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© 2024 Paths in Progress
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On this podcast, we tell the stories of people in a wide variety of career paths, who pursued all kinds of college majors and minors, often with bumps and detours along the way, to get to where they are today. We talk specifically about what you can do in college to work toward your career goals, and what other factors can impact your choices throughout your education and career. Life happens, plans change, and YOU change! It will be ok, and you will find your path. We hope these stories are encouraging and help give you new ideas as you take the next steps on your own path. Learn from our stories, which like yours, are each a Path In Progress.
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Life events can often shape how we choose the career path we follow and how we want to make a difference in the lives of others. For Jennifer, a significant event in her teenage years impacted her significantly and led her to learn how she could use her love of music as a career in a way she had not imagined before. Even if you think you know something about Music Therapy, you will leave this conversation knowing so much more and be inspired by the limitless possibilities to help others in ways you didn’t know existed. If you have any interest in music, psychology, the medical field, physical therapy, or inventive ways to help people, you need to hear Jennifer’s story! If you are interested in learning more about the field of Music Therapy, please visit The American Music Therapy Association at www.musictherapy.org.
How did Kylie go from studying journalism and Spanish in college, to working several years in advertising, and then return to school to pursue a fulfilling career in nursing? You may be surprised by how many skills are transferable between these different academic and career spaces. Join us to hear how Kylie wove everything together along her unique career path, while continuously following what was best for her and her family in each chapter of her life. It’s never too late to alter your path, learn new skills, and pursue different types of work that best suit your life and your interests.
Choosing a major in college often begins with a subject we enjoy, and for Dr. Bledsoe, it was no different when her love of reading and writing led her to major in English Literature, which eventually led to a Masters Degree in Advanced Literary to help others learn to love and value reading. Many of us find our calling through our work experiences, as Ripsime did in her first few positions out of school. We never know where we are going to discover the thing that becomes our career focus, so it’s important to be open to opportunities and continue to learn every step of the way, as Ripsime clearly does throughout her story. Because Dr. Bledsoe has years of experience teaching First Year seminar courses, we discuss many topics pertaining to first year college students, including many pieces of advice for both students and parents. Don't miss this valuable guidance!
How does one go from planning to obtain a PhD to become a professor, to instead entering the corporate software industry, to then starting and owning an Art & Furniture Gallery, then adding a leather goods company? John has had an interesting path, filled with life lessons and a heart for positively impacting his community. Not only does John discuss evaluating his options realistically along the way, but also how other life events can often direct our path in unexpected ways–your ability to adapt is key.To check out John’s businesses and the beautiful products they offer, visit www.madisonflitch.com and www.madisonstitch.com, and make sure to listen to the history of how each business began in this episode.
Like many students, Amanda started her college path doing something she loved: playing her clarinet. After some time in college, she realized that even though she loved music, she didn’t necessarily want that to be her career path. Once she transferred schools, she took advantage of an opportunity to speak to multiple professionals in a field she was interested in to help guide her decisions to a new major. Technology and the cybersecurity landscape have changed significantly in the years since Amanda was in college, so she has been very proactive in learning and collecting valuable professional experiences along her path. Through it all, Amanda has invested time in a valuable professional organization that positively contributes not only to her community, but to her own professional experience. Don’t miss this valuable conversation about Amanda’s journey as a fourth generation Mexican American from Texas to working in cybersecurity for a dream technology company on the west coast.
From a young age, Andy loved his American Airlines mechanic grandfather teaching him about airplanes. From the day he took his intro flight, he knew he wanted to pursue flying as his career. Join us for this conversation about the different ways you can obtain your certifications (and how the cost of each path varies), advantages and disadvantages to aviation degrees, what the schedule of a pilot is like, the enjoyable perks, and how your career can change over time. If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a pilot, this episode is for you!
Raised in a Mexican-American family in San Antonio, Texas, Francisco’s mother insisted that he pursue a college degree. The importance of higher education would become an essential theme later in Francisco’s journalism career. As a student who loved writing, Francisco led and founded student newspapers at the middle school, high school, and collegiate level, eventually leading to a position with the Los Angeles Times. Join us for this important conversation about ethics in the workplace, the cost of higher education, how your identity and experience can bring valued perspective to your work, the debate about objectivity in journalism, and attending community colleges or local universities vs big name, out-of-state schools. This episode is dense with important issues for students and fantastic advice for anyone navigating their education and career path.
From her early high school days on the yearbook staff, Sarah dreamed she may one day work for the fashion magazines that she loved to read. Beginning her college career as a Magazine Journalism major, she started to realize that she would need to forge her own path to be able to work in the areas she was most interested in. Join us as Sarah describes how she created a path for herself into the world of luxury goods, working for recognizable brands like Harry Winston, La Prairie, and MAC Cosmetics (among others). Sarah’s story is another valuable lesson in evaluating your skills and talents, intentionally expanding upon your experiences for professional growth, and working to build relationships and learn from those around you in the workplace.
Many kids have dreams of becoming an astronaut or working at NASA, but how many actually pursue the path to that dream? As a high school student, after watching the movie Apollo 13, Christie knew that she was interested in working at NASA. Join us as Christie shares highlights about her degree in Aerospace Engineering, her work as a NASA Academy student, and how her path has progressed through her work today. Her roles within Human Space flight include projects with the International Space Station and as an Astronaut Instructor at NASA. Christie tells us about her time working abroad in Europe, the value of her education in Project Management, the importance of internships and mentorship, and how people with a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise can find their place working at NASA.
What do you do when you work to get into law school, and then once you get there, realize that is not where you want to be? If you are Laura Gassner Otting, you start dating the “world’s worst boyfriend”, who happens to take you by a campaign office where you meet a presidential candidate who inspires you to drop out of law school, work for his campaign, and eventually join the White House staff! Don’t miss this insightful conversation about how Laura’s path, including twenty years in Executive Search, led her to start her own business, write bestselling books, including Limitless, and give keynote speeches all over the country with inspiring guidance for everyone looking to find consonance in their life and career. **Must Hear Episode** for everyone, no matter where you are on your education or career path! You can find Laura on social media channels at @heylgo and at https://www.lauragassnerotting.com/.
After receiving a music scholarship, Elizabeth initially decided to be a clarinet performance major. Join us as she describes her path from music to Graphic Design and Illustration, her first job at Hallmark, graduate school in New York City, and her successful journey in the publishing world, including meeting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg after the publication of I Dissent!Elizabeth Baddeley is a New York Times Bestselling and award-winning illustrator of I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark. She has illustrated many other biographies and non-fiction books for children including: The Fastest Girl on Earth (Knopf), Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls Answer the Call (Calkins Creek), Leave is to Abigail (Little Brown), An Inconvenient Alphabet (Simon & Schuster) and more! In addition to her work in publishing, she has also created illustrations for The State of Missouri, The New York Times, Hallmark, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Sarah Lawrence College, Notre Dame Magazine, and Deloitte. Career highlights include winning a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators for her sequential work “Swimmer Girls” and being the guest of Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a Supreme Court session in 2019.You can find more about Elizabeth’s work and her social media at ebaddeley.com
The Challenge Mindset helps students find what sparks their interest using a different method to think through how to consider college and career path options that is different from our traditional approach. When I heard JP speak about this at a recent conference, I had to ask him to come talk to us about it! Don’t miss this insightful conversation about JP’s own journey in I/O Psychology, and how he has invested years in helping others to discover their strengths, become better leaders, and help students not only find their path, but be excited by the challenges ahead. You can find JP’s TedEx talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/jp_michel_the_challenge_mindset_helping_youth_find_purpose_and_impact The book JP refers to in our conversation is Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein For more information about The Challenge Cards, go to https://mysparkpath.com/.
Dave says there is no such thing as “the best university”--only the “best university” FOR YOU. You have to finish that sentence! Dave’s own story illustrates this. He began as a political science major at Georgetown in Washington, D.C., paired with an internship on the Hill with his hometown district congressman. Seemed like the perfect place to be for a political science major–but it wasn’t the right fit FOR HIM. Join us as Dave describes his undergraduate experience transferring to a school that was a better fit for him, despite what others thought about his choice, to his graduate work in Business at Northwestern, to his interesting career in product development at major corporations, where he worked on products we know like Totinos Pizza and Whirlpool washing machines. His experience all ties together as he decided to start his own company, Troove, serving students in helping find the best college fit for them. You can check out Troove for yourself at www.troove.me
After considering majors in Architecture, Interior Design, and PR/Marketing, Amanda decided to move into Speech Communications because she knew she wanted to work with people. International experiences had an impact on her life and created a desire within her to learn more about other cultures and work cross-culturally in her career pursuits. Amanda’s path through different parts of the country and work in student Christian ministry and non-profit community organizations led her to the meaningful work does with refugees and immigrant families. Amanda’s story is one that illustrates how each experience along our path can lead us to what we are meant to do with our lives.
As a high school student, Christie had her life mapped out: she knew exactly where she wanted to go to school, what she wanted to major in, and what career path she wanted to take. How did Christie go from a Journalism major, writing a story about a weapons exchange while living in Germany, to becoming a leading woman business owner in the Beverage Marketing Industry? What is Beverage Marketing? Although that is seemingly a very different career outcome, Christie tells us how she is still writing, still creating, and still contributing to her industry in a meaningful way–to the extent that she started a non-profit to support women and address major issues in the industry. Having life take a different turn that what we originally planned can often be far better than we dreamed! Don’t miss Christie’s story, advice she gives to students, her conviction to serve and support women, and a glimpse into life in the Beverage Marketing Industry. Follow Christie and her work at https://cjlconsults.com/, where you can find all of her social media handles, information about The WITI group, and listen to experts and changemakers in her industry on her podcast, Lawler Out Loud.
From a young age, Angela loved watching The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights and spent hours drawing. Animation wasn’t on her mind as a career path, but she knew she wanted to be an artist in some capacity. A series of classes, connections, opportunities, and dedicated work brought Angela to where she is today, working as a Storyboard Revisionist (she’ll explain that) at Nickelodeon. In this episode, Angela details the skills she has had to develop to maintain her career, how the industry works in terms of hiring people for projects, different types of roles she has had through her career, the movies and television shows she has enjoyed working on, in addition to sharing valuable advice for students interested in this career path. If you are curious about the world of animation, don’t miss this episode!
As a self-proclaimed overachieving high school student, Becca set her sights high when she applied to colleges. She was not expecting to be rejected from every school she applied to, especially considering she was an excellent student! As nightmarish as that experience was for her, Becca says it was the catalyst that ended up sending her to the place that was a great fit for her, where she discovered the career path she was meant to pursue. Join us for this conversation as Becca takes us from the suburbs of Chicago, to Canada, to Washington, DC, to New York City, to Jerusalem, and back to Canada along her college, internship, graduate school, and career journey that eventually led her to an enjoyable career in transportation and urban planning. For those who are interested to hear about urban planning, Becca offers insightful explanations and gives helpful advice about this important field.
As a young elementary school student, Mark wanted to play the saxophone. His band director thought he should play the trumpet. Who knew that decision would so drastically impact the trajectory of his life? Mark joins us to share his story and how he made a living as a freelance performer for many years, as well as explain the process to audition for major symphony orchestras, what the life of a principal trumpet player looks like, his practice routine, and what advice he often shares with the students in his university trumpet studio. Like many artists, Mark started a side business during the pandemic, which he enjoys and continues today. If you have any interest as a performer or freelancer in any capacity, don’t miss this episode! You can read more about Mark Hughes at https://markhughestrumpet.com/.
From the time he was a young boy, Eric was fascinated by space, eventually leading to his pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Astronomy. During his time in college, he realized that the career path of an astronomer was not what he wanted. After pursuing a seemingly different path in graduate school for Journalism, Eric has merged his love of space, his talents in writing, and his side project blogging about Houston weather into a rewarding and exciting career. Join us for this conversation about pursuing your passions and merging multiple talents and experiences to create your own path. You can find Eric and his work at spacecityweather.com, https://arstechnica.com/author/ericberger/, or download the Space City Weather app in the App Store.
As the son of a military colonel and a physician, Phil was expected to go to college. Once he got there, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, so he started on a business degree track. Join us for this conversation about how Phil discovered his love for a different subject, and how he has continued to make A or B choices along his path to get to where he is today. Phil intentionally continues to learn, grow, and pursue his passions, all while giving back through mentorship and prioritizing the important relationships in his life. You can follow Phil’s podcast, Positive Philter, including a recent episode with yours truly, here, as well as other platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/positive-philter-podcast/id1223813013
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