On the Way There

Join Amina as she interviews Professor James Van Meer, the Founder of Thinkpoint Creative , a full-service studio which offers design, branding, and marketing communications where he is also the Creative Director. He is an expert in graphic design, branding, and marketing in addition to being a great educator at George Mason University. Professor Van Meer gives away important tips on what skills are needed to be a Creative Director, and walks us through his career journey. To learn more about Thinkpoint Creative, listeners can visit www.thinkpointcreative.com.

Join Amina as she gives a recap of what has been covered on the podcast so far and interviews Esie Cheng, a Design & Production Coordinator, Painting Instructor and Freelance Artist who talks about their career journey and artwork which listeners can check out at www.esiedoodles.com. Esie gives valuable advice on the importance of planning and pushing past fear of failure and self-criticism in order to grow while also sharing how art can be used to express emotions, particularly sadness. 

Join Amina as she interviews Dr. Tavis Jules, an award-winning Associate Professor of Cultural and Educational Policy at Loyola University Chicago, specifically focusing on Comparative and International Education and International Higher Education. Dr. Jules gives away the secrets to getting tenure when pursuing a career in academia including publishing and writing strategies as well as tips on how to stay motivated and push past rejection while enjoying the process. He also walks us through his career journey, starting from when he came to the US from Guyana in South America at the age of 20, studied at Columbia University for his Master's and PhD, and then became an Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor at Loyola. 

Join Amina as she kicks off the first season of the On the Way Podcast with special guest, Noor Tagouri, an award-winning journalist and producer. The first part of this episode contains more information from Amina about the podcast which came about through reflections and conversations taking place during the time of COVID-19 pandemic, and the second part features an interview with Noor who tells us more about her career journey into journalism, how she has built an engaged community of followers including over 2 million collectively on social media, and different steps along the way she has taken on her career journey, including launching At Your Service, her own production company and consultancy focused on telling stories through a lens of service. To learn more about Noor's work, listeners can visit www.noortagouri.com.

This is a preview of the On the Way There podcast, a podcast for people who believe in learning together and celebrating each other. It's a celebration of us all as lifelong students, learning from each other, as we are all on the way there.  Twice a week, you will hear stories from people at various stages of their career or chasing their dreams. These are informal conversations meant to provide bite-sized nuggets of wisdom from people's own lived experiences that perhaps may be beneficial for your own journey. 

The upcoming interviews will contain insights from experts in their field about  how they found their way there, wherever there may be. There will also be stories about up and coming artists, writers, designers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and creatives who are still at the beginning or middle of their career journey, and may not have much of a following yet, so we can celebrate them and contribute to their growth.  Some of the people you will hear from in the next coming weeks are creative directors, fitness trainers, physical therapists, science policy analysts, professors, artists, graphic designers, user experience designers, doctors, students, writers, and more!