Vigeland discusses life post-Marketplace: ‘It has been terrifying,’ she says in speech

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Why did Tess Vigeland leave her Marketplace Money hosting gig back in November 2012? The reasons are complicated, she revealed in a July address to the World Domination Summit in Portland, Ore., an annual conference where the audience hears from “amazing people with big plans.”

Vigeland

Vigeland

Next Avenue, Twin Cities Public Television’s resource for the over-50 crowd, posted an abbreviated version of what it called her “courageous speech.”

Turns out Vigeland had been unhappy for a while at Marketplace. “Partly I was tired of the subject I covered,” she said. “It got to the point where I wanted to reach through the radio, take listeners by the shoulders and say: ‘Don’t you get it?! Don’t spend more than you save! That’s it! I told you this last week — and the week before that! Do I really I have to tell you again this week?!’ ”

But how does a person finally realize when it’s time to move on? “In my case, the answer is it’s time to leave when you have too much self-respect to stay. That — and when you’re so stressed out you start losing your hair.”

While plotting her next move, Vigeland said, she ended up as one of four finalists out of 160 candidates to be host of Weekend All Things Considered. She didn’t get that job.

Now she’s busying “redefining success” as she explores her career possibilities. And that’s harder than it sounds.

“I know I’m supposed to tell you this has been a wonderful learning experience,” Vigeland said. “That I’m a better person for the challenge. And that I’ve grown. Instead, I’ll tell you it has been terrifying, it has been awful and it has been heartbreaking. It’s made me doubt my decision-making ability, wonder if I’m in some loop of self-destruction and question whether everyone who’s ever told me I have talent was just being nice.”

Her advice is to “take time throughout your working life to re-evaluate what you’re doing, what you really love about it and what you don’t. I didn’t do that very much — and I should have, even though I thought I was in my dream job. Dream while you’re in the dream.”

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