She got fired, then she started a Substack

Former federal employee Ashley Hackett on coping with rejection, escaping the everyday with books, favorite reading spots in D.C., and more

Katie Garcia and Ashley is HYPER/FIXATED

Mar 27, 2026

Rejection stings. When you put yourself out there only to find you’re not accepted, yeah, it hurts. Whether it’s in the workplace, on social media, or on a date.

But without being vulnerable, there’s no chance of getting to a “yes.” Without rejection, you stay exactly where you are. So how do you go from the “no” to trying again and again?

I learned about a surprising technique called exposure therapy when chatting with Ashley, who spends a great deal of her time in the churn and burn after being illegally fired with 25,000 other federal employees in 2025.

In this conversation, we talk about her take on rejection (inspired by a TedTalk and social media trend) and taking a break from the everyday with books. She also shares her favorite indie bookstores in Washington D.C. and a few hot takes on book culture.

I’m sharing it all here with you (bookstore photoshoot included!). Maybe it’ll be the spark you need to get yourself back out there, or maybe you’ll simply find something that resonates. If you do, let us know!

Former federal employee Ashley Hackett at Capitol Hill Books, an indie bookstore in Washington DC. Photography by Ashton Sotiro. Interview edited for clarity.

Hi Ashley, welcome to Hello Reader. Please would you start by introducing yourself and tell us what you’re reading?

My name’s Ashley. I’m a freelance writer based in Washington D.C. Right now, I’m writing for a lot of clients in the tech space and also working on my first novel. Every part of my career has been touched by writing and reading in some way. I’m a former journalist and federal employee. It’s been a year since I got illegally fired from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research.

I’m reading three books: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Red Rising series by Pierce Brown, and A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing: A Novel by Alice Evelyn Yang. I’m also reading a lot of research for the novel I’m writing, which is a dual timeline, dual POV book queer coming of age story with a family generational saga that starts in 1950s Argentina and moves to 1980s Washington D.C., when the AIDS epidemic was in full swing, to present day.

It’s been a year since you lost your job at NIH. Tell us about the departure and where you are now?

I was fired from the best job I’d ever had.

Many of my colleagues and I opened a letter from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) saying our “performance had not been adequate.”

I worked as a science writer and communications specialist at NIH for three years and received a stellar annual performance review two weeks prior. Within the next hour, I’d lost access to all of my work accounts.

And yeah, I got mad…I showed up to the Senate with hundreds of other fired feds to ask the Senators what they were gonna do about it (the answer is nothing of substance).

About six months in, I stopped spiraling and my creative life began. I applied and got into a novel writing program. I formed an LLC and booked my first editing job. I started my Substack Throughlines.

I’ll always be passionate about public health. At the NIH I felt like I was making a difference in my community. I absolutely loved my job, and I was devastated by the firing of tens of thousands of federal employees.

Now, though? I’m working on cool projects that interest me, including a 1,000 rejection challenge inspired by entrepreneur Jia Jiang and a 2025 TikTok trend. I share it all on my Substack and invite others to track and celebrate their rejections with me.

Wait… you’re tracking and celebrating your rejections… with the goal of reaching 1,000 this year? And you’re sharing it all on the Internet? Tell us more.

My Substack itself exists in part because I wanted to try out some “exposure therapy” by exposing myself to the uncomfortable feeling of writing emotionally vulnerable essays and publishing them for the whole Internet to see. As many other writers will attest, this action is terrifying. But it gets so much easier the more you do it. Why wouldn’t that same logic work for rejection?

“Escapism is an important aspect to reading for me. I’m always chasing that moment when I was eight years old on the couch, so engrossed in a book that I had no idea what was going on around me.”

You mentioned you’d like to take a break from the everyday with a book. When did that habit start for you?

I was a voracious reader when I was a kid. Like, you could not get me out of a book. I remember a specific time when I was laying on my couch reading a fantasy book and my mom kept calling my name and talking to me, which I didn’t realize until after she was waving her hands in front of my face to get my attention. I was so engrossed in the book that I couldn’t even hear her. I had no idea what was going on around me. I still remember that being the time that I knew that reading was my favorite hobby.

Why escape with a book now with everything going on in the world?

Words are one of the most important things we have right now. I remember being in school when dystopian novels like Hunger Games and Divergent came out. Dystopian novels were huge then, but now it feels like we’re living in one to me. It’s really important to explore perspectives different from your own, whether it’s a queer perspective, a person of color, etc.

Just a trend or here to stay?

Analog living…

Personally, I think the analog trend is silly and performative in itself. When you’re treating something analog as a trend, you’re not going analog because you’re sharing it on social media, you know what I mean? Like the irony is crazy!

With that being said, anything that gets people wanting to read is amazing. Although I find the analog trend to be ironic and silly, I’m glad that people are showing the desire to want to get back to these things.

Romantasy…

I love that romantasy has been commercially popular, and it’s a great point for people to get back into reading.

Classics…

I missed the classics train in high school and college, and I’m trying to catch up before I go see the movies that are coming out!

Most of us have more books on our TBR (to be read) lists than time to read. How do you select what to read?

I’ll give any book a shot, if the subject matter sounds interesting to me. But generally, I look for books in the genre that I enjoy, which is fantasy. Where I’ll stop reading is if the writing style is, I don’t know how to say this, if it’s bad. Like, grammar errors shouldn’t be in a book! That will turn me off. Even if it’s an incredible story concept and my friends love it, I won’t finish it, if I can’t get past the writing quality.

“You don’t have to always read very serious literature. Books can be fun, light, and easy.”

Favorite reading spots in Washington D.C.?

Reading in a bar is so romantic.

There’s this one sushi restaurant in D.C. that’s swanky, dimly lit, and they have a great bar. It’s called O-ku... And I love going there for happy hour. I get a cocktail, a sushi roll, and read my book. It’s one of my favorite places to read. Other than that, I’m reading on the metro, in coffee shops, everywhere.

Favorite indie bookstores in Washington D.C.?

The Little Gay Bookstore is my favorite. I mean, the name says it all. It pulls a lot of queer books, which I love personally. There’s also Lost City Books, which is great. And Politics and Prose has a lot of author readings coming through. It’s not just political. They carry it all.

Would you rather listen to an audio book or read in your hands?

Excuse me, I’m a big audiobook person. I don’t agree with people who say that listening is not reading. As someone who got diagnosed less than a year ago with ADHD, I’ve been learning that people with ADHD are often under-stimulated. Like, let’s say folding laundry, and in order to do the task, you need to have something else taking your attention.

So now I don’t feel bad about listening to an audiobook while I’m washing dishes. It’s my way of making the chore more enjoyable. And I can pay attention.

One of my favorite parts about audiobooks now are multiple narrators and sound effects. It’s great for Sci-fi and fantasy that are action- oriented. When I get a book that’s a little bit more literary with beautiful prose, I read it physically.

This concludes our conversation. Thank you, Ashley, for taking the time to share with us. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

until next page,

P.S. This interview is part of my series People Read Books: Real People, Real Stories on Life and Literature. Follow along for more conversations from people I meet by subscribing free to my Substack.