Success Story: Marci Alboher: Lawyer Turned Journalist/Author/Speaker Introduces Concept of a "Slash" Career

Marci Alboher began her career in law after graduating from American University's Washington College of Law. After nearly ten years of practice, she used her law background as a springboard to a second career as a journalist. Since 2001, Alboher has been a regular contributor to The New York Times, for which she currently writes the "Shifting Careers" column.  She shares additional career insights on her blog.

As her major claim to fame, Alboher is credited with introducing the concept of a "slash" into the career lexicon. As defined by Alboher in a recent interview with Business Week, "slashes" are people who pursue multiple careers or vocations simultaneously. For example, Alboher refers to herself on her website as an author/journalist/speaker.

Alboher explains that more and more people are pursuing "slash" careers for a variety of reasons:

• The Internet allows work to be done flexibly, portably, and virtually, which makes it easier to handle differents kinds of work in the same workweek or even workday.
• Having multiple income streams is one of the best ways to create economic security.
• More and more people are craving fulfillment and meaning in their careers, which has led individuals to combine work for security with work that feeds a passion.

Alboher has leveraged her "slash" concept into a book: One Person/Multiple Careers: How "The Slash Effect" Can Work For You. The book is the culmination of hundreds of interviews by Alboher of people who are living "slash" lives, from a longshoreman/documentary filmmaker to a management consultant/cartoonist.

Recommended reading for any lawyers contemplating an alternative career, or a sideline to their law job.