In The Know with Tony Reeves

Sometimes, confidence begins with someone giving you a chance to do something you’ve never done. In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on an assignment from my first professional job in 1992. My supervisor asked for a training blueprint. I spent the weekend teaching myself unfamiliar software and building the entire program. What stayed with me wasn’t just what I created. It w...

Moving to Tallahassee for my first professional job meant leaving behind a world where people knew me. Suddenly, I was in a new city with no established circle—and little understanding of how to build one. In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on why that first year produced no lasting friendships, the invitations I struggled to connect with, and the weekends I spent returning...

I had a college degree, my first professional job, and an apartment in Tallahassee. What I didn’t have was a bed—or the understanding that asking for help was still an option. In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I revisit the days of televisions on the floor, bare rooms, and the belief that being a grown-up meant figuring everything out myself. Looking back, I recognize how much that...

In 1999, I walked into a karate school in Tallahassee looking for a place to train. What made me stay was the person teaching there. In this episode, I share why I chose Master Anne, how she challenged me as a martial artist and a leader, and what it meant to have someone see qualities in me that I had not yet recognized in myself. More than 26 years later, her guidance is still part of my journey...

After more than 20 years away from competition, why did I step back onto the karate mat? In this episode, I talk about how work and life gradually pulled me away from martial arts, what changed as I got older, and why simply going to the gym no longer felt like enough. I also share how my teacher’s trust helped me return to competition—and how that decision gave my workouts a purpose again. This i...

In the summer of 1994, I met a Navy recruiter who was searching for people with training in public health and industrial hygiene. I was interested, but I was only halfway through my graduate program. The Navy needed someone immediately, so I assumed the opportunity had passed. One year later, I had completed my Master of Public Health—but professionally, nothing seemed to be changing. I had not re...

Submitting my application was not the final step in getting my first professional job. I followed up after mailing it, and that call helped me secure an interview. After the interview, I called again to thank the employer and answer any additional questions. Those two calls mattered even more because I did not have a telephone where I was staying.  If I had submitted the application and simply wai...

Getting my first professional job solved one problem: I finally knew what I was going to do next. What it did not solve was how I would adjust to an unfamiliar career, a new city, and a life without the community I had previously taken for granted. In this follow-up to my story about choosing my next opportunity, I revisit the early days of working as a safety and health specialist in Tallahassee,...

In 1992, I completed my military training with a biology degree, a car payment, and no clear idea of what I wanted to do next. Instead of returning home to Arkansas, I went back to Florida and slept on a friend’s couch while searching for work. The state job I eventually accepted was not something I had dreamed about doing. It was an opportunity that provided income, allowed me to remain in Florid...

Sometimes the people around us recognize our growth before we do. During my senior year of college, I began showing up differently. I was more expressive, more confident, and increasingly willing to offer perspectives I had previously kept to myself. To me, I was simply becoming more comfortable in my own skin. To other people, however, something significant was changing. A hall director challenge...

At 23 years old, I transferred my job from Tallahassee to Tampa because I intended to attend graduate school at the University of South Florida. There was just one important detail: I hadn’t applied yet. I paid for the move myself, rented a truck and car dolly, found an apartment, coordinated the end of one lease with the beginning of another, and drove around Tampa with my checkbook getting the u...

At what point does sharing your experience become telling someone else how they should live? In my recent video, I told the story of a decision my mother made when I chose to attend the University of Tampa. She knew my choice could create financial difficulties. She knew I had other opportunities. And she knew that if she told me to choose another school, I probably would have listened. But she al...

The world Generation X entered as young adults doesn’t exist anymore. College degrees were rewarded differently. Career paths were more predictable. Technology hadn’t created today’s opportunities. And for many of us, education represented access to doors that had previously been closed to our parents. So what happens when we try to give advice to Gen Z and Gen Alpha? In this episode of IN THE KNO...

In 1987, I made one of the biggest decisions of my young life: where I would go to college. I chose the University of Tampa without visiting the campus, without social media, without virtual tours, and without access to the enormous amount of information students have today. Much of my decision was based on a college catalog, reputation, and the recommendation of someone I trusted. That raises an...

There are moments in life when you realize something has changed. You’re not simply getting older. You’re not just moving from one semester, job, position, or responsibility to another. You’re entering an entirely different chapter—and suddenly, everything feels a little more real. In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on one of those moments in my own life: entering my junior...

Sometimes the job you’re in isn’t where you’re ultimately supposed to stay. Sometimes its real value is what it makes possible next. In this episode, I share how my first job with the State of Florida became the vehicle that helped me earn my Master of Public Health while taking on very little additional student debt. At the time, I wasn’t making much money. The job wasn’t necessarily where I want...

What happens when you finally reach the career you worked so hard for—and realize you still have to figure out who you are? In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on entering the legal profession in my early 30s after already having careers in state government and the military. I had the degree. I passed the bar. I had the title. But I was still trying to understand what it act...

There are moments in life that don’t seem particularly significant when they’re happening. Then you look back 10, 20, or 30 years later and realize: That conversation changed everything. During my junior year of college, I was struggling with some of my science courses and seriously considering leaving my biology major. I wasn’t failing to understand the material. I was struggling to produce the g...

In the fall of 1987, just days into my freshman year at the University of Tampa, I was invited to my first real off-campus college party on Davis Island. I had an idea of what a college party was supposed to look like. Music. Food. Dancing. People having a good time. What I found was a beach, a couple of kegs, no food, no music, and an environment where I was one of only a few Black students — and...

For many members of Generation X, success did not come with a roadmap. We entered colleges, professions, leadership positions, and social spaces that were unfamiliar to our families. We learned through experience, experimentation, mistakes, and persistence. Along the way, we became the attorneys, doctors, judges, executives, educators, entrepreneurs, and mentors we may not have personally known wh...

A few weeks into my freshman year, I was pulled out of class and told that I owed the university $900. It was 1987. My student loan had not been processed, my mother could not pay the bill without jeopardizing her own ability to survive, and I was warned that I could be removed from school. I was only 18 years old.  In this episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I reflect on the emotional weight...

In this companion podcast to my YouTube video, “The Fall of 1988: When I Had to Rebuild My Life Without My Friends,” I reflect on one of the biggest lessons I learned from returning to college after nearly everyone in my support system had disappeared. When I came back to the University of Tampa as a Resident Assistant, I expected to continue building on the friendships I’d made during my freshman...

Returning to the University of Tampa for my sophomore year should have felt familiar—but almost everyone I had depended on was gone. My best friend and roommate did not return. Other friendships I had begun building disappeared as well. I arrived back on campus after a 24-hour Greyhound bus ride, carrying a military duffel bag on my back and a footlocker on my head, knowing that I would have to fi...

We often assume we’re alone when life changes. That’s exactly how I felt when I returned to college in the fall of 1988. My closest friends were gone, and I believed I was beginning the year without a support system. What I didn’t know was that others had already stepped into that role. In this episode, I share how my best friend’s family continued to watch over me, how an unexpected friendship in...

There comes a point in almost everyone’s life when the original plan no longer works. In this episode, I reflect on one of the first major personal resets I experienced during the summer of 1988. What began as a simple return home after my freshman year of college quickly turned into a season of unexpected change. My support system disappeared, my transportation plans fell apart, and I had to deci...