Anomaly or trendsetter? How one Torontonian ditched the law for lattes

For Henna Choi, growing up with "very, very, very traditional" Korean parents meant she had three career options: doctor, engineer or lawyer.

She chose law.

Choi started studying at Toronto's Osgoode Hall in 2016. She articled at a personal injury firm where, after passing the bar in 2020, she went on to work for about two more years.

"The plan was always to just be a lawyer, succeed at it, enjoy it," the 29-year-old said, but as early as"the second day of law school, I knew I made a mistake."

From her new part-time job as a barista atthe Columbus Cafe on Adelaide Street, Choi speaks about her law career in the past tense:

"Life had other plans."

WATCH | Finding a new career path during the pandemic:

Finding a new career path during the pandemic

3 years ago

Duration 5:23

Of the roughly 400,000 Canadians who lost their job during the pandemic, one quarter have completely changed their career path. Three of these people tell David Common about the challenges and rewards.

Although it was a hot topic for discussionduring the early lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, whichgave people time to reflect on their priorities, Canadians still don't often change career paths, according to Noel Baldwin, director of government and public affairs at Toronto Metropolitan University's Future Skills Centre though that is changing.

"It's not a huge phenomenon," Baldwinsaid. "Somebody moving from something like being in law to a more retail- or service-oriented occupation, that is even less common."

But, he says the future of workcould require more adaptability, as quickeningtechnology and society changes force us to keep up.

From courtroom to cafe

As a child Choi dreamed of being an artist, not a lawyer.

Despite realizing it wasn't the right career for her, she says she felt it was too late to change tracks, so she toughed out law school and began practicing. Still, she says she couldn't shake the realization.

"I was pretending to be someone I wasn't," Choi said. "The deeper I got into it, the harder it became to keep up the faade. I think my mental health just came to a breaking point."

Then, the pandemic lockdowns presented a new opportunity as Choi, like so many others, began posting videos to TikTok. One video a "get ready with me" video for a "depressed lawyer" now has over 10 million views.

"That's when I realized there were so many people who felt exactly like me," she said. "I realized I wasn't happy with where I was in my life and it needed to change."

Choi says she took a leave of absence from her law firm in June 2022, and never looked back. Content creation became a source of income, she says, but a new passion wasbrewing.

"I started trying out different coffee recipes at home, and coffee became something I looked forward to in the morning," she said. " I wanted to learn more about coffee."

In October, Choi was invited as an influencerto check out Columbus Cafe'sgrand opening. When she started researching the cafe, she learned they were hiring.

She finds the job, and the work environment, "so meditative," Choi said. "I'm so focused on just frothing the milk, you know, pulling the espresso, serving the customers."

She says she also appreciates her new job for what it's given her outside of work hours: more time to unplug and a better relationship with her parents.

"All they wanted was for me to be happy and healthy," she said.

Multiple careers not so rare

At first, Choi says she was nervous to announce her career change on TikTok as she thought people might "think I was pretending to be like a blue collar person."

"But the response was so overwhelmingly positive," she said."I couldn't even believe so many people who were not only on the same journey, going from like a very professional job to something completely different and expressing how happy they are with it."

The switch comes at a cost. Choi says content creation as a social media influencer is her main source of income not coffee and she lives half the year with her family.

"Taking risks in this economy is so scary and I totally get that," she said.

TMU'sFuture Skills Centre conducted a survey, according to Baldwin, that suggestsabout 80 per cent ofCanadians polled are satisfied with their current job.

While Statistics Canada doesn't specifically track how many people change careers, its Labour Force Survey does show how many people leave their jobs each month because they've become dissatisfied with them.

Just over 12 per cent of people who voluntarily left their jobs between January and November2023 did so because they were dissatisfied. In total, more than 12,680 Canadians voluntarily left during this time period.

Overall, Baldwin says the numbers gathered so far suggestmost Canadians are satisfied with their current careers. However, he says automation and the future of artificial intelligence, among other factors, could force people to change gears mid-career because jobs getphased out or transformed. That means "transferable skills" could become critical to the future of work, he said.

"That idea of going to one job for your lifetime has been in sort of a flux," Baldwin said.

As for Choi, she says she doesn't want to be a barista forever, but she feels happier and more at peace.

"My main goal was justas uncomfortable as it wasto follow my heart and do the things that actually brought me joy," she said. "Just do the things that bring you joy and eventually ... your path will open up to you."