We interview Cal varsity letter winners who are excelling in their post-sports careers. Through their stories, we deconstruct how to ladder into various professional roles, examine what a day in the life in those roles looks like, and explore whether the athlete’s mindset, disciplines and sensibilities provides an edge in post-sports careers.
Michael Sharf: Cal Men’s Water Polo / CEO, Co-Founder, Bridge Athletic
This episode’s guest of Forever a Golden Bear is Michael Sharf, formerly of Cal men’s water polo, and now the co-founder and CEO of Bridge Athletic, a strength and conditioning software company utilized by teams across every professional sports league in America and power 5 NCAA conference. In this discussion, Michael describes his journey as a software entrepreneur, detailing the relevance of MBA’s to aspiring founders, the tranches of fundraising, and the contrasts of the CEO role between an emerging startup and established organization. Michael shares how using his intuition to guide his career choices, aligning his interests with his aspirations, and the skills he honed as an athlete in leadership, grit, and mindfulness have helped him build a market-leading platform.
27 Oct 2021
Dr. Ian Tong: Cal Rugby / Chief Medical Officer, Included Health
This episode’s guest of Forever a Golden Bear is Dr. Ian Tong, formerly of Cal rugby and now the chief medical officer of Doctor on Demand, now a part of Included Health, the nation’s leading virtual care medical practice. In this discussion, Ian shares with us his journey through the healthcare industry, describing the process of medical school and residency, and the responsibilities and day-to-day experience of a physician, medical director, and chief medical officer. Ian shares how his lifelong commitment to learning, an interpersonal focus, and the skills he has developed through seeking out uncomfortable situations, learning from them, and using those insights to improve each day have helped him to play a key role in transforming healthcare delivery.
Visit bigcsociety.org/spotlighting, or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and others to listen to the episode.
22 Sept 2021
Stu Gordon: Cal Baseball /Partner & Co-Founder, Gordon & Rees
In this episode of Forever a Golden Bear, Stu Gordon, formerly of Cal baseball, shares with us his remarkable journey from a career-changing baseball injury, to becoming Student Body President of the UC Berkeley School of Law, to becoming partner and co-founder of Gordon & Rees -- the 24th largest law firm in the United States, comprising more than 1,000 lawyers in 70 offices located throughout every state of America. In this discussion, Stu shares key insights including how pairing competitiveness with respect and courtesy, developing earned confidence in one’s knowledge and abilities, and an indefatigable work ethic have served him both in his career and those of the thousands of lawyers he has witnessed and mentored.
In this episode of Forever a Golden Bear, Natalie Coughlin Hall, Cal women’s swimming’s most decorated alumni, shares with us her remarkable journey from becoming one of the most victorious female olympians of all time, to her introspective transition into her post-sports career as a vintner and co-founder of Gaderian Wines. In this discussion, Natalie shares high-performance insights on treating obstacles as an opportunity to learn; how staying mentally present in challenging moments both increases effectiveness and makes arduous tasks seem to elapse quicker; and how the sensibilities of earned confidence and a growth mindset have served her in her career as an author and a co-founder of a Napa Valley winery.
4 Aug 2021
Sebastian Sam: Cal Men's Track & Field / Enterprise Account Director, LinkedIn
This episode’s guest of Forever a Golden Bear is Sebastian Sam, formerly of Cal track & field and now an enterprise account director at LinkedIn. In this discussion, Sebastian shares with us the contrasts of sales roles he’s experienced, starting with medical device sales at Karl Storz Endoscopy, to software sales with LinkedIn. In following his career arc, Sebastian describes valuable sales and networking skills, such as navigating relationships to reach a decision-maker, systematizing one’s schedule and prospecting to break a daunting goal into practical steps, and how to utilize LinkedIn to find the opportunities and mentors that advance one’s career aspirations.
23 Jun 2021
Courtney Heldreth: Cal Women’s Soccer / Artificial Intelligence User Experience Researcher, Google
Courtney (Hooker) Heldreth, of Cal women’s soccer, with a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, is one of Google’s top artificial intelligence User Experience Researchers (UXR), on its Artificial Intelligence User Experience (AIUX) Team. Courtney’s work attempts to understand the risks and opportunities in AI for underserved, historically marginalized users. Courtney investigates alternative, more inclusive ways to classify skin tone, which is currently inadequate and biased against people of color. She also co-leads research to understand racial disparities in automated speech recognition (ASR), the technology that powers voice assistants, enables digital dictation platforms, and allows for hand-free computing. In our conversation, Courtney discusses her own experiences with racial bias, her interest in the intersection between psychology and biology, her pathway to big tech, and how her experience as a Cal student-athlete prepared her for leadership as an AI ethicist and user experience researcher.
To learn more about Courtney’s research, see the following articles:
Racial equity: https://design.google/library/racial-equity-everyday-products/
Farming + AI: https://medium.com/people-ai-research/q-a-ground-truth-supporting-farmers-with-machine-learning-b95796d5196b
Skin tone: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/exclusive-google-searches-new-measure-skin-tones-curb-bias-products-2021-06-18/
Visit bigcsociety.org/spotlighting, or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and others to listen to the episode.
26 May 2021
Brittany Lawrence: Cal Lacrosse / Partner, Barclay Damon LLP
This episode’s guest of Forever a Golden Bear is Brittany Lawrence, née Aungier, formerly of Cal lacrosse and now a partner at Barclay Damon LLP, a full service law firm located throughout the Northeastern United States. In this discussion, we explore Brit’s journey to becoming a commercial litigation partner, drawing insights on her tips to being a successful law school student, the day-to-day life and skills required of an attorney, the qualifications and process to make partner at a law firm, and the standards of performance that she looks for in hiring aspiring associate attorneys.
28 Apr 2021
Anwar McQueen: Cal Men's Basketball / CEO, Co-Founder, TEAM Inc.
This episode’s guest of Forever a Golden Bear is Anwar McQueen, a member of the Cal men's basketball “All-Century Team,” who is known in basketball circles as the “Godfather of Analytics.” In this discussion, we explore Anwar’s slingshot journey from the mean streets of Clifton Terrace (Washington DC) to the elite prep school St. Albans, Cal basketball, and ultimately to the intersection of technology and sports performance which is the backdrop of his post-sports professional roles. These include VP of Sales and later VP of Business Development for the Australian video analytics firm Sportstec (acquired by Hudl), and his current role as co-founder and CEO of the non-profit organization, TEAM Inc., that harnesses students' passion for sports to build STEM skills.
Anwar can be followed through Twitter and Instagram @WeAreTeamInc and his company's website, https://www.weareteaminc.org/.
7 Apr 2021
Rachelle Federico: Cal Women’s Basketball / Film Producer in Training & Dept. Mgr., Pixar Animation
In this episode of Forever a Golden Bear, Rachelle Federico, formerly of Cal women’s basketball and now a department manager and movie producer in training at Pixar Animation Studios, shares with us her journey after graduation of building technology development and managerial skills as a software product manager, in order to ultimately earn the opportunity to pursue her long-time aspiration to become an animated film producer at Pixar--a marathon of focus that required a total of fourteen interviews, and thirteen rejections over seven years, and a career restart at age 29. Rachelle discusses the parallel sensibilities and skills that make a standout software product manager and animated film producer; and how her experience as a Cal athlete both developed her practice of servant leadership, time-sensitive triage decision making, and more.
Visit bigcsociety.org/spotlighting, or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and others to listen to the episode.
24 Mar 2021
Bengt Baron: Cal Men's Swimming / CEO Absolut Vodka, V&S Group, Cloetta
In this episode of Forever a Golden Bear (co-hosted by Cal backstroker and Olympian Ryan Murphy) we follow the remarkable journey of Bengt Baron, who won his first Olympic gold medal (in the backstroke) at age 18. We track the importance Bengt placed on attending UC Berkeley; to his formative development as management consultant with McKinsey & Co., to exploring the wisdoms Bengt gleaned from holding senior management roles for multinational firms over more than two decades, beginning in his early thirties. Those roles included President of Kodak and Coca Cola Sweden; CEO of V&S Group and its former brand Absolut Vodka (which Bengt founded, and later sold); and CEO of the global confectionery company Cloetta. In this masterclass on general management, Bengt advocates broadening one’s skills early; how curiosity drives performance in both sports and in business; and how a posture of patience, horizontal functional know-how, and empathic human interest, is critical to effective leadership of high-performing teams.
10 Mar 2021
Erin Cafaro: Cal Women's Rowing / Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student, The Wright Institute
In this episode of Forever a Golden Bear, Erin Cafaro, Cal’s most decorated oarswoman in history, and now a clinical psychology doctoral student at the prestigious Wright Institute shares with us her remarkable journey from joining Cal’s crew without any rowing experience, to becoming a two-time olympic gold medalist, to her introspective transition into her post-sports career. In an unvarnished narrative that examines her mindset at the time, Erin discusses the unsettling experience of standing on the Olympic podium (twice) without feeling existential satisfaction from medaling, the tradeoffs that come from a hyper-focused mindset, and the importance of mindfulness and balance in her evolving approach to high performance and happiness.
Erin can be reached at ejcafaro@gmail.com, and can be followed on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
24 Feb 2021
Justin Forsett: Cal Football / CEO, Co-Founder, Hustle Clean
Justin Forsett, a former Cal football player, NFL Pro Bowler, and the CEO and Co-Founder of Hustle Clean shares with us his journey from professional athlete to successful entrepreneur. We discuss how Justin (and his co-founder and Cal football teammate, Wale Forrester,) grew Hustle Clean from an idea, to a 1st generation product--through user testing, bootstrapping and a series of fundraising stages--to an emerging mainstream brand in the personal hygiene market. Justin shares how the motivation he gains from being told he can’t do something, “the ability to get knocked down seven times and get up eight”, along with his company’s pillars of being real, brave, and relentless, have pushed him to overcome his adversities and accomplish his goals.
Justin can be reached at jforsett@hustleclean.com, can be followed on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @jforsett, and his company’s website can be found at https://www.hustleclean.com.
23 Dec 2020
Joey Zwillinger: Cal Men’s Soccer / Co-Founder, Co-CEO, Allbirds
Our guest for this episode is Joey Zwillinger, a former Cal Men’s Soccer player and the co-founder and co-CEO of the ubiquitous shoe company: Allbirds. In this episode, Joey shares with us the contrasts of the roles he’s experienced in his career, which include: management consultant, large company Vice President, startup entrepreneur, and chief executive. We also discuss the importance of contributing to society and, more broadly, sustainability; the relevance of MBA’s to aspiring entrepreneurs; the value of intentionality; how the empathy that Joey practiced as a Cal soccer player improved collaboration, morale and products at Allbirds, and how raw competitiveness has helped him build one of the world’s most well known shoe brands.
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