This Is My Plan: Elly Walton on Layoffs and Starting Over

Elly Walton mid-leap on a sunny residential street, laughing, with a skateboard under one arm

Elly Walton: This Is My Plan

Elly Walton has spent twenty years changing careers. A layoff, a skateboard, a bagel in hand, and one honest caption later, she is still changing. That, she says, is the point.

Elly Walton is on a skateboard, going downhill and eating a bagel. Her kids’ scooters are tucked under one arm, and across the reel, in plain text, are four words:

“This is my plan.”

That reel has been watched more than sixteen million times on Instagram.

After a layoff, people kept probing the forty-four-year-old Toronto mother of two about when she was going back to work. Getting tired of the question, she answered it once, in public, over footage of herself doing the thing she actually wanted to do. “Some people,” she says, “actually just want to take a break. And that’s okay.”

Some people actually just want to take a break. And that's okay.

For twenty years she had a title, and the title kept changing. Marketing Coordinator, Event Coordinator,…

Jay Shah

With a love for stories that bridge creativity and technology, Jay Shah blends his background in engineering and tech with a passion for creative storytelling. Through his platform, Jay’s Vancouver, he explores the vibrant arts scene and cultural movements of the Pacific Northwest, spotlighting everything from avant-garde cinema and art to theatre and local initiatives that champion creative resistance and belonging. His writing blends technical insight with community-centered narratives to explore the people and ideas shaping modern life across the West Coast. When he’s not writing or developing new tech projects, Jay can be found exploring local galleries, experimenting with all sorts of art, or chasing the next great café view of Vancouver’s skyline. The day’s work; be it coding or writing doesn’t start until that first espresso hits…