"Our Parents Were Impacted By Capitalism": This Gen Z'er Makes Up To $1,000 A Week And Forewent A "Traditional" Job — Here's What Her Everyday Life Is Like
Welcome back to Gen Z Journals, where we highlight the day-to-day lives of individual Gen Z'ers from all walks of life. From weekly expenses to recent challenges, here's where we glimpse into the lives of one of the most pivotal generations of the moment.
This week: Meet Jenna (she/her), a 24-year-old from Chicago, Illinois. The remainder of this post will be from her POV.
I work in a variety of different positions within the entertainment/theatre industry — all backstage. Primarily, I work in the wardrobe department as an assistant wardrobe supervisor, helping oversee the use and maintenance of costumes. Additionally, I oversee other crew members to ensure that the correct costumes are on the right people at the right time, whether on stage or during filming. I also do some work as a wig and makeup technician, doing similar tasks behind the scenes and taking freelance work building wigs when available. I’m a gig worker, so my work is not always consistent, and I can sometimes go weeks or even months between jobs (though I’m hoping they will become more consistent the more established I become in my career).
The tour that I am currently with I’ve only been on for about two months, but I have been touring for about six months off and on. I started working in the industry professionally while in college, so I graduated with a decent amount of professional experience. My pay is also a bit interesting, as depending on the job/company, I typically earn $800–$1000 per week, either full-time or salary. “Full time” is roughly 36-45 hours a week, but it will depend on the length of the show, schedule of performances, etc. Additionally, with touring, it’s pretty common that your one or two days "off" a week is spent traveling, so there may not be a show, but it’s not really a free day either (just part of life on the road).
As for how much companies “decide” to pay, it really depends on the company. If it’s a smaller company, they could offer you a stipend for whatever hours they require of you (which often can mean that you are drastically underpaid and overworked), or they can give an hourly rate (which means you are making money proportional to how much time you work). Stipend jobs can usually be a bit of a pitfall for young theatre workers, as the lack of set hours or wages can lead to being taken advantage of. I am fortunate that I was able to join the union at a young age, which means that I am not only able (or required) to be paid more but also have more set rules and regulations to protect me as a worker. Even so, within the union, workers in my departments (wardrobe, wigs, hair, and makeup) are historically paid less as a whole, mostly due to antiquated ideas of it being “women’s work.”
Currently, I am working on a national tour, where I am also given a $60 “per diem” daily allowance for living essentials. Since I am traveling with the show, my housing and travel expenses are also arranged for and covered by the company. My expenses living on the road can vary greatly depending on the schedule for the week and what cities we are in. Luckily, I kind of have a built-in budget since I aim to limit my daily expenses to my per diem. That may sound like a lot, but most of the time, we move around so much that making my own food isn’t really feasible. As a result, I end up ordering a ton of delivery or going out for almost every meal. If we are in a large city (especially over the weekend), I may spend a little more money either going out to eat at a nicer restaurant or grabbing drinks with friends after work. I also have celiac disease (meaning I need to eat gluten-free) and a number of food allergies, so finding food on the road can be a little bit of a challenge.
My financial overhead is pretty low since when I am not on the road, I live with my parents (so no rent). I don’t own a car, and I am super fortunate that between scholarships and assistance from my parents, I have a pretty low student loan payment per month (around $350). I pay for a number of subscriptions, including streaming services, food delivery services, and a couple of different websites that I utilize for both information and entertainment. Otherwise, I will put $100 a month into my retirement fund, and the remainder of my pay will be split between my primary savings and a high-yield savings account.
I shockingly feel pretty comfortable with my current financial situation. I grew up in a pretty frugal family with a lot of conversations about personal finance and saving money, so in a lot of ways, I entered adulthood much better prepared to handle my own finances. I started a retirement fund recently so that I can start building money early, and by the time I am ready to retire, it will have had time to build up.
I think a lot of us Gen Z'ers grew up with parents who were heavily impacted by the effects of capitalism and saw how much their lives have been directed by their jobs. Our generation has realized how unhealthy and unreasonable some of the typical expectations of jobs are and how deeply it impacts our personal freedoms and ability to pursue the things that make us happy outside of our careers. For me, I made the decision to eschew a "traditional" career path in favor of work that I actually love doing and have a lot of passion for.
Like most things in my life, my schedule is highly variable! On our first day in any new city, I have a 10 a.m. call to start my department's "load-in" for the show and get it ready to perform that night. I'll typically get up around 8:30 to get ready and get some breakfast before heading into the theatre. When we get there, we will have a local crew that we introduce to the show, and they will help us organize, clean, repair, and prepare all of the costumes and dressing rooms for the cast to arrive that evening. We are typically released by mid-afternoon, so I have a few hours to relax or do other things before our evening show call. Our evening shows tend to start around 7:30 p.m., so we are called back into the theatre an hour and a half before the show is set to get our bearings, do any additional preparations, and assist performers once they come in.
During the show, I am coordinating with our local dressers to run their "tracks," which tell them when, where, with what, and with whom their changes occur throughout the show. Once the show is over (my current tour has a run time of about two hours and 45 minutes with a 20-minute intermission), we collect laundry to be done during the next day. If we move onto a new city the next day, we have to "load out," which means packing the show back up and getting it ready to go back on the trucks. Luckily, for my department, this only takes about half an hour. Then I am done for the day, so I either go back to the hotel/sleeper bus or go out/socialize. Some days are two-show days where we run the show twice (which can make for long and tiring days. Others are travel days, where we are usually up early to take a long bus ride or go to the airport to fly to our next destination.
My sleep schedule is typically from about 12 p.m. to 8 or 9 a.m., so I generally try to get a good amount of sleep. However, sometimes travel and show schedules can throw that off (like getting up at 5 a.m. to take a long bus ride). I also will occasionally be riding on a sleeper bus, which means that I’ll be sleeping on a moving bus with the rest of the traveling crew (of which there are 12 of us), so it’s not always the most restful experience. Most nights, I’m in a hotel room in whatever city we are in!
I am currently single, mainly because long distance is hard. I do have someone in my life who we have discussed possibly pursuing a romantic relationship in the future, but due to us both being in chaotic phases of our lives (me on tour and them finishing up their college degree), we've decided that putting that kind of pressure on the relationship is something that neither of us really want or need at the moment. I can definitely feel lonely, as I have many friends and coworkers who are in relationships or married (some even being on tour together), but I also appreciate that it's a little easier for me to disconnect from the world for a while if I want/need to.
I think in my unique case, I’m so far from traditionally “settled” that I’ve accepted that it’s not really an accurate metric for me! Though I’d love to have a stable place of living, be able to have a pet of my own, and have a stable romantic partner whom I live close to, I can recognize that it’s just not the season of my life that I am currently in. For me, I think my own personal goal of “stability” that I am working towards at this time relates to having consistent income I can count on and at least three months of expenses in savings to bridge me over between gigs as needed.
A big change I recently went through was definitely committing to touring for a while, as it means I spend months living out of two suitcases and a backpack, constantly on the move. When I graduated college, I thought I would want to stay close to home and focus on local work, but once I started touring, I loved it so much that I’m willing to make some sacrifices for the experience of doing this. There are a lot of things that I miss about living on my own in an apartment (I’m a bit of a homebody), but being able to get paid to travel and consistently do a job I love is worth it.
A recent challenge for me has just been adjusting to and getting comfortable with the lack of consistency in my work situation. After my last tour, I had a couple of months where I didn’t have work lined up and was stressed about where my next job would come from. That’s a pretty common fear amongst recent college grads, but because I had jobs lined up for me right after college, my experience of feeling that type of stress was a bit new.
As silly as this might sound, I’m really looking forward to the possibility of my parents getting cats this year. I grew up with cats, and for the first time in a number of years, they are living in a place where they can and want to have cats, so we’ve been talking about it for some time now. Even though I won’t necessarily always be home to appreciate them, knowing how many cat photos and stories I’ll get on the road is more than worth it!
I’m so wildly thankful that I have a lot of support from my family. Their willingness to help me out and cheer me on has definitely given me a lot of courage to pursue a career that is out of the ordinary. Work is interesting because the full company kind of becomes a family you travel, live, and work with, as well as the people with whom you hang out and explore new cities. We even have a borrowing library on tour with us, where everyone can donate and trade their books and have conversations about ones that others have read.
In some parts of my life, I feel like I’m "ahead," and in others, I’m behind. However, in other ways, I do feel behind, especially when it comes to romance and relationships. I can recognize that I’ve put my focus into school/work and pursuing my own passions, so it’s alright that I may not have as much “experience” in the relationship department. However, as more and more of my friends get into serious relationships, get engaged, and get married, I definitely can feel a little "left behind."
I feel like social media can have a large influence on our perception of personal success. When we witness the lives of others through it, things become amplified; the highs are high, and the lows are low. However, I also see it as a source of inspiration, as it can totally encourage me to build something that I’m excited about and want to share with others. Additionally, I have to recognize social media as a big influencing factor in my chosen career because it was through social media in high school that I realized that I could make a career out of sewing costumes and dressing people backstage!
Career-wise, I'd say I'm further along than most of my peers, considering I'm working on my second national tour less than a year after graduating from college. There's a lot of potential on the horizon, and it's exciting. I’m hoping that in my time this year, when I am not on the road, I’ll be able to pursue some of my hobbies/sidelines that I’ve been wanting to explore, but constantly traveling makes it difficult. I’ve been in development for starting my own indie sewing pattern company since the beginning of the year, and I hope to release my first pattern sometime this summer!
In the next few years, ideally, I'll be on a longer-term touring contract. I want to travel more, either with work or outside of work, especially to France (which has been a dream since I was a kid). I'd also love to be in a romantic relationship of some kind, either with someone who is also touring or long-distance when I'm on the road. There's a lot of potential on the horizon, and it's exciting.
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Note: This submission has been edited for length and/or clarity.
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