You may have seen it on Facebook. You know. I work there now!

It’s been hard to parse the events of the last six months. But I want to.

So. How did it happen?  In March, Hot Studio, the design firm where I’d worked for the last six years, was acquired by Facebook. I’d expected an eventual acquisition by some larger company. I wanted it for Maria. As the badass company founder she was, she deserved it. Still, it came as a surprise. There may have been rumors, but that’s not the same as sitting in rows of white chairs in a company-wide meeting listening to your long-term leader spell it out.

It was shocking, the bigness of it. Facebook! In Menlo Park! And Hot would close!

We didn’t know what would happen to everyone. It was a hard time, the unwinding of Hot. The splitting up of family.

But I got an offer to work in the Content Strategy group at Facebook. And I said yes please.

And now every weekday morning I pull off the Dumbarton Bridge in my vanpool (more about that later), onto 1 Hacker Way, and go to work.

What is it like? My electronic badge beeps me in. As a n00b (new person) on my first week, I felt I was staring up into the underbelly of a vast spaceship. Around me, I saw a diverse group of talented people, and a different world. What’s it like?

• There’s graffiti and posters and color-splashed walls
• Light streaming in
• Art everywhere
• Open desks and more desks and more
• Vending machines with electronics (headphones, power adapters, mice, etc.)
• Snacks and more snacks and lovely nonalcoholic drinks
• Hundreds of esoterically-named conference rooms (e.g. “Puff the Magic Drag and Drop”)
• Plants inside and out
• Foxes!
• Bikes to ride (they are quicker – and give you an unexpected sense of joy)
• Free food! Rich food. Healthy food. Fresh and varied. (Low blood sugar is never an issue.)

People move around me, hustling from building to building in the sunny interior courtyard. They’re developers and designers and people with MBAs. Content Strategists like myself. Good sharp people who help with all of the details.

So many brains in one place! Lots of data, numbers, metrics. People with strong opinions. An intensity of purpose. Strong charisma. It’s optimism and realism, combined in a way I’ve never seen before.

There’s also a surprising humility at Facebook. A willingness to examine problems. An understanding, among everyone I know, that the perks aren’t ubiquitous. It’s a privilege. So we work very hard. We work to make Facebook a great experience for everyone who uses it. If that were easy, we’d be done already. But it’s not easy. That’s why we’re there.

After I get home in that same vanpool, I see Rafael and Alejandro and Story. Our beautiful family. Before I walk in the door, I stop on the porch and take a deep breath. I tell myself, “Steady, lady. Steady.” I want to leave work behind, but I’m still excitedly solving problems with my co-workers in my head. I take another deep breath. I admire the late sunlight streaming over the hill in front of our house. I calm down.

I walk into eight streams of information coming at me through the three people I love and the many devices in our home.

“Mommy’s home!!!” It’s a lovely chaos of hugging and kissing and sharing of toys and drawings and video game news updates. Then everything needs to be done.

I’m not good at everything. I’m still me. I’m still learning balance, and about how to be the very best mom I can be, and a caring wife, and about creative fulfillment, and this new job. (I’ll take a another deep breath now. Ahhhhh. Okay. Whew.)

But I’m where I’m meant to be. At work I feel like I can do what I’m best at: Writing. Connecting. Communicating. Being of service. Making stuff.

And at home I can just be with the kids, which is all we need.

Thank you for being here, and for knowing all sides.

– Margot