McMasterAlumni

When Rachel started at McMaster, she had a master plan – graduate, go to medical school, get a house in the suburbs, and live a quiet life. But that’s not how it all played out. After teaching English in Quebec and some international travel, she ended up in medical school in England, where she’s now a foundation doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London.

When an injury sidelined Keegan’s blooming basketball career, he figured out how to pivot and put his energy into coaching. After his son was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome, he was inspired to pivot yet again. In this episode, Keegan describes how success can happen when you rise to the challenges life throws at you with a positive attitude and a whole lot of grit.

When Ramneek first started at McMaster, she was equal parts excited and nervous to be there. With no real game plan for her future, she wasn’t quite sure how it all worked. Now, she’s a Senior Regulatory Affairs and Compliance Analyst for Seattle City Light and loves her job. But after work, she heads home and does something she is truly passionate about: mentoring students.

Ramneek creates fun YouTube videos that provide useful tips, tricks and insights to both current students and new graduates trying to land their first job. In this episode of Unconventional, Ramneek shares her story and explains why she’s dedicated to helping students find their way.

While Laura always knew that she wanted to be a biologist, working outside in nature, she didn’t necessarily know what that would look like until she started her graduate work at McMaster.

“The program set me on the right career path to do the kind of applied conservation related biology that I wanted to be in,” she says. “So I never had a master plan, I just knew that I wanted to be a biologist and knew that there might be side roads that would eventually get me there.”

After a brief stint working in small town Quebec to enhance her French skills, Laura has developed a career in wildlife toxicology that allows her to blend her skills with her interests on a daily basis.

In this first episode of season 3 of Unconventional, Laura shares the story of how a career journey can take roads less travelled and still take you to where you want to be.

Sometimes when we think we have it all planned out, we suddenly come to the realization that there is good in the unexpected. And that is exactly what these Mac grads can attest to! MacCast: Unconventional, our new podcast series which aims to highlight how McMaster graduates paved their way into the world, and found themselves in their current positions.

Sometimes when we think we have it all planned out, we suddenly come to the realization that there is good in the unexpected. And that is exactly what these Mac grads can attest to! MacCast: Unconventional, our new podcast series which aims to highlight how McMaster graduates paved their way into the world, and found themselves in their current positions.

Sometimes when we think we have it all planned out, we suddenly come to the realization that there is good in the unexpected. And that is exactly what these Mac grads can attest to! MacCast: Unconventional, our new podcast series which aims to highlight how McMaster graduates paved their way into the world, and found themselves in their current positions.

In this episode of Unconventional, Siobhan tells the story of how she found a love for understanding herself and the people around as an undergrad at Mac and turned it into a meaningful career as a freelance writer, blogger for the Huffington Post, author, motivational speaker, a community activist, and a proud mother-of-three. Her first book, The Treasure You Seek, weaves her own wisdoms and observations together with famous tales of failure, growth, and change to remind readers that we have all we need to be the change we wish to see.

Dilshan has deeply seeded love for art, poetry, and music, which led him to participate in student clubs that used art to engage vulnerable populations and foster wellness. But it wasn’t until his fourth year that Dilshan discovered the Health Science Education program, sparking new interests that led to a leap of faith that would put him on a career path he never dreamed of. Now, a medical student at U of T, Dilshan has also kept his art going and has published two books of poetry, continues to write music, and has a podcast of his own, Shoot the Ship.

In this episode of the Mac Alumni podcast Unconventional, Dilshan describes how he managed to carve out a successful a career journey that to him often felt like a black box. While it may not have been linked to an overall masterplan, he’s managed to grow a career that will combine his dedication to medicine, wellness, and art.

When Shari tells people she is a veterinarian with a computer engineering degree, she sometimes gets funny looks and a few raised eyebrows. But for her, the seemingly odd educational pairing has helped her cultivate a career in what she calls smart agriculture. After taking some incredible turns along the journey, Shari is proud to be the owner of CATTLEytics, a company focused on providing dairy and feedlot clients with the hardware and software they need to manage their business.

In this episode of our Unconventional podcast series, Shari tells the story about how she found herself leaving a decade-long career in software development to start making choices that were focused on what she wanted and not what every expected her to do.