Careers by Design: The Interviews

We repost our 2016 conversation with Laura Walker ’79, President and CEO, WNYC, the nation’s largest public radio station. “For me a lot of the fun of it, and the challenge of it, and the kind of stuff I love to do, is the mix of the creative and the business... I think that actually started at Wesleyan... There’s something about seeing connections and drawing them and reveling in them...and not being scared by the ambiguity, but being challenged by it.”

We speak with Lael Brainard '83, a member of the United States Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. "I found the transition [to business] relatively seamless...Wesleyan does a good job not just of exposing students to disciplinary rigors...but also of helping them and encouraging them to become engaged with the real world.”

A conversation with Mike Fries '85, President and CEO of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. “You have to be willing to take some risk in your life...I always tell younger people, just get started, figure out what you’re good at. Be patient, but if an opportunity arises be willing to take that risk, because if you’re confident in yourself and you have skills and you have that drive you’re going to land somewhere. No one is ever going to look at you and say, “Well, why did you do that?” If it doesn’t work, they’re going to say, “Wow, that was pretty gutsy. Tell me what you learned in that experience"...every stop along the way is going to help make you a better candidate for what you want to do in life.”

In honor of the success of the film "Get Out" we had to repost our interview with Bradley Whitford ’81, film and television actor (The West Wing—Emmy Award, Billy Madison, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Cabin in the Woods, Trophy Wife, Saving Mr. Banks, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Happyish, Transparent). “I urge people to really examine what brings you joy creatively. That is not always going to be commercial success.”

We hear from Jennifer Tour Chayes '78, Distinguished Scientist and Managing Director of Microsoft Research New England and Microsoft Research New York. "It’s really important to always be talking about what you’re passionate about...I’m always looking for somebody whose [story] is deeply engaging."

We chat with Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz '88, a California-based, board certified OB/GYN and integrative medical doctor. “I didn’t really have a plan. I knew who I was and I stayed close to who I am, and I think that's how these things happen. And a lot of them were surprises...a lot of times when I planned, that’s exactly what didn’t happen."

In honor of Black History Month, an encore presentation of this interview with Beverly Daniel Tatum ’75, HON'15, President Emerita, Spelman College; author of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race." “There was a line [in a Spelman brochure], that said, ‘This is your heritage and your calling.’ And I really felt like that sentence was speaking to me...there was that moment of recognition that this is it.”

In honor of Black History Month, an encore presentation of this interview with Theodore M. Shaw '76, Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights, University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill. “In a sense it was very selfish of me to pursue this path. Because I think I probably would have gone crazy if I didn’t find a constructive way to engage in the work of racial justice and change for our country. I don’t think there’s anything really altruistic about it. And in some ways it was very selfish...it was a hopeful choice."

A conversation with Jed Hoyer ‘96, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Chicago Cubs. “I think every day, forming an argument to support your beliefs and trying to be creative and think of new ways to build a great team...those are things that you learn getting a really good liberal arts education...You’ve got to think critically and you’ve got to be curious [to compete].”

For our Season One finale, a conversation with Carter Bays ’97 and Craig Thomas ’97, television writers, producers and show runners best known for their hit show How I Met Your Mother. “You want to find that spark of a story you have to tell, a story only you can tell, only in the way that you can tell it."