Minneapolis-based writer Chrissy Stockton has an imagination too impatient to be contained by a simple boring office job.

She realized this in 2013 when, at 27 years old and with a degree in philosophy, she started to feel trapped at a marketing job that was “okay” in the sense that it paid the bills but deeply unsatisfying in the way that humans need more than their physiological needs met in order to survive. To help carve a pathway out of her boredom, she teamed up with best friend Sarah Lansky, whom she met in the philosophy department at Bethel University. Both women had felt alienated in a male-dominated college department, so they pooled their talents to create the “phiLOLZophy” Tumblr, which was devoted to existentialism, dating, feelings and the intersection of pop culture and philosophy. Vodkas and laptops in hand—or sometimes just scribbling down ideas on bar napkins—their Tumblr grew to over 350K followers. Many of its best entries were compiled into a Kindle Single whose fundamental question was, “How can I use logic to get over my ex?”

phiLOLZophy started getting attention all over the place, including top-ranked website Thought Catalog, where Chrissy went from the comments section…to having her articles syndicated…to becoming a staff writer…to becoming a partner in the company. In one year alone, her Thought Catalog articles garnered over 50 million pageviews. She also produces the work of dozens of other writers in several genres, including Heart Catalog and Creepy Catalog. As a staff member, Chrissy meshes perfectly with other creatives and influencers: “One of the best things in the world,” she explains, “is being at a table eating a meal with a big group of creative people….I surround myself with reading and writing and creating because I want to live and breathe those things and be the best at them that I can be.” Her goal as a writer “is to be open to writing about anything, especially things other people might want to keep private.”

In 2017 Thought Catalog Books released Chrissy’s first poetry collection, We Are All Just A Collection Of Cords.

She views the world as something we are meant to experience together by telling stories. First-person writing should inform our philosophical and political values along with things such as logic and whether someone can make a good argument. Good writing is how we give empathy a seat at the table.