In October of 2013, I attended the Online News Association national conference in Atlanta, Georgia. I had been bouldering for six months, and that budding fixation was matched only by my professional obsession with journalism. I learned a lot on that trip — namely, that I didn’t want to pursue a fast-paced career in digital journalism.

I had a lot of fun, though. There were drone showings, Google Glass demos, and Twitter debates over such lofty topics as the pronunciation of “gif.” (It does, proclaimed the alleged “creators of the gif,” sound like the peanut butter.)

What I remember best, however, is Ann Friedman’s keynote speech. Ann is a well-known journalist, public speaker, and pie chart philosopher who writes about gender, media, politics, and culture. Three days after I first entered a climbing gym, Ann published her first Shine Theory oeuvre in New York Magazine’s The Cut.