Hustles for Humanists Workshop
This caption describes the image above.
Hustles for Humanists: A Half Day Seminar to Find or Create Meaningful Work
As a humanities graduate student, your skills are in demand. Despite the challenges of a competitive job market, the unique skill set that you possess is highly transferable to various industries and roles. Knowing how to position your creativity, knowledge and empathy is vital for achieving meaningful employment and professional growth. Take agency of your career with this half-day workshop facilitated by Dr. Erica Machulak, founder of Hikma and author of Hustles for Humanists: Build a Business with Purpose.
This interactive session offers a framework, reflection exercises, and actionable strategies to translate your strengths to new professional contexts, communicate your value and make your career work for you. We’ll deconstruct three myths that hold emerging scholars back from thinking expansively about their options and work together to identify, refine, and communicate what you have to offer – right now.
Workshop Agenda
Graduate students only
Date: Thursday, November 5
Location: RLP 1.302B, The University of Texas at Austin
- Coffee, 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
- Workshop, 9:00 AM - 1:30 PM
- Lunch Break, 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
- Book Signing, 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Hikma Logo
By the end of this half-day session, you will:
- Recognize the skills you already have
- Identify a service you could offer by tomorrow
- Communicate your value to a potential client or employer
- Workshop your ideas in a community of peers
Participants will also receive a copy of Hustles for Humanists and 30 days of access to deepen their learnings via the Hikma Extended Learning Platform.
By the end of this half-day session, you will:
- Recognize the skills you already have
- Identify a service you could offer by tomorrow
- Communicate your value to a potential client or employer
- Workshop your ideas in a community of peers
Participants will also receive a copy of Hustles for Humanists and 30 days of access to deepen their learnings via the Hikma Extended Learning Platform.
About Your Facilitator
Erica Machulak
Founder, Hikma
Erica Machulak, PhD, is a medievalist turned entrepreneur and the author of Hustles for Humanists: Build a Business with Purpose (Rutgers University Press 2025). As the Founder of Hikma, she leads a social impact startup with a mission to mobilize scholarship for the public good through consulting, capacity building, and storytelling. Over the past five years, Hikma clients have secured $12M+ in funding to create evidence-based resources and tools, inform policies, and craft accessible communications published by Forbes, the CBC, and other platforms. Erica has delivered training at universities around the world and through “Plan for Research Impact,” a Hikma course certified by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
As a writer, editor, and facilitator, Erica believes that the world needs to hear more from people who resist easy answers. Her work has been featured in Inside Higher Ed, the Journal of Electronic Publishing, Humanities, the magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other major publications. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the University of Oxford (MSt.), and the University of Notre Dame (PhD).
Photo Credit.
About Hustles for Humanists
Hustles for Humanists: Build a Business with Purpose
Hustles for Humanists: Build a Business with Purpose (Rutgers University Press 2025) provides a detailed roadmap for humanities professionals who want to leverage their valuable skills to find or create meaningful work. Machulak gives practical advice on how to connect with your core values, market yourself, build relationships with clients, and negotiate fair compensation.
This is an essential field guide for finding work that aligns with the core values of your humanities scholarship and practice. It demonstrates how the professional strengths of the humanities can be drawn upon to create fairer, more just and equitable entrepreneurial approaches—whether you’re launching a business, job hunting, or looking for inspiration. Hustles for Humanists helps you unlock the value of your humanities practice and explore exciting new pathways to achieving economic stability both within and beyond academia.
Photo Credit.
Co-Organizers
Tanya Clement, Director of the Humanities Institute and Robert Adger Law and Thos. H. Law Centennial Endowed Professor in Humanities, UT Austin
Annie Maxfield, Director of the Graduate Office of Career and Life Design, UT Austin and ImaginePhD Lead Creator, Facilitator
Photo Credit.
Hosts
The Humanities Institute
The Graduate Office of Career & Life Design
Co-sponsors
Department of English
Department of Rhetoric and Writing
College of Liberal Arts Graduate Education Office
The University of Texas at Austin