The 92 Report
David Tavárez, originally from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, completed a degree in anthropology and visual environmental studies. He had several ideas for his future career, wavering between being a scientist or a filmmaker. He secured a place at the Writers Workshop in Iowa and an internship at the American University in Cairo. He spent a year in Cairo after graduation and supplemented that summer by writing about the Baltics for the Let’s Go Europe travel series. Studying Indigenous Culture and ChristianityDavid worked as a journalist for a couple of years then decided to pursue a PhD at the...
info_outline 107. J.J. Bartlett, Fighting for Fishing FamiliesThe 92 Report
Show Notes: J.J. Bartlett kicks off the conversation with a short explanation on how his wife shaped his career in various ways. He took healthcare management in graduate school and his primary reason for this was his interest in extending healthcare coverage. The President Clinton and Hillary Clinton Health Plan had just failed in 1994, and he was interested in finding new ways to extend coverage. Health Coverage for Fishers J.J. shares his connection to the fishing industry, which includes individual fishermen working on boats as independent contractors. The majority of these individuals are...
info_outline 106. Alison Umminger Mattison, Spiritual Director and Retreat FacilitatorThe 92 Report
Show Notes: Alison Umminger Mattison talks about a 20-year stint as an English professor, a marriage, a 13-year-old daughter, and publishing a book. She also pursued a master's in Christian spirituality and spiritual direction certification, focusing on spiritual direction, work, retreat, ministry, and facilitating silent retreats with themed content. She has moved around the world, from Boston to London, DC to Missouri, Indiana to Atlanta, and now resides in Carrollton, Georgia. She also discusses her master's degree and her spiritual guidance and retreat ministries. A Journey in Spiritual...
info_outline 105. John Knepper, To the White House and Back to WyomingThe 92 Report
John Knepper thought he would pursue a career in theater after graduating and performing at the Harvard Radcliffe summer theater. However, after moving to Memphis, Tennessee, he took a left turn and started working in the marketing department of the nation's fifth largest security guard company. After nine months there, John quit his job and traveled around the country for six months. Working in Washington on Immigration Laws On the last leg of his travels, he was in Washington where, by chance, he met the assistant to the Chief of Staff for Senator Al Simpson of Wyoming. Six months...
info_outline 104. Christiane Pendarvis, Challenges and Responsibilities in Retail MerchandisingThe 92 Report
Show Notes: Christiane Pendarvis found her career passion in retail and retail merchandising in Neiman Marcus department stores in Dallas, Texas. She started working in a high-end department store, and after working in the retail industry, she went back to business school and earned an MBA. Experience as a Team Lead and Mentor After business school, Christiane worked at Procter & Gamble in their brand management arena, but she missed retail and has been there ever since. Throughout her career, she has worked for various large brands and has moved across the country,...
info_outline 103. Robert Frost, Never Left HomeThe 92 Report
Show Notes: Robert Frost married his high school girlfriend 10 days after graduating. After moving back to New York, Robert worked at a consulting company called A.T. Kearney. He was interested in business and thought consulting would be a good way to go while working towards becoming a CEO. However, three weeks in, he realized consulting wasn't for him. From Columbia University to Real Estate Robert worked with Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, which provided political advice to senior leaders in business and advised governments on business practices. He worked on projects...
info_outline 102. David Willbrand, Smokestacks to StartupsThe 92 Report
Show Notes: David Willbrand got married immediately after graduation in 1992. He talks about that period of uncertainty many graduates experience after school, and David did not have a clear professional direction, but with an interest in politics, he started working on a campaign for a city council candidate in Cincinnati, which was short-lived but did lead to a position with the Ohio EPA. David explains that he didn’t have a particular interest in working in government or environmental regulation but he needed a job and so took a job with the EPA, which involved climbing smokestacks, not...
info_outline 101. Elijah Aron, Television WriterThe 92 Report
Show Notes: As a student, Elijah Aron started writing plays, musicals, and making weird films with friends. After school, he moved to San Francisco and started a theater company with friends from college. They transformed an old shoe store into a theater, where Elijah worked and slept. He talks about the imaginative and adventurous shows, which included surrealist works and musical elements, and simulated carnival rides, but despite their creative success, he struggled financially and worked as a temp and at a bookstore to support himself where he met a wide assortment of interesting...
info_outline 100. Andrew Ott, Social EntrepreneurThe 92 Report
Andrew Ott left college to work at a nonprofit, then moved into technology research and small internet startups before returning to nonprofits and working in social entrepreneurship in Brazil and Rwanda. Now, he runs his own nonprofit, training people from low-income backgrounds, particularly people of color and women, how to code, program websites, and launch new careers. College Friendships One of the elements of Harvard that have continued to influence his life is his long-term relationship with his Harvard roommates. They regularly get together once or twice a year, getting their...
info_outline 99. Somava Saha, Founder WE in the World, Better Ancestor in the MakingThe 92 Report
Show Notes: Somava Saha's interest in medical school began late in her career. She studied molecular biology in her fourth year at Harvard, but she eventually enrolled in the Berkeley UCSF joint MediCal program. There, she learned about medicine from the perspective of people and cases, as well as the economics of medicine and the history of healthcare and public health. She also completed a master's thesis with the Bahai Community Health Partnership in Guyana, South America, where she worked alongside community health workers, villagers, and teachers to create conditions for collective...
info_outlineShow Notes:
Testing Smokestacks for the EPA
Life at Law School and into the .Com Era
From Cincinnati to a San Francisco Law Firm and Back Again
Working with Founders and Startups
From Private Practice to Chief Legal Officer at Pacaso
Making a Long Distance Marriage Work
Counseling Clients and Monetizing Skills
Influential Harvard Professors and Courses
Timestamps:
02:22: Career choices, job dissatisfaction, and law school admission
08:49: Inspecting smokestacks with a wand-like device
11:29: Career path and personal growth in law
17:12: Career changes, challenges, and lessons learned
20:29 Career journey in law firm environment, including startup work and personal life
27:02: Career growth and change, with a focus on a lawyer's transition from outside counsel to chief legal officer
29:33 The benefits of long-distance relationships for couples with children, with insights on how it can positively impact work-life balance and communication
36:35: Career development and pattern recognition in law
39:21: Personal growth, education, and entrepreneurship
45:29: Religious beliefs and their evolution in a Harvard student's life
Links:
David’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-willbrand-9062011/
Featured Non-profit:
The featured non-profit of this episode is The Kentucky Student Voice Team, recommended by Rachel Burg Belin who reports:
“Hi, I'm Rachel Burg Belin, class of 1992. The featured nonprofit of this episode of the 92 report is the Kentucky Student Voice Team. The Kentucky Student Voice Team is an independent youth led intergenerationally sustained organization. The mission is to support young people as education research, policy and storytelling partners to co create more just democratic schools and communities. I love the work of this organization. So much so that ever since 2012 When I worked with a team of high school students to conceive and CO design it, I've been pouring my everything into it. I also serve as its managing partner. You can learn more about the Kentucky student voice [email protected] And now here's Will Bachman with this week's episode.”
To learn more about their work visit: https://www.ksvt.org/