One Binghamton Graduate Turned Layoff Pain Into Purpose

Vanita Capobianco was senior director of HR technology operations at Paramount when her position was eliminated in 2024. She had been with the company — through its various incarnations as CBS Corporation, ViacomCBS, and finally Paramount — since 2014.

A decade of promotions, system rollouts and cross-border implementations, gone in a single conversation.

'When I realised someone could put my name on a spreadsheet and change the trajectory of my life without me having a say, a light bulb went off in my head,' Capobianco told Binghamton University.

She described hitting her own 'rock bottom'. And then, rather than quietly updating her LinkedIn and moving on, she did something that surprised even her. She started a podcast.

'We See It in the News All the Time'

Laid Off to Lift Off launched in late 2024 with a simple format: real conversations, 20 minutes or less, with people across industries who had been through a layoff. Capobianco found her early guests by scrolling LinkedIn and TikTok for anyone posting candidly about losing their job.

The first episode was her own story. It remains one of the most listened to.

'We see it in the news all the time, but if you've never been through a layoff, it can feel very lonely,' she said. 'Not everyone truly understands the pain of not knowing where that next paycheck is going to come from.'

What struck Capobianco most, as the episodes piled up, was not the grief — she expected that. It was how many guests arrived at the same conclusion independently. When your entire identity is wrapped up in your job title, unemployment does not just take your income. It takes your sense of self.

That realisation, she said, was the one that changed how she thought about rebuilding.

The Career She Nearly Lost Sight Of

Capobianco graduated from Binghamton University's School of Management in 2009 with a degree in business administration, concentrating in marketing and leadership. She later earned a master's in human resource management from Pace University.

Her early career took her through HR internships at W. W. Norton and FOJP Service Corporation before a communications coordinator role at PR Newswire. She joined CBS Corporation as an HRIS analyst in 2014 and stayed as the company merged its way through ViacomCBS and into Paramount.

By the time she left — not voluntarily — she had implemented applicant tracking systems across more than 30 countries and supported upwards of 100 recruiters at a time. Her niche was making HR technology work for actual humans, not just dashboards.

None of that protected her when the spreadsheet came around.

'It Doesn't Always Have to Be About a Job Posting'

On her podcast, Capobianco offers advice that is practical in a way that career coaches often are not. The transferable skills do not vanish because a contract ends, she said. The education stays. The experience stays. The instincts stay.

'Tap into your network — it doesn't always have to be about whether they have a job posting,' she said. 'Sometimes you gain more in the long run just by having a 15-minute conversation about your experience, so don't underestimate the value that could bring.'

That kind of networking — low-pressure, curiosity-driven, with no immediate ask attached — is what she credits with opening the door to her current role. Since January 2025, Capobianco has been associate director of HR process optimisation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, where she works on transforming HR processes from the inside.

From Paramount to a cancer centre. Not the trajectory she planned. But a working one.

What She Tells the Next Person

Capobianco's advice to students and professionals carries the specific weight of someone who has been through it: get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

'The business world is changing. The way we work is changing, so don't get stuck in the day-to-day grind of your nine-to-five,' she said. 'If there are conferences that you can attend or want to attend, bring them up to your boss and get to understand the different companies and industries around you.'

The podcast continues to release new episodes. The format has not changed. Twenty minutes. One story. No polish.

Sometimes, she said, that is all someone needs to hear: that they are not the only one sitting at their kitchen table wondering what just happened.

Laid Off to Lift Off is available on Apple Podcasts and all major platforms. Capobianco can be found on LinkedIn.