Steven Lowe Accepts Administrative Assistant Role After Layoffs from StubHub and Boxed

Steven Lowe accepted an administrative assistant position in May 2026 after working as a host at Rosemary's restaurant in Manhattan's West Village. The new role provides full-time hours but pays 60% to 70% less annually than the six-figure art director position he held at StubHub until mid-April 2025. Lowe, 41, lives in Brooklyn.

He began the StubHub job in February 2024 after nine years as a senior art director at Boxed, where he was laid off around March 2023 shortly before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After the StubHub layoff, Lowe collected severance and took one month off before searching for work.

He applied through LinkedIn and Indeed, secured one referral that did not result in an offer, and found networking limited because many contacts were also unemployed.

"It was the first time I was able to comfortably make my student loan payments," Lowe said of the StubHub role. " As unemployment benefits ran low and rent rose after he moved into a more expensive apartment six months before the layoff, Lowe applied for restaurant work on the Harri platform. He attended an open call at Rosemary's and was hired within three days.

"I had that job in three days as opposed to waiting weeks and weeks for interviews for roles that never panned out," Lowe said. The host position paid $22 per hour for roughly 26 hours per week. A friend later told him about the administrative assistant opening at a company where he had done freelance design work in 2023.

The role offers more stable hours than hosting but remains far below his prior earnings. "It's not a total solve to my career job search issues," Lowe said.