How We Got Here - Career Stories

In today's short clip. I chat with author Tom Levine. Tom has been really successful in his career so far - he's written for Spawn, he's published novels and one of his books just got picked up for a movie script.  One of the narratives that emerge in my conversation with Tom is that he's always adapting to new environments and he's continually testing different channels and formats. This is unique advice that I don't hear a lot from creatives and I think anybody who's aspiring to be an author, a communicator, or a content creator needs to hear this advice. 

In today’s episode, I chat with Cassidy Petit, a recent UVM graduate who’s working for Hula, a new co-working space and tech accelerator being constructed to build a community that fosters economic growth in Burlington, Vermont. The company has a big mission: to put Burlington, Vermont on the map as a hub for start-ups and technology companies.

Cassidy is at the center of this as she’s responsible for marketing and operations and making sure the existing community of Burlington and its students know what opportunities are available.

We share her story of how she found herself in this position after originally intending to go into social work. The opportunity for her to contribute to her community in a slightly different way presented itself and she took it on.

Her story is one of focusing on the process, not the outcome, and of not being afraid to take on new challenges.

We talk about how Burlington, VT is a great place to work and live, and how we both share the goal of spreading that message to retain more students and attract more people to the state.

In this short clip, I ask Cassidy about her challenges working at Hula. The way she responds is the exact way you want to respond to a question like this in an interview.

She talks about how being on a small team in fluid roles can be challenging, especially when it requires her to take on work she’s not familiar with, but she repositions it as an opportunity for her to grow.

It’s this type of growth-mindset and not fearing new challenges that will help her grow in her career, and if you take on the same mindset, it can help you grow, too.

In this short clip, Cassidy and I talk about Hula’s mission and the benefits of living in Burlington, Vermont. For students out there listening, there is a vibrant technology scene in Burlington and offers a quality of life that is unrivaled in most other areas. 

Dealer.com, the anchor tech company in Burlington, was acquired for $1 billion and has seeded the ground for the second wave of new companies and economic growth. In a city of just over 40,000 people, that’s a big deal.

Cassidy points out that many entrepreneurs who move to Vermont are living their “second life” after living in larger cities, and are enjoying having quality careers and quality of life outside of those careers.

In today’s episode, I chat with entrepreneur Gabriel Appleton, co-founder of Vumonic, a market intelligence tool used by the world's leading strategy teams.

We talk about how authentic curiosity led him to his first venture at a storage company, one he joined despite having accepted an offer at the Economist. He helped to grow the storage company and eventually he and his business partner sold it. After the sale, Gabriel moved to India and met his future business partner to co-found Vumonic.

His story is one of tenacity, staying true to yourself and is a great example of how authentic curiosity can open doors for you in your career.

In this short clip, Gabriel talks about how he validated the business idea for Vumonic and what he did to get the company off the ground. New companies are always faced with the chicken or the egg problem of needing investment to launch a product but needing a product to get the investment. In this case, Gabriel and his business partner applied to a start-up accelerator, got in, and got their company off the ground.

In this short clip, Gabriel shares a story of how he ended up working at his first start-up, All College Storage. When he got on the phone with the company founder, he didn’t do anything fancy, he just showed up, asked thoughtful questions and a door opened for him.

Gabriel mentions that his curiosity has opened other doors for him in his personal and professional life as well, citing that it led him to co-founding his current company, Vumonic.

In today’s episode, I chat with Jacqueline Cardoza who currently works at the CDC and is soon to be taking on a new role at FEMA.

Jacqueline had intentions of being a change maker starting back in college and she’s living up to that dream. She shares her story from undergraduate experiences to attending graduate school at the University of Michigan, and ultimately ending up at the CDC.

She also talks about how it’s okay to not know your path and the importance of trying things to help give you more clarity.

Enjoy!

In this short clip, Jacqueline shares how her proactivity and networking skills opened the door for her at the CDC.

The more you put yourself out there, the more likely you are to connect with people who can help you achieve your goals.

Enjoy!

In this short clip, Jacqueline talks about her application to a graduate program. As she went through this process, her undergrad professors asked her why she wanted to choose this path.

Her answer was that she wasn’t if this was right for her, but she was interested in it and needed to pursue grad school to validate or invalidate that interest.

The lesson for us all here is that we don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes, you just have to try something, you never know if it’ll be a fit.

Jacqueline also talks about struggling when she first got into the program and learning how to ask for help from her professors. This has served her well in her career so far because she learned that you don’t need to know everything, you just have to be resourceful in being aware of those gaps and identifying how to find the answers or help you need.

Enjoy!