Roads Taken

Host Leslie Jennings Rowley wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the ROADS TAKEN listeners. "I know you are out there – From Seattle to Austin, Aspen to Cranford, Brasilia to Nairobi. And I really appreciate that you keep coming back. "When I started this podcast, I wanted to share the stories of my classmates and how they’ve navigated their sometimes winding roads since college.  I knew th...

Guest  Aleph Henestrosa , Dartmouth '96, knew that he needed good grades and an Ivy League degree in order not to disappoint his father, who had staked out a “central plan” for young Aleph from an early age. This dutiful son did what was expected. Though a personal wake-up call came during his junior year, making him realize he’d always relied on that central plan, he heard the call but didn’t qui...

Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Brandon del Pozo about his journey from philosopher in the academy to the police academy and back again. Having spent nearly two decades as both an on-the-ground patrol officer and a leader in precincts and districts.  In a moment when current events have led society to question the role of policing in America, we sat down with the guy who wrote the book...

Guest Brandon del Pozo , Dartmouth '96, stood on a folding chair on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the first tower fell on 9/11, tasked with shutting down the exchange and getting people to safety. Some people weren’t listening until a patrician old banker said “This officer’s talking, and we’re going to listen and do what he says.”  In time, a lot more people would echo that senti...

Guest Zack Stein , Dartmouth '96, found that his early stint as a consultant seemed a less (ful)filling, cheap imitation of the romantic life in the craft beer he had imagined for himself. When he finally made it into the beer biz, though, he realized that the lifestyle wasn’t quite as romantic as he’d made it out. What he loved, however, was telling a story about the brands.  On the road to his m...

Guest  Brad Parks , Dartmouth '96, figured out in high school that he loved the world of sports journalism and honed his craft in college by founding The Sports Weekly. After graduation, he was on the road—literally—to a career in sportwriting, covering just about every Tiger Woods match in the golfer’s heyday and a host of other top sporting contests. Eventually stories featuring high-paid athlet...

Guest Fiona Danks , Dartmouth '96, thought she was going to be a doctor or veterinarian and has almost all of the pre-med credits to prove it. But she didn’t love the competitive nature of those courses and was drawn instead to geography. A happy chance of a lack of summer funding led her to Arctic science, which just happened to meld her love of biology and the physical and human sides of geograp...

Guest Aassia Haroon Haq , Dartmouth '96, always considered herself a writer and had the opportunity right after college to return home to Pakistan and begin writing international news stories that it may have taken her years to have the chance to cover in other markets. But a chance encounter with a childhood friend blossomed into romance and required a move back to the States and an investigation...

Guest Betsy Miller , Dartmouth '96, left college directly for law school but had this sinking feeling she probably should have been a therapist. What she found, though, was that it just meant that she was drawn always to the human elements of the law. After years of varied work in the legal field—from accomplished litigator to law school instructor—she started asking where others in the legal prof...

Guest Kelcey Grimm , Dartmouth '96, planned a one-year sabbatical from her VC job with three months in southeast Asia, three months in India, and three months in Africa. But after meeting a loveable group of lion dens and bonding with them immediately, she scrapped her itinerary and stayed with her new brood. No long after, though, she realized all was not as it seemed. Thus started nearly two dec...

Having grown up with traditional Passamaquoddy traditional music in his home community of Motahkmikuhk in Maine, guest Chris Newell, Dartmouth '96, got into pow wow singing in college and helped found an intertribal drum group on campus. But it was an elective in world music that really awakened the performing spirit from this once-engineering major. Playing at more pow wows and circles, he made c...

Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham about her journey that included a quick jump to independent schools after graduation, a pause for early motherhood, and a return leading a school of her own. Entrusted with the safety and well-being of a school full of students and educators when the coronavirus pandemic hit, she had to send everyone home and work with her colle...

Guest Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham , Dartmouth '96, had been intrigued by the world of Independent Schools after college and so thought she was on the right path consulting and recruiting for independent schools. But after starting to question things and wondering who she was, she left her job and moved across country as a new wife and a new mother—both earlier than she’d envisioned. Feeling a loss o...

Guest Pace Duckenfield , Dartmouth '96, had been pursuing a legal career in the telecom policy and regulation area—just as planned. But he also knew that he would need to make good on his commitment to the military. Instead of continuing to process security clearances—same process, different day—he decided that going active duty would help him develop more skills. Finding himself in the Middle Eas...

Guest Michelle Villalobos , Dartmouth '96, was hanging with Shakira, taking the Latin lifestyle publication biz by storm, and then launching her own consulting firm. But the  vida ended up being a little too loca .  When she felt she hit bottom she realized she’d been listening to all the wrong voices and what looked cool and shiny on the outside didn’t really reflect the deeper truth somewhere un...

Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Gabe Schlumberger about his journey from perennial college major-changer to Pixar animator to his new role as CEO of a startup eyewear company, Fitz Frames. Recognizing that they had something to contribute during the coronavirus pandemic, he and the company pivoted. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Gabe about this for a special covid-19 Bonus...

Guest Gabe Schlumberger , Dartmouth '96, began his post-college life without a job, but with a nagging feeling that he needed to be creating.  He set his sights on animation and worked hard to land at Pixar, adding his hand to some of the company's most iconic animated features. The advent of the iPhone led him to dabble in app development and ultimately in charge of digital efforts for Disney. So...

Guest Sarah McAlister Woelfle , Dartmouth '96, began her post-college life as the first female team manager for the global pediatric health non-profit Operation Smile. Entrusted with the health and safety of scores of people at the age of 21 and seemingly living and breathing the work 'round the clock, she realized that—while she had gotten so much from the experience—she had given a lot, too. Rec...

Guest Drew Brady , Dartmouth '96, had always been interested in science but learned in college that research didn't feel as immediate as medicine and, in medicine learned that surgery provided the quickest route to results. While a surprise addition to his family didn't derail his straight path through med school to practicing orthopaedics, it did add another layer of complexity.  It also added an...

Guest Dan Gonzalez , Dartmouth '96, left college most concerned with keeping his options open. In the pursuit of breadth, he dabbled in everything from health care consulting and after-school drama programs for kids, and even considered med school.  But then he heeded the oft-proffered advice to "follow your passion," realized music-making had been a source of earlier joy, and enrolled in a song-w...

They say “Hindsight is 20/20” and don’t we all wish we could have graduated college knowing what we know now? In this year 2020 and into 2021, members of Dartmouth’s Class of ’96 are looking back at the roads they’ve traveled on their way to their 25th Reunion.  And we are kicking off a podcast series to share our stories of all the twists and turns and lessons learned. Host Leslie Jennings Rowley...

Welcome to Roads Taken, the show that reminds us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits. In each weekly episode for the next year, Leslie Jennings Rowley will sit down with a new guest—all classmates of hers headed down the road to their 25th college reunion—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d be, and...