Northwestern Intersections

The NAA wanted to celebrate reaching the tenth episode of Northwestern Intersections by curating some special content for our listeners. Our podcast team went back and listened to our first nine interviews and pulled out some of the advice and insights that stuck with them, ranging from seeking out mentorship to ways you can figure out what you most enjoy doing in your day-to-day. We hope you enjoy this special edition of Northwestern Intersections. We will be back with more interviews with alumni in a few weeks. Stay tuned for our conversations with New York Times Best-Selling authors Jonathan Eig and Dan Pink!

Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow is the definition of a successful career changer with three different and successful careers throughout the span of her lifetime. Her first career was as the Founding General Manager of WYCC-TV, a PBS affiliate. She later went back to a true passion of hers and became a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Wright College in Chicago. As she retired, her husband provided some wisdom that Chaplik-Aleskow wouldn't be happy just retiring so she decided to become an author and now her memoirs are published in over 37 magazines and anthologies. As you can imagine, she has a number of great stories to share for career changers, advice to share for job seekers, and life lessons to share with the Northwestern Network.

Daniel Moser began his career as a stock boy but quickly learned that he was destined for something very different. Moser started his creative career in music playing the trumpet and soon after that, moved into acting. After successfully working in the theater world for many years he came back to Northwestern to pursue a doctorate in performance studies. Now he is using his theater background to teach students at Northwestern the very important communication and presentation skills they need to use to be successful in their own careers, whether that be in interviewing, presentations, and even in every day relationships. You won't want to miss this thought-provoking conversation with Moser as he discusses the role of consciousness in skill learning and always being aware of how you are presenting yourself.

Dave Collins graduated from Northwestern and went straight to work in a large corporate consulting firm before later branching out on his own. He discusses the profound impact that his work in student theater and improv groups on campus have had on his personal professional development, as well as on his career as a whole. After a few lessons learned along the way, one of which made him think he might lose his job in the first week, he decided to start his own company, Oak and Reeds, a corporate training firm dedicated to using the tools of improvisation to train clients on everyday soft skills useful for growing through change. Although he loves what he does, Collins tries to be mindful of having a career he is passionate about but also having a hobby that he loves that he keeps separate from work. Tune in to hear more great career insights Collins has learned through starting his own company in the Bay Area.

Ali Russo came to Northwestern for her LLM in taxation after she had been working in the legal industry for years. Russo started her own firm in the suburbs of Chicago in just a month's time and now she helps the community with their estate planning needs. Russo discusses some of the career decisions she has made over the years because of her family. She is open about how having a family and a career is no easy task but she truly enjoys her new definition of success. Russo offers great feedback on what networking really means in this new world of work. You won't want to miss the insights she shares about knowing when to leave a job, and more, that were revealed throughout the conversation.

Connor Regan knew that he wasn't going to be the valedictorian at Northwestern so he found his niche in collecting real world work experience with 9 internships while a student in Evanston. One of those internships was at Google where he went back to after graduation and has not left since. Although it is rare for a millennial to stay at the same organization for long, Regan talks about how he could work at Google for his entire career and do something different every couple of years. Listen in as Regan talks about his first job starting a vending machine company when he was 11 through the advice he has to share with the Northwestern Network.

Emily Klear '12 MS started her career in corporate America at Coca Cola selling fountain soda in the Bay Area. Klear went back to school for her Master's in Marital and Family Therapy after a few very challenging personal experiences made her want to help couples through traumatic events and tough relationship situations. Klear changed industries and quickly advanced her career to become the Director of Couples Services at The Family Institute at Northwestern University where she is an active couples therapist. Don't miss out on some great insights on changing careers as well as on relationships in general that have come out of her years of experience working with couples.

Emily Drewry has learned a lot since her first job at the local Piggly Wiggly and she has continued to grow in her current role as the Senior Social Content Manager at Forbes. She recently interviewed Arianna Huffington for a live Twitter interview series, a project that she recently developed from scratch. She moved to New York City a week after graduation from Northwestern and she has not looked back since. Listen in as Drewry talks about her path in the social-content journalism world and shares advice for fellow alumni.

Ishan Daya graduated from Northwestern where he studied flute performance and his career path has been far from traditional since then. He has a great perspective on learning something new from every experience, stemming from his first job at Summerfest in Milwaukee but he has come a long way since then. Daya worked for a few years in consulting at McKinsey before starting his own business with three other Northwestern alumni. They have grown their team from 9 people in 2017 to currently 51 people who are working on growing the company beyond their traditional offering of office happy hours. Listen in as Daya shares stories, like when he ran into a fellow alumnus in a hotel lobby in Egypt, along with many other bits of advice for Northwestern alumni.

Carter Cast is a successful professor, venture capitalist, and now author, but his career did not start out that easy. Cast talks to the NAA about his career path from working in marketing on Tostitos, to becoming the CEO of Walmart.com, to becoming a professor at Kellogg, and now he is the author of The Right and Wrong Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made and Unmade. Cast talks about the five archetypes that most often derail careers and provides advice into different criteria to consider when thinking about making a career change. You will not want to miss all of the insights Cast has to share with modern professionals.