Paths in Progress

Gitte has worked across a wide variety of industries in multiple countries around the world.  Listening to her story, you will hear about someone who strives to push herself to try new things and accept new challenges, often in a new country!  As a young person, Gitte experienced watching the fall of the Berlin wall in her home country of Germany. That experience, as well as watching her own fathe...

Growing up in the Washington, D.C area with two parents working for the Federal government, it’s not surprising that Katie was raised to love history and eventually work in the Federal Government and the rich museum culture her city is famous for.  How does her love of music and theater lead her down this path?  Listen to hear about how Katie has woven together her multiple interests and experienc...

Growing up in Italy, Urmi thought she may want to study either psychology or pursue her interest in languages. After moving to Canada to begin college, she started to pursue International Business, but soon discovered that Finance is what truly sparked her interest.  Urmi’s love of learning and devoted discipline have helped her to flourish within her career, as well as within the pursuit of her p...

As a leader in nonprofit organizations, Jenni Rebecca has used talents and skills she has developed along her path–but has also made sure to be aware of what she doesn’t know, and seek learning opportunities to fill those gaps.  If you have interest in the nonprofit space, Jenni Rebecca speaks at length about her experience in different nonprofit organizations, both within and outside the arts, to...

How do you choose an educational path when you are interested in several subjects, and then one you choose first ends up not being the right path for you? You keep your options open, take classes in as many areas as you can within your degree, talk to a lot of people, ask a lot of questions, and try things out until you find your way.  That’s what Claire did, and it led her to some incredible oppo...

Many students find a home in the Arts in high school. Some students build their education and career dreams from that experience, and sometimes those dreams don’t initially work out. When he didn’t get into his dream school, Jeff made some different choices to not only become a better actor, but to become the person he wanted to be. Life circumstances gave him reason to take some unexpected turns...

Most of us have encountered Human Resources when we have applied for jobs or internships, through our applications, interviews, paychecks, and policies. What is it like to work in Human Resources?  What kind of things do you do? Melissa had many interests in college and began to identify some things about her strengths and interests to help guide her in her early career decisions.  She has taken i...

From a young age, Christina loved reading and writing, so she thought she would someday become an author.  As she grew up, theater became another love in her life, and she was encouraged by her voice teacher to pursue singing. When looking at colleges, Christina wanted to find a school where she could pursue both English and Music.  Join us as Christina describes her experience double majoring in...

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 con...

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 w...

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 o...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 wor...

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...

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! ...

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...

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 ho...

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...

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...

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?...

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.  I...

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 disco...