My name is Azora Zoe Paknad, but you can call me Zoe. I started a sustainable e-commerce marketplace in 2020 and parted ways with it at the end of 2022. It was my first rodeo… and it damn near bucked me off.

Those years were challenging beyond belief, and so were the ones that followed. Nobody really talks about the identity hangover, the pressure to “build a brand,” or the burnout that hides behind pretty packaging.

First Rodeo began as a way to write through all of that — to make sense of what happens after the story ends. It turns out a lot of people needed to talk about it too: the messy, funny, un-Instagrammable parts of ambition, identity, and starting over. You can find everything I’ve written in that lane right here.

Now, First Rodeo has grown into a twice-weekly-ish newsletter about books, work, healing, and the art of getting back up when life knocks you on your ass. Sometimes it’s reflective, sometimes ridiculous, but always honest.

If you like thoughtful writing, crowded bookshelves, and finding meaning in the middle of the mess — you’ll fit right in.

💫 Subscribe to First Rodeo for essays, book recs, and dispatches from the in-between.

No spurs required,
Azora Zoe