I’m Ellani, currently a PhD candidate in Business, and this is where I write about ambition that hasn’t resolved yet.
Most advice about work and growth is written from the other side of the finish line. This is written from the middle, where I’m still deciding what I want, still building the systems that keep me going, and still asking questions I can’t answer yet.
Why “unfinished business”
The name has two meanings.
The first is about being a woman in my twenties. I’ve always felt I was meant to do something big, and building this platform is part of it. I’m also a perfectionist, which makes it easy to wait until everything is ready before taking the first step. I’m still learning that done is better than perfect, and that includes starting this newsletter. The PhD isn’t the end of the story either. Something comes after it. I don’t know what yet, and I know this is only the beginning.
The second is about where I come from. My family is Georgian and, more specifically, Yazidi, an ethnic minority from the Middle East where war has always been part of life. My parents moved to Western Europe decades ago and built everything from zero. They put their careers second so that we could have the best ones possible. I’m part of the generation that gets to build on that, and I hope what I create carries their story.
What you’ll find here
The inside: What ambition actually feels like day to day, including the messy parts that don’t make it onto social media.
The system: How I work, plan, and keep going, written as a method you can test rather than a rigid productivity routine.
The questions: The bigger ones about women, work, success, and timing that I keep coming back to.
I also write about building a creator life alongside a PhD, and the unglamorous reality of doing both. I’m not an expert, and I won’t pretend the middle is more polished than it is. I’ll show you what I’m working through, and you can take whatever’s useful.
How it works
New issues come out every other week.
If you’re someone with a lot going on and no finished version of yourself to point to yet, you’re in the right place. You can also find the short-form version of all this on Instagram at @itsellani.
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