Careers by Design: The Interviews

We hear from Pete Ganbarg ‘88, Executive Vice President and Head of A&R for Atlantic Records. “Don’t wait for somebody to validate your own opinion. If you believe that it’s the right idea, do it. And if they want you to stop, they’ll tell you to stop."

A holiday special with Anya Fernald ‘98, sustainable food expert and CEO of artisanal food-and-agritourism company Belcampo. “We’re looking to set a precedent for how you can do the right thing and make money at it. And I’m hoping that the precedent that we set is going to inspire a lot of people…Come on world, let’s fund something that’s really real. Let’s invest in the fundamentals. Let’s invest in good agriculture."

We’re live in the studio with John Yang ’80, Peabody Award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and special correspondent for PBS NewsHour. “I always wanted to know what was really going on behind the scenes...I also loved to be the first person to tell people things, to rush in and say, you won’t believe what just happened. And when I discovered you can get paid for doing those two things, that really set me.”

We chat with Peter Olson '97, Director and Creative Technologist at IDEO, the global design and innovation firm. “I don’t think critical thinking can be [automated]. I think as machine learning and things like those become more sophisticated, the thing that’s going to be important to have really good positions in the labor market in the next 20 to 30 years is not going to be knowing a specific skill, but knowing how to learn new skills and knowing how to think analytically and critically about things. And also creatively."

A Veteran's Day special with Mary Roach ’81, bestselling popular science writer and author of "Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War." “There’s aways going to be a need...for good writing. It’s just a matter of finding your way to a place where you can get some sort of income stream from it."

We hear from Michele Roberts ’77, Attorney and Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association, the union for NBA players.

“I’ve never, ever stopped believing that there are no limits...I’ve done well with that mantra professionally, and I’ve done well with that mantra personally…stop yourself from stopping you. Always say no limits."

A conversation with David Weild ’78, stock market expert, former Vice Chair of NASDAQ, CEO of IssuWorks, “father” of the JOBS Act. “I started to see that there were major shifts in technology over time that were creating revolutions...investment banking and capital markets [were] getting money into the hands of entrepreneurs so that they could reenergize the economy and bring real quality of life changes to humanity.”

We speak with writer, editor, and environmentalist Dominique Browning ’77, a former editor of House & Garden magazine and a founder of Moms Clean Air Force, a program of the Environmental Defense Fund. “The one thing I advise everybody to do is find blue sky. Never stay in a place where you are being told explicitly you have a limit to your future."

We welcome Theodore M. Shaw '76, Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights, University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill. “In a sense it was very selfish of me to pursue this path. Because I think I probably would have gone crazy if I didn’t find a constructive way to engage in the work of racial justice and change for our country. I don’t think there’s anything really altruistic about it. And in some ways it was very selfish...it was a hopeful choice."

We hear from Thomas Kail ’99 about what it really takes to make Broadway hits like Hamilton and In the Heights. “I was working 18 hours a day, and I was working probably two or three weeks in a row…and I couldn’t have been happier…I was hungry, I was thirsty to learn...I tried to make the most of whatever opportunity was in front of me."