, when you know something is wrong, it usually is. Most will play like the emperor has no clothes. Be the kid on the street who is honest, but then always does her best work.
Some of my biggest regrets were when I sacrificed my knowledge to fit in. It always came back to bite me.
Not enough respect, value and acknowledgement is given to production, finance, post and yes, music executives, who not only read and evaluate a script, but make it happen. Form strong partnerships with them in the upside down.
Collaborate and exchange at every level. This goes back to pushing back on defining people. Diamonds come from every level.
An ex-colleague and I would always say “no good deed goes unpunished.” True then, but not now. Good deeds are mine. I can’t be punished by anyone anymore.
That same ex and I realized that nobody cared about our tireless work to save money and always coming in under or on budget. Spend what you have, otherwise they will cut you down in the next round.
Sacrifice a fast-burn work event for time with family and friends. If you do an excellent job you will be seen by the right people (and they may not be within your company).
Mentor people, no matter what your level. You always have wisdom and support to hand down that ensures a future of humanity and community.
Trust your instincts and the universe, God, or whatever you call it.
The truth is that work is work. That’s why it’s called work. Find and embrace the odds and sods that bring you the happiness and satisfaction to weather the storms that will always be looming.
Chase the dreams you can within their walls. Walk away intact to create even more.
And last, the 2016 movie Inside Out so gorgeously confirmed what is the essence of life — fight to keep joy running your main frame.
So while I wait for my chickens to hatch, I’ll eat the cake I have.
