Catherine Dugoni is a planner. She doesn’t rush to make decisions. That’s why, even months after speaking with her family and friends about wanting to quit her dead-end marketing job, she had yet to put in her notice. But there was someone who could convince her to resign: her all-time favorite artist, Harry Styles.
It all began when Dugoni got tickets for a Syles show at the Golden 1 Center in her hometown of Sacramento. As SFGate first reported, the 23 year-old UC Berkeley grad decided to “splurge” on spots in the pit, right by the stage. This was back in 2019, when Styles had just released the album “Fine Line.” Due to the pandemic, the original show, which was set for 2020, was delayed until this week.
Dugoni has been a Harry Styles fan since 2011. She first heard the British singer’s rolling vibrato back when he was a member of the boyband One Direction. Dugoni told The Daily Beast she remembers the moment clearly: it was art class, and the teacher let students play music on YouTube while they worked. A friend put on the song “One Thing.”
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Dugoni was hooked. “I had never heard them or seen them, and then I was like, ‘This is it.’” She was always a “Harry girl,” and preferred him to the other members. “I looked into those green eyes and thought, ‘That’s who I’m sticking with.’”
So Dugoni, who works in marketing at an events production company, expected a fun night of music and dancing with her friends on Wednesday. She never expected Styles would engage with the sign she wrote on an 11 x 17 poster board, which read, “Tell Me to Quit My Job!” (Dugoni said she also brought another placard that asked Styles if he’d like to play tic tac toe. But that might “take too long,” for Styles to do, so she didn’t have high hopes he’d be interested in it.)
“I thought, ‘If Harry sees my sign [about quitting], then it’s a sign from the universe,’” Dugoni said. “I guess it was.”
And Styles, clad in a feather boa and metallic mint green t-shirt, did see it. “What do you do?” he asked.
Dugoni answered, “I work in, uh, marketing,” and when Styles had trouble hearing her, fans around her helped by shouting it out for him.
“But it makes me sad,” Dugoni said.
“It makes you sad,” Styles repeated. Before asking the 17,000-person stadium, “What do we think Catherine should do?”
When the resounding answer seemed to be a collective, “Quit,” Styles asked, “Do you want to work to live or do you want to live to work?”
He then asked Dugoni what she wanted to do with her life, and she answered that she wanted to write. “Think it through, because it’s a big decision, but do what you want to do,” Styles said, before adding that he wants to read Dugoni’s work.
It was all she needed to put in her two weeks’ notice the next morning. Dugoni’s last day of work will be the day before Thanksgiving. She stresses that her job wasn’t terrible, exploitative, or abusive, it just wasn’t for her. Plus, it was her first gig out of school, and one she spent working from home, without any coworkers or office to go into.
Dugoni didn’t tell her boss about “the Harry thing,” and so far no one from her company has seen the viral video. “Maybe Monday I’ll get a Slack message from someone asking, ‘Is this you?’” she said.
“The people and company are great, and there are so many people who are passionate about planning virtual events, but I just wasn’t one of them,” Dugoni said. “When I said ‘it makes me sad,’ I just meant that I am not passionate about my job and I really want to be. I have friends, and parents, and aunts and uncles who work in industries where their job consumes their lives, and I don’t want this. It’s OK if I’m a starving artist who can barely make ends meet so long as I’m happy.”
Dugoni has been writing since she was six years old, and she grew up carrying around composition notebooks around just in case inspiration struck. “I’ve kept so many notebooks from middle school and high school not because I really needed to keep those algebra equations and not3es on the Grapes of Wrath, but because I wrote short stories and poems in the margins,” she said.
Dugoni ultimately wants to write a novel. Her favorite author of all time is Jane Austen, and she says “Pride and Prejudice changed my life. I just love who Lizzy Bennet is—she’s so unafraid to be herself, pursue her dreams, while staying committed to her family and her values. I really resonated with her character and never stopped loving her.”
Harry Styles fans are known to tote humorous or poignant signs, which he likes to read in between singing hits like “Watermelon Sugar” and “Adore You.” The singer, who has been known to support LGBTQ causes, has helped multiple kids come out to their parents at concerts. While waiting in line at the stadium, Dugoni noticed someone with a poster that read, “Guess how many days ago I had surgery.” At a previous concert, she read another that said, “I got hit by a car tonight, and I’m still here.”
Dugoni says she’s been lucky enough to live at home with her parents during the pandemic, so she’s able to support herself and has a bit of savings that can help her ride out this period of underemployment. (She pointed out that she has two internships, but those won’t pay the bills.)
“I want people to know that this wasn’t a decision that I made lightly,” Dugoni said.”I talked to friends and families about it. I tried to find jobs for months. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the passion for it and couldn’t give it my all.”
No one from Styles’ camp has reached out to Dugoni to make good on his promise of reading her work yet, but she’s connected with other writers and “random people” who are offering their virtual congratulations.
“There is probably no other pop star I would trust to help me make this decision,” she told The Daily Beast. “I’ve been such a loyal fan for 10, 11 years, and he’s so committed to us and cares about our wellbeing. He wants you to succeed and be happy in life.”
“I remember growing up and watching the video diaries from [when One Direction competed on] The X Factor, and seeing Harry talk about working at a bakery,” she added. “He quit his job to pursue his dream, and it worked out for him to take a leap of faith. If he can do it, why shouldn't I?”
