Forking Off

From January until April of 2025, Dr. Ana Mitchell lived in fight or flight mode, not knowing each day if she would be part of the layoffs or Reduction-in-Force (RIF) actions of the new administration. On April 1, 2025, Ana lost her dream job as a Project Officer/Public Health Advisor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Chronic Disease Center. In the midst of uncertainty and...

As a retired Navy Captain, Dr. John Cordle knew the impact of fatigue management on force readiness. Following his retirement, Dr. Cordle completed his Doctorate of Engineering in Human Systems Engineering and rededicated himself to serving the Navy as a Human Factors Engineer. As a civilian employee, Dr. Cordle set out to identify signs of stress and fatigue and built systems to prevent future co...

Jill and Philip sit down with former DOJ employee, Jordan Mathews, to hear why she decided to leave her dream job. In this episode, Jordan shares her journey from serving with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic to the Rotary Peace Fellowship in Uppsala, Sweden. As a Presidential Management Fellow, Jordan found her dream job working at the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Serv...

Welcome to Forking Off! We're Jill & Philip Fields. We took the government's deferred resignation because our morals and our ethics were being pushed to the limit by changes in the new administration. We created this podcast to share our story and the stories of other former feds who said no to “Just following orders." We will explore the very personal experience of leaving federal service—whe...

2025 has seen unprecedented change in the United States. This is Forking Off. Join us on this journey beginning October 1st as former feds share their stories of why they left government service. Learn more at forkingoff.com .

2025 has seen unprecedented change in the United States. This is Forking Off. Join us on this journey beginning October 1st as former feds share their stories of why they left government service.

Welcome to Forking Off! The podcast for people who said no to “Just following orders," where we explore the very personal decisions behind leaving federal service—whether by choice, or by force. Every departure has a story, and we’re here to share them. The discussion starts October 1st.