Every Thursday for two years, someone stood up and told the truth about their working life. Not a guru. Not a brand. A Vanguard: an Ally a few steps further down the trail, writing for the rest of us.

This year, nearly 40 of them did it. Some showed up once and changed how we think. Others came back again and again, until their bylines felt like old friends.

This is our thank-you to all of them, and a closer look at six writers whose stories you read, clicked, and carried with you most.

Rachel wrote eight stories this year, on community, focus, health, and networking. Many were written from a laptop parked at a Panera in Cary, NC, on purpose. Relational Glue named what offices hand you for free and remote work quietly takes away.

Nearly every month, Becca's Resourced: Lifestyle Medicine column brought a practice, not a platitude.

Writing from Portugal, Darcy turned a car stuck in the shop for three months into a lesson in belonging. How to Make Friends was one of our most-read stories of the year, and it came with a dare: show up first.

Jason wrote six stories and had a hand in two of the year's five most-clicked issues. After 25 years in staffing, he cuts past AI panic to the human skills that hold their value.

Peggy co-wrote the book on trust in remote work, Trust at a Distance. Her stories this year made three arguments: AI can't build trust, the real meeting starts after the meeting, and monitoring software mostly teaches people to look busy.

Jim wrote five stories, each grounded in numbers. His July issue with Michelle Coulson became The Modern Remote Job Hunt, our first guided masterclass.