Amy Gironda knew exactly what was happening when she was calling into a conference room at Cushman & Wakefield. The executive assistant at the corporate real estate agency watched it happen numerous times in the months leading up to that day in February of 2008, and when it was her turn she, like all the others before her, exited the meeting without a job. Following 2 years with the company, Gironda had been laid off—and she couldn't be happier.

That month, the 27-year-old Connecticut native, became one of nearly 120,000 Americans who filed for unemployment benefits. Although her monthly income was cut nearly in half—not having a family to support and with unemployment benefits secured for at least 18 months, Gironda saw her layoff as the out she‘d longed for. "I think for most people in my position, a young single, college educated person, it couldn't be a total catastrophe,” she says.

After graduating from New York University with a BFA in acting, Gironda found herself catapulted into corporate America. Her dreams of pursuing an acting career left her in a pool of thousands attempting to fulfill the same big dream. Following months of temporary work, she settled on an Executive Assistant position where she spent most of her days wrangling her boss’s calendar and arranging presentations.

While her full-time job meant temporarily exchanging a fickle actor’s income for health benefits and a steady salary in the mid $50,000 range, Gironda knew that it was not something she desired to do long term. Still hopeful of landing her big break, she managed to squeeze in auditions where she could. For Gironda, a hefty paycheck was not satisfying enough to keep her climbing the corporate ladder. “There is nothing good about being an assistant,” she says. “ I hated the job that I had and so the financial ramifications of being on unemployment feels like the price I paid for freedom."

Gironda looked to her newly found freedom as the perfect opportunity to pursue her true passion, acting. She aggressively began going on auditions, an average of 2 to 3 per month, which led to her first professional role as Daisy in a production of Camp Wanatachi, a musical that debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival in August 2009. Although Gironda didn’t play the lead role in Wanatachi, she considered the show “the first thing I have ever been in that was good.” She was to be paid $100 for the two-week long show, but has yet to receive the funds.

While time away from a full-time job has afforded Gironda the opportunity to attend more auditions, the most challenging aspect of being unemployed has not been her inability to pay bills or keep food on the table, its been the lack of structure in her days. “It's hard to stay focused and figure out what to do next,” she says. Without having to think about anyone but herself, Gironda has had a difficult time maintaining the motivation needed to diligently pursue job opportunities. She has almost completely dismissed the notion of attending open casting calls for roles and now relies heavily on word of mouth auditions from friends and directors she’s worked with in the past.

Fortunately for Gironda, she has been able to get around not having medical coverage by taking advantage of freebies offered by her doctor. “I don't have any health care and I haven't tried to get any,” says Gironda. “My OBGYN is nice enough to give me free prescription samples, but other than that I just hope for the best!”

Rather than drowning in her unemployment woes, Gironda has made adjustments to her lifestyle that allow her to still enjoy the things she used to—now just on a smaller scale. She has cut back significantly on her eating out expenses by cooking larger meals at home that will last her several days. With no outside help from family or her boyfriend, Gironda has managed to maintain a lifestyle that is not too far off from what it was when she worked full-time.

Howard Sherman, Executive Director of the American Theatre Wing, explained that often times aspiring actors who don’t make it big on Broadway end up behind the scenes working in other capacities like directing. Gironda, still at the beginning of her acting journey, has no intentions of doing any backstage work. While hopefully about her acting career she acknowledges that at age 27 her chances are making it big are growing slim. “I don’t know how realistic this is anymore, but I’m not ready to stop trying,” she says.