[joshlittle]

I grew up in Cincinnati. I finished college at the start of the Great Recession. As career opportunities in Tech were (at the time) nonexistent there, I couldn’t find a future for me in Cincy. I moved away in 2009 to Chicago; and then to San Francisco 5 years later. I feel a little bit guilty for leaving my childhood friends and family behind to move on with my aspirations.

It’s been hard to listen to my parents complain about how terrible the region has become; yet I am grateful for their continued encouragement to pursue my own goals - even if elsewhere.

It’s easy to say “why don’t they move?”

It’s a question I bring up all the time to myself. As it turns out, it is really hard to relocate an entire family once roots are put down - my aging grandparents, my sisters and their families, my fathers’ business, and my mothers‘ career in commercial banking all anchor them to Cincinnati.