<![CDATA[Formerly Known As]]>You spend years becoming someone. Then one day you stop.

Formerly Known As is a podcast about what happens next — to you, and to the identity you leave on the desk.

Nobody warns you that a job title becomes part of your identity. It tells everyone else what to expect from you, and you what to expect from yourself. Take it away and you have the feeling that a part of you went with it.

The question underneath is far bigger than what to do for a living: who am I now, if I'm not that?

Ten episodes, each with a guest who stepped out of a role that once defined them — lawyers, bankers, executives, founders. Some walked out on their own terms, others were pushed by circumstances they never chose. All of them landed in the same strange gap: after the old version had ended but before the new one had formed.

These are conversations about what never gets posted: the doubt, the uncertainty, the fear of irrelevance, the sneaking suspicion that you have made a terrible mistake — sitting alongside the freedom, the curiosity, and the pleasure of being bad at something again.

What turns out to have been you all along?

Because the people we used to be don't disappear.

They just stop being witnessed.

And remember: it only needs to make sense to you.

]]>https://riverside.comRiverside.fm (https://riverside.com)Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:13:36 GMTSat, 12 Sep 2026 12:41:24 GMT60Erika Diskancova<p>You spend years becoming someone. Then one day you stop.<br /></p><p>Formerly Known As is a podcast about what happens next — to you, and to the identity you leave on the desk.</p><p></p><p>Nobody warns you that a job title becomes part of your identity. It tells everyone else what to expect from you, and you what to expect from yourself. Take it away and you have the feeling that a part of you went with it. </p><p></p><p>The question underneath is far bigger than what to do for a living: who am I now, if I'm not that?</p><p></p><p>Ten episodes, each with a guest who stepped out of a role that once defined them — lawyers, bankers, executives, founders. Some walked out on their own terms, others were pushed by circumstances they never chose. All of them landed in the same strange gap: after the old version had ended but before the new one had formed.</p><p></p><p>These are conversations about what never gets posted: the doubt, the uncertainty, the fear of irrelevance, the sneaking suspicion that you have made a terrible mistake — sitting alongside the freedom, the curiosity, and the pleasure of being bad at something again. <br /></p><p>What turns out to have been you all along?</p><p></p><p>Because the people we used to be don't disappear.</p><p></p><p>They just stop being witnessed.<br /></p><p>And remember: it only needs to make sense to you.</p>episodicErika Diskancovaerika@roleco.iono<![CDATA[FKA Episode 1: Somewhere In Between]]>This is the first episode of Formerly Known As, and I am the guest.

It covers the period that follows a big decision, before the next chapter has taken shape — the stretch where you can be certain you were right and still mourn who you used to be, often on the same day.

I spent years building a career I loved, and then I left it to travel for a year with nothing lined up on the other side.

What I didn't expect was how much of my sense of myself went with the title.

I talk about:

  • Why the goodbye was far easier than living without the structure around it. No Monday morning. No forecast. No number to tell me whether the week had gone well.
  • What happened the last time I changed direction, from law into sales, a move I never intended, and why it barely registered at the time.
  • How those two identities compounded rather than replaced each other, and what that means for anybody going through the same right now.
  • Where ambition goes when the old measures of progress disappear. Mine stayed. It sat there like a sleeping dragon, waiting for me to point it somewhere.

I'm recording this from the middle of it, without a tidy conclusion. If you're somewhere in between as well, this one is for you.

And remember: it only needs to make sense to you.

]]>a15d97c7-6e3a-46b8-a4af-ae2bbd95ebf5Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:02:27 GMT<p>This is the first episode of Formerly Known As, and I am the guest. </p><p>It covers the period that follows a big decision, before the next chapter has taken shape — the stretch where you can be certain you were right and still mourn who you used to be, often on the same day.</p><p></p><p>I spent years building a career I loved, and then I left it to travel for a year with nothing lined up on the other side. </p><p></p><p>What I didn't expect was how much of my sense of myself went with the title.<br /></p><p>I talk about:</p><ul><li>Why the goodbye was far easier than living without the structure around it. No Monday morning. No forecast. No number to tell me whether the week had gone well.</li><li>What happened the last time I changed direction, from law into sales, a move I never intended, and why it barely registered at the time.</li><li>How those two identities compounded rather than replaced each other, and what that means for anybody going through the same right now.</li><li>Where ambition goes when the old measures of progress disappear. Mine stayed. It sat there like a sleeping dragon, waiting for me to point it somewhere.</li></ul><p></p><p>I'm recording this from the middle of it, without a tidy conclusion. If you're somewhere in between as well, this one is for you.</p><p></p><p>And remember: it only needs to make sense to you.</p>no00:18:5211FKA Episode 1: Somewhere In Betweenfull