Sometimes the people around us recognize our growth before we do.

During my senior year of college, I began showing up differently. I was more expressive, more confident, and increasingly willing to offer perspectives I had previously kept to myself. To me, I was simply becoming more comfortable in my own skin. To other people, however, something significant was changing.

A hall director challenged me to speak up after realizing that the quiet recommendations I whispered to her were often the ideas she ultimately followed.

An ROTC colonel questioned why someone with my leadership abilities continued operating in the background.

They were not giving me abilities I didn’t possess. They were helping me recognize what was already there.

In this companion episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on quiet competence, professional visibility, receiving positive feedback, and learning to own the version of yourself that other people may already see. Because sometimes growth isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about becoming comfortable enough to stop hiding who you have already become.

Has anyone ever recognized a strength or possibility in you that you struggled to see for yourself?

Watch the original video and join the conversation: ▶️ https://youtu.be/cTWCyHexi6A

If you are navigating a career decision, confronting doubt, or learning to own your professional value, explore the Career Crossroads Collection: Decisions, Doubt, and Owning Your Place. It brings together four personal reflections about leaving comfort, taking meaningful risks, confronting imposter feelings, and trusting what you bring into the room.

📘 Purchase the collection here:
https://mynameisreeves-shop.fourthwall.com/products/career-crossroads-collection-decisions-doubt-and-owning-your-place

For more stories, deeper reflections, and behind-the-scenes context, join my Patreon community—including the free membership option. Start at AnthonyReeves.com and choose the gateway that works best for you.


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At 23 years old, I transferred my job from Tallahassee to Tampa because I intended to attend graduate school at the University of South Florida. There was just one important detail: I hadn’t applied yet.

I paid for the move myself, rented a truck and car dolly, found an apartment, coordinated the end of one lease with the beginning of another, and drove around Tampa with my checkbook getting the utilities connected—all before knowing whether the graduate program would accept me.

From the outside, it probably looked as though I had uprooted my life without a plan. But in my mind, I had created something different: a no-lose situation. I still had a job. I already had an undergraduate degree. I was returning to a city I knew. The state would pay for graduate courses related to my work. And while my application was being considered, I could begin proving myself as a non-degree-seeking student.

In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I revisit one of the boldest decisions of my early professional life and examine the difference between recklessness and taking a calculated chance on yourself.

Sometimes you don’t receive confirmation before making the move. Sometimes the move is how you position yourself for the opportunity.

At 23 years old, I transferred my job from Tallahassee to Tampa because I intended to attend graduate school at the University of South Florida. There was just one important detail: I hadn’t applied yet. I paid for the move myself, rented a truck and car dolly, found an apartment, coordinated the end of one lease with the beginning of another, and drove around Tampa with my checkbook getting the utilities connected—all before knowing whether the graduate program would accept me.

From the outside, it probably looked as though I had uprooted my life without a plan. But in my mind, I had created something different: a no-lose situation. I still had a job. I already had an undergraduate degree. I was returning to a city I knew. The state would pay for graduate courses related to my work. And while my application was being considered, I could begin proving myself as a non-degree-seeking student.

In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I revisit one of the boldest decisions of my early professional life and examine the difference between recklessness and taking a calculated chance on yourself. Sometimes you don’t receive confirmation before making the move. Sometimes the move is how you position yourself for the opportunity.

Have you ever made a decision that looked risky to everyone else but made perfect sense once you understood what you still had working in your favor?

If you’re confronting a career decision, weighing security against purpose, or learning to trust yourself without having every guarantee, explore the Career Crossroads Collection: Decisions, Doubt, and Owning Your Place.

The collection brings together four personal reflections about leaving comfort, making consequential decisions, confronting imposter feelings, and learning to own your professional value. 

📘 Purchase the Career Crossroads Collection: https://mynameisreeves-shop.fourthwall.com/products/career-crossroads-collection-decisions-doubt-and-owning-your-place 

For additional stories, deeper reflections, and behind-the-scenes context, join my Patreon community—including the free membership option. 

Start at AnthonyReeves.com and choose the gateway that works best for you.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-the-know-with-tony-reeves--5596987/support.

At what point does sharing your experience become telling someone else how they should live? In my recent video, I told the story of a decision my mother made when I chose to attend the University of Tampa. She knew my choice could create financial difficulties. She knew I had other opportunities. And she knew that if she told me to choose another school, I probably would have listened. But she also knew what it felt like to have the direction of her own education changed by circumstances outside of her control. So she made a deliberate choice: She would give me guidance, but she wouldn’t make the decision for me.

In this companion episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I want to take that story one step further. As members of Generation X—and simply as people who have accumulated decades of life and professional experience—we have knowledge worth sharing. But Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren’t entering the world we entered.

Their economy is different.
Their educational landscape is different.
Their workplace is different.
Their opportunities are different.

So how do we give younger generations the benefit of what we’ve learned without handing them a roadmap for a world that no longer exists? Maybe the goal isn’t: “Do what I did.” Maybe it’s: “Here’s what I learned. Let’s figure out what still applies to the world you’re navigating.”
🎧 Listen as we explore the difference between experience, advice, influence and allowing the next generation to build a path of its own.
GO DEEPER INTO THE ANTHONY REEVES EXPERIENCE

🎥 Watch the story that inspired this conversation:
https://youtu.be/5mXm809vAOg

Then explore The Anthony Reeves Experience through the links in my profile for additional videos, podcasts, written reflections, resources and deeper conversations. Experience gives us lessons. Wisdom is knowing how to pass them on without requiring someone else to live our life.

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The world Generation X entered as young adults doesn’t exist anymore.

College degrees were rewarded differently. Career paths were more predictable. Technology hadn’t created today’s opportunities. And for many of us, education represented access to doors that had previously been closed to our parents. So what happens when we try to give advice to Gen Z and Gen Alpha?

In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I wrestle with a question I’ve been thinking about a lot: How do we share what we’ve learned without telling younger generations they have to follow our path? I talk about whether college is still worth the investment, choosing the right school instead of simply the dream school, following scholarship money, avoiding unnecessary debt, thinking strategically about professional degrees, exploring opportunities abroad, and recognizing just how different today’s economic and professional landscape has become.

Maybe our job isn’t to give the next generation our roadmap. Maybe it’s to give them the lessons we learned along the way—so they can build a roadmap of their own.

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In 1987, I made one of the biggest decisions of my young life: where I would go to college. I chose the University of Tampa without visiting the campus, without social media, without virtual tours, and without access to the enormous amount of information students have today. Much of my decision was based on a college catalog, reputation, and the recommendation of someone I trusted. That raises an interesting question:

If I were 17 years old today, would I make the same choice? The answer is that I really don’t know. And in this companion podcast, I explore why that uncertainty matters.

We often look back at our younger selves and ask what we would have done differently. But that question sometimes ignores something important: we were making decisions with the information, resources, circumstances, and perspective available to us at that particular moment.

Today’s students can research tuition, campus culture, dorm rooms, student organizations, financial aid, student reviews, career outcomes, and even communicate directly with current students before ever visiting a school.

My generation didn’t have that same level of access. So maybe the better question isn’t whether we would make the same decision today. Maybe it’s: Did we make the best decision we could with what we knew at the time?

This conversation goes beyond college. It applies to careers, relationships, money, opportunities, and many of the choices we make throughout our lives. Sometimes a decision wasn’t wrong. Sometimes the world simply changed.

Call to Action:
Think about one major decision you made when you were younger. Would you make the same decision today? And if not, ask yourself why. Was the original decision actually wrong—or do you simply have access to information and perspective today that you didn’t have then? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Follow IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves for more conversations about life, education, career, personal growth, and the lessons we discover when we look back with a little more perspective.

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There are moments in life when you realize something has changed. You’re not simply getting older. You’re not just moving from one semester, job, position, or responsibility to another. You’re entering an entirely different chapter—and suddenly, everything feels a little more real.

In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on one of those moments in my own life: entering my junior year of college and realizing that several different parts of my life were changing at the same time. ROTC was becoming more demanding. My biology curriculum was getting harder. I was returning as a more experienced resident assistant. And after becoming a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., I was coming back to campus as a different version of myself. Some of those changes were exciting. Others were intimidating. But together, they represented something much bigger: I could actually see the next chapter of my life beginning. And that’s something we often miss. We spend so much time preparing for what comes next that sometimes we fail to recognize when “next” has already arrived.

Whether you’re beginning a new career, taking on greater responsibilities, approaching retirement, building something new, or simply realizing that the person you are becoming is different from the person you used to be, this episode is a reminder to appreciate the transition while you’re living through it. Because there is something powerful about being able to look around and say: I can see the next chapter—and I’m already in it.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-the-know-with-tony-reeves--5596987/support.

Sometimes the job you’re in isn’t where you’re ultimately supposed to stay. Sometimes its real value is what it makes possible next.

In this episode, I share how my first job with the State of Florida became the vehicle that helped me earn my Master of Public Health while taking on very little additional student debt. At the time, I wasn’t making much money.

The job wasn’t necessarily where I wanted to remain long term. But once I discovered the educational benefits available to me, I realized something important: leaving immediately might actually cost me more than staying. So I made a trade-off. I endured some short-term financial discomfort, took advantage of the educational payment and leave programs available to me, and focused on walking away with something that could create greater opportunities later.

This episode is about more than graduate school. It’s about recognizing the hidden value in where you are right now. Sometimes the question isn’t simply: “Should I leave?” Sometimes the better question is: “What can I extract from this opportunity before I move on?” Because the thing you’re ready to leave behind may actually be helping finance, prepare, or position you for what comes next.

 Call to Action:
If this episode connects with where you are right now, share it with someone who’s trying to decide whether it’s time to move on—or whether there’s still something valuable to gain from where they are. And follow IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves on Spreaker so you don’t miss the next conversation.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-the-know-with-tony-reeves--5596987/support.

What happens when you finally reach the career you worked so hard for—and realize you still have to figure out who you are?

In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on entering the legal profession in my early 30s after already having careers in state government and the military. I had the degree. I passed the bar. I had the title. But I was still trying to understand what it actually meant to be a professional—and whether I needed to change myself to fit the image of what I thought an attorney was supposed to be.

Eventually, I learned something that changed the way I viewed my career: being an attorney was what I did, but it did not define who I was.

Your 20s often give you the experiences that teach you who you are not. Your 30s can become the point where you begin intentionally deciding who you want to become.

This episode is about career identity, authenticity, professional growth, and learning how to move into a new chapter without losing yourself along the way.

If you’ve ever reached a point in your career where you had to ask, “Who am I beyond my job title?”, I’d love to hear your story. Share this episode with someone navigating a new professional chapter, and follow IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves for more conversations about career, growth, life transitions, and the lessons we pick up along the way.

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There are moments in life that don’t seem particularly significant when they’re happening. Then you look back 10, 20, or 30 years later and realize:

That conversation changed everything. During my junior year of college, I was struggling with some of my science courses and seriously considering leaving my biology major. I wasn’t failing to understand the material. I was struggling to produce the grades I expected from myself—and I started interpreting that struggle as evidence that maybe I didn’t belong.

Then I had a conversation with my advisor, Dr. Fred Punzo. He didn’t promise me that staying in biology would make me a doctor. He didn’t tell me exactly what career I would have. Instead, he helped me look at my situation from 30,000 feet. He recognized that there weren’t many Black and Latino students completing STEM degrees and believed that staying the course could create opportunities for me that I couldn’t see yet.

Decades later, I can trace pieces of my journey—from government work and graduate school to the military, law school, private practice, entrepreneurship, and becoming a judge—back to completing that biology degree. And when I graduated, of the Black men who had started in that STEM environment with me, I was the only one who finished as a STEM major. This episode isn’t simply about staying in a difficult major. It’s about understanding the importance of having people in your life who can see possibilities that you can’t see yet.

Sometimes you don’t need someone to give you a roadmap. You need someone with enough experience to show you that the road you’re standing on goes farther than you think.

CALL TO ACTION Think about the people who gave you advice that changed the trajectory of your life. Did you recognize its importance immediately—or did it take years before you understood what they were trying to tell you?

Share this episode with someone who’s questioning their abilities or wondering whether their current struggle means they’re on the wrong path. And remember: struggling with something doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t belong there. Sometimes you just haven’t reached the part of the journey where you understand why staying mattered.

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In the fall of 1987, just days into my freshman year at the University of Tampa, I was invited to my first real off-campus college party on Davis Island. I had an idea of what a college party was supposed to look like. Music. Food. Dancing. People having a good time.

What I found was a beach, a couple of kegs, no food, no music, and an environment where I was one of only a few Black students — and I didn’t drink. At the time, I could have easily dismissed the entire experience as a bad party.

Looking back nearly 40 years later, however, I realize that night taught me something much more important: how to maneuver in spaces that weren’t necessarily designed with me in mind. I didn’t have to drink. I didn’t have to pretend the party was my kind of party. And I didn’t have to change who I was. I simply had to recognize the opportunity that came from being there. That lesson followed me from college into the military, the workplace, the legal profession, and countless professional and social environments throughout my life. Sometimes the room isn’t designed for you. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something for you in the room.

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately realized, “This space wasn’t designed with me in mind”?

What did you do?

Did you leave? Did you try to fit in? Or did you figure out how to be yourself while still taking advantage of the opportunity?

I’d love to hear your story.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, and then share your experience with me.

Sometimes you don’t have to fit the room.
You just have to learn how to move through it.

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