From Theory to Practice: Owning Your Power
- Oct 2
- 3 min read
By Natasha Stavros
On March 14, 2025, I wrote a public resignation on LinkedIn: Casting My Vote - I Quit. It went viral. I traded my mid-range, six-figure salary job for unemployment, a plan with five possible futures, and no guarantees that our family would have enough to pay our bills.
I had taken the job at Ball Aerospace, which was a science-focused, for-profit aerospace company, but three months after taking the job, it went up for sale. Within nine months, we were bought by one of the largest, and perhaps the oldest defense contractors in the world. This company has profited from war for hundreds of years. As a Ph.D. in environmental sciences focused on climate change and sustainability, this was not the job I had signed up for.
To add insult to injury, the U.S. Administration changed taking an antagonistic approach to not only dismantle, but launch a propaganda war against everything I had committed my life in service of: diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.
As a published scientific author studying innovation and system change for good, I couldn’t stand idly by in a job that did not align with my values, just for a paycheck. My vote at the ballot may have meant nothing, but I could vote with my time – the most precious commodity on Earth. You can make and lose money, gold, material items, but you can never make back time. And so, I quit my job. I took my power back.
This wasn’t a decision I made lightly. It actually involved putting power dynamics and game theory into practice.
What is power? Physically, power is the energy exerted to move or displace an object over time. In social construct, power can be decision-making authority, agenda setting authority, or the power of persuasion.
[By quitting my job], I disavow the value systems that align money and power. In doing so… [I] took responsibility for my decisions. I set my own agenda, with five futures in play. Last but certainly not least - my dissent was the most radical protest, because the company thought it would be better to pay me to go away… They were afraid of my ability to persuade dissent. – Polling Results: After I cast My Vote
By making this decision, I put theory into practice, and it was all going to go into my book: Burning Inside Out (seeking agents), a changemaker’s guide to creating an impact in a world on fire. I offer 30 lessons on being a changemaker in the modern era including everything from how systems work and function to big data, organizational psychology, game theory, and exploration of identity and radical acceptance. I use stories from my twenty-year career as a young woman in a man’s world, while sharing captivating and timely information about fire science and technology. Following the metaphor of fireweed growing back vibrant and bright after every burn, my story flows from seed to seedling, sapling, blossom, burning, and regrowth.
Now, five months after quitting, my Substack gives a sneak peak of the final chapter as it unfolds. Seizing my power, released me from expectation and created the space for transformation.
I healed my heart, mind, and body. I became a yoga teacher. I hold a full-time job at a university helping resolve some of the biggest challenges our researchers have. I went from hobby writer to professional, and I am the proud owner of a small business recently awarded a NASA grant. I am a committed wife and mother. I am my power.
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