Roads Taken

Entering college, Laura Bright was drawn to both French and math, two subjects she exceled in in high school. French remained something that came easily and she took for fun. But the math she took in college didn’t look like high school math and she wondered if that was the right path. As the department was combined with computer science, she took the advice of a female researcher and tried her hand at computer science.

She was drawn the more technical sides of her field but never considered herself a programmer. She thought she wanted to teach and make computer science come alive for other learners so pursued the PhD. She realized, though, that she wanted more hands on opportunities. Going into industry, she did more applied work and ultimately made a discovery about herself.

In this episode, find out from Laura how taking the opportunity just outside your comfort zone often leads to insights about who you are… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Laura Bright is a software engineer who has spent time in academia and industry and who currently serves as a Senior Software Engineer at Finastra, a fintech company based in Portland, Oregon.

For another story about graduate school leading to personal insights, listen to our episode with Oliver Will.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

In college, Nathan Paine exhibited an unbridled free spirit—playing Hacky sack, riding a motorcycle, and letting his long hair flow like his multi-colored graduation robes. His love of languages and cultures—inspired by living in France in high school and taking language study in Brazil in undergraduate days—took him to Japan to teach English for a year. That turned into nearly two decades in Japan with a number of international adventures and left him with a resume that reads decidedly more corporate than one could have imagined. Despite the professional path, he has maintained his free spirit, though, by continuing to not take himself seriously and to treat both himself and others with compassion. Even an unanticipated diagnosis during COVID and his move back home to Boston allowed him to a look a little more deeply and realize he's always been the same person.

In this episode, find out from Nathan how the external trappings of this life are just a cover to the true essence of being that's inside.… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Nathan Paine is Senior Vice President, Client Relations at Prologis, where he's worked for nearly two decades across continents and multiple time zones. He is also into impact investing and making the most of life with his wife and two kids in Boston.

For another story about international living, listen to our episode with Shuhei Sekiguchi.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Going into college, Heather Morein French thought that success meant pursuing either business, law, or medicine as those would provide the kind of stability her childhood hadn’t afforded her. She had an interest in science and though the classes she experienced were quite challenging, she knew the humanities courses with reading heavy curricula would be even more intimidating, given her dyslexia diagnosis. She made it through with an eye toward a career in medicine, though wasn’t so sure about it at graduation. She took some lab jobs and tutored MCAT prep to make sure it was the path for her. She tied herself to a primary care route to avail herself of a tuition break but realized that it didn’t make sense for the long term and she needed to turn to an external support system.

In this episode, find out from Heather how friends and family often end up providing the most stability...on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Heather Morein French, MD is the Neonatology Fellowship Program Director, Assistant Director of the Neonatal Education Simulation Training Program, and an attending neonatologist with the Division of Neonatology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania. She lives in the greater Philadelphia area with fellow Dartmouth ’96 husband Charley French and their two kids. 

For more stories about approaches to pediatric medicine, listen to our episode with Mary Romano, John Peoples, Kristen Calcagni Johnson, and Blair Seidler Hammond.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

With visions of a biology PhD dashed in a senior lab experiment gone way wrong, Andrew Obenshain envisioned a business career that would ultimately land him as CEO of a biotech firm. The industry being in its nascent days, there weren’t many avenues there, but he found his way into a biotech consulting firm and later a biotech venture capital firm. Realizing if he wanted to be a CEO he’d need to know what CEO’s do and realized they all had on-the-ground operations experience within a company. So to even get a foot in the door, he had to take some odd-looking sidesteps including taking a post business school job as a sales guy which he then parlayed to some other opportunities.

His highly successful type A wife, who had her own career. And while paving the way for many of the family’s moves, she made it possible for them to live out a dream to move with their kids to Paris. A period full of exploration and fun, however, was upended by a set of unexpected diagnoses.

In this episode, find out from Andrew how finding joy can be possible even in the hardest times … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Andrew Obenshain is CEO of Bluebird Bio, a biotech company focused on advancing therapies for rare diseases. He lives with his three kids in a suburb of Boston and is surrounded by the love of family and friends, present and past, at all times. (250)

For another story about finding joy in parenthood and community despite loss, listen to our Christy Hansel Lohof.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

When Jackie Kim Chappel left Hawaii for college in the east, she was leaving more than the island lifestyle behind. For her own mental wellbeing, she severed ties from her tiger mother and started exploring all the different ways she could be in the world. She was happy reading and writing and researching and started a career in marketing. The New York life wasn’t hitting all the marks and her eventual husband moved back to Hawaii, so she found a job in media planning and research back home. Once there, she eventually decided to reach out to her mother again but found that what she’d chalked up to their personal differences actually went much deeper. Her mother’s mental health diagnoses changed not only her perspective but the way that she would navigtate her own life.

In this episode, find out from Jackie how recognizing who someone can and can't be for you can help bring clarity to who you are and what your purpose is … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Jacquelyn Kim Chappel is a writer, teacher, and researcher who lives in Honolulu. She earned her Master’s in Literary studies and PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and now teaches Composition and Developmental English at Kapiolani Community College. Jackie also serves as a supervisor for teacher candidates at Leeward Community College and is active in many other support and advocacy organizations. And, of course, she is still in formation.

For another story about how revelations about our parents can affect our own adulthoods, listen to our episode with Jonathon Stewart.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

New Hampshire native Jessica Drolet Wadlow felt college was home away from home being so close. She got involved in many things and was an economic major who went directly into the corporate world mostly out of interest but also because she had some loans to pay off. She landed in a management rotation program at JP Morgan and then went to business school. She switched careers into brand management and found herself at Johnson & Johnson where she stayed for many years.

Needing to make a physical move for family reasons, she asked for a telecommuting situation long before that was en vogue and when it meant days spent on no-video conference calls. When she realized she needed another kind of move with the company to accommodate a growing family, she knew what she needed to do.

In this episode, find out from Jessica how sometimes the only way to get what you need is to ask for it.

About This Episode’s Guest

Innovation and marketing strategist Jessica Drolet Wadlow is founder and president of J. Wadlow Consulting. For the past fifteen years, she has been an independent consultant working with large firms such as Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey, and Walgreens, as well as start-ups in need of accelerating growth via new business ventures and new business models.

For another story about forging your own path to make life work for you, listen to our episode with Shakari Cameron Byerly.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

After high school, guest Michael Anderson was wrestling whether he wanted to arrive at college as a Michael or Mike. It became a moot point after his Boy Scout qualities were immortalized a nickname given to him in orientation: Ranger. Known thusly ever since, Ranger soaked up the experiences of college and yet didn't leave with a clear path in mind. Early jobs in Boston were of the "work to live" sort, providing him enough structure and income to allow him to concentrate being in the moment with friends, a marker of achievement at the time. Recognizing he wasn't enjoying his work, he decided to pack it in for home in Chicago and press reset. After some soul searching he realized he was interested in urban planning and public policy and went back to graduate school.

An early position in municipal planning led him to understand that many of the ways his hands were tied at the local level came from decisions made at the federal level. So he headed to Washington and landed in the Department of Commerce, where he would ultimately spend his career in various analyst and budget director roles. When he realized that the pendulum of achievement had shifted too far to the career and too far from other markers of a well-lived life, he decided he needed to refocus once more. Making some major adjustments later in life, he found what achievement looks like changes as life experiences and circumstances change as well.

In this episode find out from Ranger how the desire to make a difference can remain strong even as the scope changes from the wider world to the world within your own four walls … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley. 

About This Episode’s Guest

Former Boy Scout Michael 'Ranger' Anderson has a master's degree in urban planning and public policy. He is a long-time budget director within the U.S. Department of Commerce, currently working within the International Trade Administration. He lives in Fairfax County with his wife and pandemic baby. Luckily, Ranger has the balance necessary to be there for them. 

For another story about discerning a truer source of personal achievement, listen to our episode with John Strayer.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Guest Amy McLean Sprole grew up in Kansas and knew two things when she was graduating high school: She wanted to go into medicine and she wanted to spread her wings outside the midwest. She immediatly dove into the pre-med track and was so focused that she was able to do all of those requirements and still make time for international study abroad opportunities, including an art history experience in Italy. She thinks that out-of-the-ordinary adventure made her stand out in med school applications and may have been a reason for her acceptance to Cornell.

She entered into med school thinking that she would pursue surgery without being able to articulate why, except that it seemed the hardest thing to do, a pattern she realizes she had had throughout life. She had to consciously set out to choose instead what she liked. She found plastic surgery and fell in love.After 10 years of training in New York, she found just the right mix of surgery and enterpreneurship that she'd been looking for, but it sprang up where she least expected it.

In this epsiode, find out from Amy how, when looking for where you belong, sometimes there really is no place like home…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Amy McLean Sprole is a board certified plastic surgeon, trained in both aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. Having returned to her native Wichita, she is now one of the only female plastic surgeons in the area. In addition to her clinical work, she is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Wichita. You can find out more about her practice at pscwichita.com.

For another story about an unexpected homecoming, listen to our episode with Jenny Land MacKenzie.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Welcome back to Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley. We are thrilled to be bringing you another great season of stories that remind us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits. As in all our previous seasons, in each episode we will talk to our guests—all a quarter-century-plus after college—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. This season, we will be talking about sizing up achievement, finding home, experiencing loss, and picking yourself up again.

You can find our full archive (which used to be three really long seasons but we recently renumbered them into shorter seasons to make the sifting through a little easier) at RoadsTakenShow.Com and get a new episode each Monday when you subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. 

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]

Hi, Roads Taken listeners. The show will returning for another season on Monday, April 17. We have spent our hiatus going to bed at a reasonable hour on Sunday nights and lining up a slew of great guests for you. So you have only a couple more weeks of waiting to hear their journeys. (Listen to find out how we went from season 3 to season 8!) Just make sure you have subscribed or you're following in your favorite podcast app and that your auto download feature is turned on so you don't miss any new episodes when they start dropping on April 17 with all new guests and Leslie Jennings Rowley on Roads Taken.

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]