Category Archives: People You Might Know

3 Things We Can Learn from U.S. Olympians About Success

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The closing ceremonies of the London Olympic Games take place this upcoming Sunday, and we (non-participants) are likely all feeling the same mix of emotions. Relief because we’ve been hooked on watching all the events and cheering on Team USA, and we can finally go back to the regular schedule of our lives. Excitement because it’s impossible to watch the Olympics and not be motivated by all the phenomenal athletes and their stories.

In our current, slow-to-move-as-molasses economy, it’s pretty easy to get discouraged, Continue reading →

Interview with Assemblyman Reed Gusciora

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Today’s jobtalk is with Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, who’s first time running for office was in high school when he ran for student council. Assemblyman Gusciora serves N.J.’s 15th Legislative District and is a prosecutor for Lawrence Township.

Title: Assemblyman/Criminal Prosecutor

Education:

B.A. International Relations, Catholic University, 1982

J.D. Seton Hall University School of Law, 1988

Career Stage: Advanced

Did you know early on in your life that you wanted to go into politics?

I did. I have always been idealistic and interested in politics. When I was a kid I visited the United Nations and loved it. I wanted to be an ambassador, but when I first started to look at careers and found out that you had to have an advanced degree to become an ambassador, I changed my mind. I ended up getting an advanced degree after all, but it is very difficult to get into the Foreign Service, so I didn’t pursue it. Continue reading →

Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg Shouldn’t Be Your Role Models

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Marissa Mayer, the new CEO of Yahoo

First Anne-Marie Slaughter’s admission in The Atlantic that she knows she can’t have it all, and now Marissa Mayer’s announcement that she’ll only take a few week’s maternity leave from her new CEO position at Yahoo. I’m thinking that Mayer should get together with Slaughter for a talk. But it’s more likely that Mayer is looking to Sheryl Sandberg as her mentor.

Why am I writing about this on JobTalk? Well, here’s the deal. Because of Slaughter’s article and now Mayer’s announcement (and don’t forget Sheryl Sandberg’s advice for women), there’s a flurry of discussion about women holding high-level positions and whether or not they can be the moms they want to be. Many people are touting Sandberg and Mayer as role models, but I’d recommend that you don’t look to them for a working-mother model. They simply aren’t the average woman.

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Quotes from Conversations About Real Jobs with Real People

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Quotes from conversations about real jobs with real people that inform, inspire, and entertain. Check ‘em out!

Sure, I think the public has a lot of misconceptions, just like I probably have a misconception that everyone who works at Google is eating free sushi and jumping on trampolines all day. In reality, blogging is a labor of love, and I think any blogger will tell you that. - Writer and Blogger B. from stfuparentsblog.com Continue reading →

Interview with Wempy Dyocta Koto, Founder and CEO of Wardour And Oxford

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Wempy Dyocta Koto: “Love your work, love your life. Your time on Earth is not negotiable.”

Today’s jobtalk is with Wempy Dyocta Koto, who is the founder and CEO of Wardour And Oxford, a business development agency that works with companies from around the world. Before starting his own agency, Koto held positions with leading communications companies such as Young & Rubicam, OgilvyOne WorldWide and Wunderman.

Born in Indonesia and raised in Australia, Koto figured out early on in his years that he wanted to collect experiences rather than things. His enthusiasm for life is infectious. Continue reading →

Interview with Man Vs. Debt Founder Adam C. Baker

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Last week, I had the opportunity to Skype with Adam C. Baker, who founded manvsdebt.com in 2008 and co-founded Crank Tank Studios with Grant Peelle in 2011. Currently, Crank Tank Studios has raised over 49K on Kickstarter to fund its first documentary I’m Fine, Thanks. Continue reading →

Career Paths are Not Linear

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I’ve done over 40 interviews with people about their career paths  (some of them are still on my Olympus digital recorder waiting to be transcribed). It’s not necessarily a big number. But it’s a big enough sampling of people that I’ve noticed some patterns about career paths. Continue reading →

Interview with a Young Entrepreneur

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Today’s jobtalk is with co-founder of Under30CEO, Jared O’Toole. Another example of Gen Y’s finest, Jared’s hardworking, intelligent, and not afraid to take risks. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, you’ve got to check out Under30CEO.

Title: Co-Founder of Under30CEO

Education:  B.A. Finance, Ithaca College, 2008

Age: 26

What was your first job out of college?

It was exactly what I’m doing right now, Under30CEO. I went on interviews, and it was during that interview processes that I slowly became turned off to working at a corporation. When I went on interviews, I’d see the offices and think about the day-to-day of what I’d be doing, and I really didn’t want to work for those companies. Continue reading →

My Tubmlr Neighbor from Chrisisgrowing

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Chris Han (courtesy of Chris Han)

When I was in college, I would have never been friends with a Villanova frat-boy like Chris Han. To be fair, he wouldn’t have wanted to hang around my proselytizing vegetarian-self either (I’ve long since returned to being an omnivore), if he knew me back then. Then again, when I was in my late teens and early twenties, Chris was still getting bathed by his mother (or father) and reading picture books. Continue reading →

Interview with a Gen Y Feminist

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I’m excited to have my youngest interviewee on Job Talk 4 All, Julie Zeilinger, founder and editor of the FBomb, a feminist blog. I wish I could say that I discovered Julie myself, but I have to give the credit to journalist Andrea Newell, who passed along Julie’s name to me. Julie represents the best of Gen Y and serves as a reminder to all of us to go after our goals no matter how old we are.

Title: Founder and Editor of The FBomb

Education:

High School Diploma, Hawken School, Cleveland, OH, 2011

First Year Undergraduate at Bernard College of Columbia University, planning to double major in women’s studies and human rights.

Age: 18

1. When did you first get the idea to start FBomb? And how long did it take, once you had the idea, to get it off-the-ground?

I started The FBomb the summer after my sophomore year of high school because as a teen with a newfound feminist identity, I felt there really wasn’t any place where young feminists could come together and share their ideas and form a community.

I grew up in a place that didn’t really understand or promote feminism and really craved a support system and community myself – I figured if I felt that way, other teens must, too. Soon after I started it, some major feminist blogs linked to The FBomb and it started to attract a pretty wide readership. Currently, tens of thousands of people read The FBomb every month. Continue reading →