Before I started this podcast, I listened to podcasts. But I had never really thought about all of the jobs that go into making those podcasts possible. In this episode, I speak with Elena Schwartz, a producer for Slate Magazine's daily news podcast "What Next." In college, Elena thought that she might want to go to law school. Much of what she did in college, both academically and extracurricularly, was geared towards examining the intersection of race, class, and the criminal justice system. But during her junior year, she got an itch to do something in the audio-journalism world. She was worried that she was "behind" her peers, but managed to graduate with a temporary role with WGBH. She decided to give herself a year to test out this alternative career path, and now she's been at it for over three years. 

Best for: breaking into the audio-journalism world even when it feels late in the game; working in an industry that requires multiple temporary roles before you can get a full-time role

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

4:20 - Deciding that she wanted to pursue an audio-journalism career and her first gig out of college

12:40 - Day-to-day as an assistant producer at WGBH

15:07 - Her junior year internship and how it helped her pivot

18:46 - Elena's next role; finding and starting a role at Pineapple Studios

22:23 - Pros and cons of these early roles

27:41 - Applying for and starting as an intern at All Things Considered at NPR

37:37 - The challenges of an industry that starts with mostly temporary roles

41:12 - Looking for and finding a full-time role

45:26 - Day-to-day as a full-time producer at Slate

52:28 - Lessons learned

In this episode, I speak with my former co-worker, Jessica, about her path to becoming a Project Manager at an energy storage start up. In college, Jessica majored in computer science and minored in ethics and philosophy. Like me, she worked as an analyst at a boutique financial litigation firm after college, but after two years decided that it was time to move on. In deciding what she wanted to do next, Jessica looked to find a job where she felt more mission-aligned and where she could achieve better work-life balance. Now at Form Energy, she focuses on commercial strategy, business development and customer acquisition. 

Best for: people looking to pivot after their first job out of college; working at a start up in a non-technical role; learning more about clean energy jobs

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

5:04 - Goals for her first job out of college

9:30 - Pros and cons of working as an analyst at a boutique financial litigation firm

15:50 - Pivoting after her first job and the job search

24:07 - Day-to-day as a project manager at an energy storage start up

29:19 - Pros and cons of working as a project manager at an energy storage start up

33:50 - Lessons learned

In this episode, I speak with a fellow graduate of my high school, Ogechi Musa. Ogechi is now a full-time writer, director, actor, and producer. But that's not where she started. While a student at Boston College, Ogechi thought that she would pursue a career in medicine. Initially she thought she would be a doctor, but she ultimately landed on healthcare IT consulting and training. She was always passionate about acting and filmmaking, though, and pursued that, as well. After years of balancing two careers, Ogechi recently decided to follow her purpose, quit her six-figure job in healthcare, and pursue her career in independent filmmaking full-time. 

Best for: learning about independent filmmaking; hearing about the importance of being in-tune with yourself at different stages of your life; considering different careers in the healthcare space

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

9:43 - First steps coming out of college

13:03 - Taking time out of college to pursue filmmaking

17:41 - Healthcare IT day-to-day

24:32 - Pros and cons of healthcare IT

27:30 - Deciding to not become a doctor

32:28 - Balancing healthcare IT with filmmaking

36:53 - Day-to-day of being an independent filmmaker

40:52 - Pros and cons of independent filmmaking

47:32 - Looking back and lessons learned

Edited by Dylan Smith from Valle Verde Studios. You can follow him @valleverdestudios on Instagram and Tiktok.

As an English major at UC Berkeley, Carrie felt like the expectation was that she would immediately continue on to get a PhD. But instead she decided she wanted to take some time off and consider a career in publishing. In this episode, we talk about how she explored the publishing field through internships, what the different roles are within the publishing space, and how different publishing companies function differently. Carrie now works as a marketing coordinator for children's books at an independent publisher, so we do a deep dive on what she does on a day-to-day basis, what it's like to market a product when your audience aren't the buyers, and what she's learned along the way.

Best for: English majors considering an alternative to pursuing a PhD straight after college; those hoping to learn more about the different roles within the publishing industry; gaining perspective on the intimidation factor when you first start your career 

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

3:33 - Finding jobs and internships in the publishing industry

8:22 - Interning in the publishing industry

9:40 - Deciding not to go straight through to graduate school 

13:07 - Applying to publishing jobs and deciding where to work

15:59 - Day-to-day in marketing at a publishing company

19:32 - Different jobs within the publishing industry

22:36 - What's tough about marketing

24:13 - Working on children's books specifically

28:05 - Additional details on the day-to-day of marketing at a publishing company

30:51 - Marketing when your audience aren't the buyers

33:05 - Working as a marketing assistant vs. marketing coordinator

34:12 - Lessons learned

After growing up in a small town in Indiana and after attending Bowdoin College, Jordan Daniel knew that he wanted to move to a bigger city. He knew he was interested in public health and health care, but wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to pursue. Hoping to develop his analytical skills, as well as to prepare himself for a graduate degree, Jordan Daniel took a job as a fundraiser for a Chicago-based non-profit in the public health space. After a while, though, he felt he had learned everything he could in his role and found himself drawn back to the east coast, so he moved to D.C. to do prospect research for American University. His role there, along with a CFO role for an online LGBT resource, helped him develop the hard quant skills he needed to apply to business school. In business school, Jordan Daniel found a passion for marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. Tune in to hear more about the thought process that went into each twist and turn.

Best for: learning about the ins-and-outs of different fundraising roles; stretching oneself and getting outside your comfort zone; knowing when it's time to move on from a role

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

10:11 - Finding his first job out of college (fundraising at a non-profit)

21:22 - Day-to-day, pros, and cons of fundraising for a non-profit

29:50 - Deciding to move on and finding the next role (prospect research at university)

31:51 - Day-to-day, pros, and cons of prospect research at a university

42:12 - Serving as the CFO of an online LGBT resource (Pride Pocket)

49:27 - Deciding to go to business school and picking the right school

58:32 - Finding his way to a pharmaceutical marketing

1:08:20 - Lessons learned

*Note: Jordan Daniel does not speak for Pfizer and any opinion or perspective shared in this episode is his own.

Edited by Dylan Smith from Valle Verde Studios. You can follow him @valleverdestudios on Instagram and Tiktok.

In this episode, I speak with Eshani. Eshani initially started college thinking that she wanted to become a doctor, but ended up switching to a pre-dental major and then went dental school. Throughout her life, Eshani spent a lot of time dancing, but found that, during dental school, she fell out of practice. Once she finished up her residency at a VA hospital, Eshani picked up dancing again as she waited for her exam results. After spending several months dancing and building an online presence, she decided that rather than being a full-time dentist, she would split her time between dentistry and promoting her dancing career. 

This episode is best for: people looking to balance an existing career with their passion-project-turned-side-gig; people hoping to learn about the process of becoming a dentist; people interested in learning about how to turn your side gig into something more.

Contents: 

1:00 - Introduction 

2:52 - Deciding on dental school instead of med school

6:53 - Applying to dental school

8:17 - Dental school

18:02 - Applying to residencies

29:17 - Day-to-day of residency

35:17 - Post-residency and starting up her dancing business

46:47 - Day-to-day of running a dance business

51:37 - Lessons learned

In this episode, I speak with Kristen Fulmer about how she has built a career at the intersection of sustainability, buildings, and sports. She knew coming out of college that she wanted to work to make buildings more sustainable, but how exactly she wanted to approach that evolved over time. Tune in to hear more about why she chose each role along the way, how she navigated tough situations (including age differences in the workplace, gender-based biases, and getting laid off), and how she managed to pull her interests together in a way that works for her.

Best for: taking personal consideration into account when making job decisions; navigating tough situations; tying your interests together

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

6:34 - How Kristen became interested in pursuing sustainability through the lens of buildings

9:07 - Kristen's first job out of college (building manager)

17:14 - Being taken seriously when you're younger than some of the people you manage

20:14 - Pros, cons and the day-to-day of building management; deciding to go to graduate school 

26:00 - Masters program in sustainable design

28:49 - Pursuing sustainable design consulting after graduate school

39:31 - Pivoting to construction management and real estate development, partially for personal reasons

45:01 - Being a woman working in a male-led industry

51:07 - Pivoting to WeWork as a project manager

59:20 - Starting her own sustainability consulting firm

1:06:30 - Next steps

1:08:05 - Lessons learned

Note: Since recording this episode, Kristen has started a new role as the lead for sustainability at Oak View Group. OVG recently launched a membership platform called GOAL (Green Operations and Advanced Leadership), which will help venues operate in more environmentally friendly ways.

Edited by Dylan Smith from Valle Verde Studios. You can follow him @valleverdestudios on Instagram and Tiktok.

In this week's episode, I speak with Andrew, a MD/PhD student at the University of Washington. After initially pursuing environmental biology in college, Andrew took some post-baccalaureate classes to apply to medical school. While taking those classes, he also worked as an EMT. Then, while applying to medical school, he started working in a cancer biology lab, which caused him to realize that he wanted to continue to pursue research in tandem with his medical degree. Luckily, the medical school he got into allowed him to add a PhD after he was accepted. But before all of that, Andrew spent some time rock climbing full-time after he graduated college. Tune in to hear more about what pushed him to apply to medical school, how he decided what kind of career he wanted in the medical field, and why he decided to pursue a dual degree.

Best for: people considering medical school who need to complete some post-baccalaureate classes first; those considering pursuing both a PhD and a MD

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

6:43 - Rock climbing after college

13:03 - Deciding that it was time to go to medical school

16:43 - Other medical professions considered

19:15 - Post-baccalaureate classes

21:46 - Applying to medical school

25:38 - Working as an EMT

31:19 - Working in a cancer biology lab

38:48 - Pursuing both a PhD and a MD

48:18 - Lessons learned

When Stephany was a sophomore in college, she was a chemistry major and had never heard of Goldman Sachs before. Now, she's working as a Global Sustainability and Impact Associate at Goldman Sachs. But how did she get from point A to point B? In this episode, we talk about her path from being a chemistry major to becoming a finance major, from interning as a Summer Securities Analyst to working as a Global Markets Analyst to now working in the ESG sphere within Goldman.

This episode is best for: people hoping to learn more about the world of finance; people interested in learning about an ESG role

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

6:05 - Brief overview of Stephany's path

9:28 - Starting at Goldman as an intern

21:36 - Starting her full-time role at Goldman

28:10 - Day-to-day in Sales & Trading (Global Markets)

32:00 - Day-to-day in Asset Management (ESG)

37:46 - Pros and cons of her ESG work

46:53 - More details on the day-to-day (hours)

49:43 - Pros and cons of sales & trading

52:22 - Lessons learned

Edited by Dylan Smith from Valle Verde Studios. You can follow him @valleverdestudios on Instagram and Tiktok.

In the first episode of the season, learn about the ins and outs of applying to a PhD program, what it's like being a PhD student, and how to balance school work with other pursuits. In this episode, I speak with Garima about her path to becoming an Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD candidate. We talk about the time she took off before starting her PhD program (including working at a botanical garden), how she conducted informational interviews to help narrow down which PhD programs to apply for, and her work outside of the classroom.

Best for: key lessons on applying to PhD programs, learning about the day-to-day of a PhD program, considering what to prioritize when

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

4:39 - Deciding between environmental consulting and environmental research

7:53 - Deferring grad school and working at a botanical garden in Hawaii

19:43 - Applying to a PhD in environmental sciences

25:20 - Overview of a PhD program

30:05 - Beyond the PhD program

37:23 - Evolving priorities

40:35 - Pros and cons of being a PhD student

43:33 - Lessons learned