Honest conversations with Black and Brown folks across industries and roles discussing their work and careers, and how it plays with the personal life. Advocating access and optimizing opportunity through understanding what work is available and the skills necessary to do it, by those who are doing and have done it.
Episode 11: “If slavery didn’t happen, maybe I wouldn’t have needed to ask for this money.”
This conversation is with someone whose career is helping high net worth individuals spend their money… But for good! My guest is a Director of Individual Giving who raises money for a non-profit dedicated to access and success for students from low-income backgrounds in post-secondary education. He talks about how his own experience inspires his work now and entering the industry to giving. He also discusses his experience now juxtaposed with doing similar work in a “most selective” university for a graduate program and how his experience in work interacts his race, ethnicity and proximity to wealth. We answer about what is philanthropy and giving versus transactional sales, what his workload looks like, what it takes to ask for money and the hierarchy of the industry. We discuss taxes and investments and their implications in the industry.
Have a guest recommendation? Introduce us at htgpseries@gmail.com
17 May 2021
Episode 10: “I do not identify as a creative… I’m not sure how I landed in this line of work”
Creative Strategist on the sales team at a tech company. Her role on the emerging team helps to create a marketing experience for companies in a rapid growth phase. Her career illuminates the business behind media, having pursued roles that allowed her to contribute to the family support after graduating college. We talk about what it’s like to be in a creative role whose work includes being in tune with social trends, while not identifying as a creative person herself. She is very transparent about compensation, not just salary but also equity, health insurance and other benefits she recognized the impact and importance of as she evolved in adulthood.
Work as a Marketing Strategist (00:00)
Starting a career in advertising (18:25)
Developing as Market Strategist (28:25)
A Day in the Life (34:30)
Compensation (42:22)
Success (1:00:00)
12 May 2021
Episode 9: “If you’re some weirdo… they’re not getting that far with you”
This episode’s guest discusses a myriad of things! In learning about his work as legal intern, he talks about the power on networking on getting jobs opportunities. As a bank teller in college while studying speech pathology, he then became a production accountant for reality TV shows and is now completing law school. He explains what obtaining on lawyer on contingency entails and the different stages of a lawsuit. He explains his inspiration to pursue law to focus on civil rights and how that shifted as he learned more about law through school. We get into studying for law school with a full-time job and then attending half of law school during a pandemic and the new wave of a social movement.
Work of a legal intern (00:00)
Pursuing a lawsuit (6:15)
Choosing a law discipline (14:15)
Applying to law school (42:00)
Success beyond grades (46:00)
Law school life (51:05)
Sustaining (1:02:28)
9 May 2021
Episode 8: “At the time, it was really about survival”
Apologies for the wonky audio quality this week, but I couldn't not share this conversation.
He started college wanting to study music, graduated and went into finance and now works at a tech company. He describes what types of skills are necessary to be a product manager and to work in the tech field, and hint- coding is not one of them. His role is “to digital products and customer experiences.” (00:08) We also discuss the relationship between intersectionality and identity in and at work. In discussing his career trajectory, we talk about what his motivations are to work as long as 100 hours a week, and how he has navigated the tech and finance industries as a first-generation college graduate supporting his family, from the suburban South in large Northern city.
Product Management (00:00)
From finance to technology (8:30)
The Day of this Product Manager (14:28)
Qualifications and Skills (22:50)
What is a tech company? (28:41)
Success (30:15)
Compensation (36:08)
Black in Tech (41:10)
Any recommendations for my next guest? htgpseries@gmail.com
2 May 2021
Episode 7: “For me, to be just hanging out in the ether, it wasn’t nice”
What a dynamic conversation! We discuss what it’s like to work at an international luxury brand as a Brand Marketing Lead and the interdisciplinary nature of marketing, how COVID has impacted a luxury brand and what skills she’s had to acquire on the job pivoting from the pre-med track she pursued in undergrad. Sneakily, she flipped in on me and we discuss our academic backgrounds- International Comparative Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Arabic, Pre-Med, psychology, at our alma mater.
Marketing as a business (00:00)
Engaging clients (07:15)
Choosing a major and direction in college (15:45)
Starting a career in fashion (30:30)
Typical Day (54:40)
Personal-Professional Balance (53:30)
10 Mar 2021
"We know things, but we also know we don't really know anything."
We hear from a Graduate Research Assistant in a Biomedical Engineering program. From a large, rural public school in Alabama, he followed his interests in science and math to be part of the knowledge generation experience that is obtaining a PhD. He talks about his somewhat unconventional route to a PhD program and what he’s doing now that he’s there, he breaks down the relationship between coding and the animal kingdom and discusses how his blackness shows up on campus and who knows his true “what kind of music do you listen to” list.
Topics discussed:
The study in grad school
Graduate school prep (11:35)
Day of a grad student (20:03)
(Machine learning for ultra novice (22:03)
Lifestyle (39:12)
Culture (46:00)
7 Mar 2021
“I give to the kids what I wish I had had”
Our guest today is the Director of the Lower School Design Thinking program at an independent (private) school. She breaks down her current work, including what is design thinking, and how she teaches it as methodology to exercise agency to young children. She also takes us back into her past careers after she graduated art college in New York in the communications and graphic design program through her work as an animator, editor at children’s publications and an art teacher. A proud Brazilian, she speaks about her experience living there as an adult and how the cultural influences intersect with that of the United States.
Design and design thinking (00:54)
Life as an animator and publisher (8:14)
Shifting to teaching (13:40)
The work of a teacher (21:30)
Lifestyle (31:30)
Design and Education resources (42:00)
Culture (56:30)
Have ideas for who I should connect with next? Email: htgpseries@gmail.com
3 Mar 2021
“If we don’t have an ego, people will have the opportunity to diminish us.”
This week, meet a coordinator in the marketing department at a big international law firm. Find out the difference between a boutique, mid-sized and large law firm, getting a job with little to no experience in the work, what job doing social media and public relations really entails. My guest also talks openly about navigating a hierarchical corporate environment as a young Latina from an immigrant family that is hardworking and preserving, but had little insight in navigating the social politics in her career and work.
Topics discussed:
Marketing in Law Firms (00:18)
Legal field information (03:20)
Skills and Tasks in PR (11:17)
Work & Personal Culture (27:18)
Salary and Lifestyle (52:32)
Tips for work: (1:01:47)
Family & Self: (1:05:18)
2 Mar 2021
“Basically after two weeks, I was just walking around like I owned the place.”
Today’s a bonus episode! To celebrate making it through another Black History Month and recognizing that Black History is created in the present with Black presence. Currently a business development analyst in a financial firm, today’s guest talks about navigating her first few years after graduating from a liberal arts college as a political theory and studio art major, from losing feeling in her feet to walking around at her current company like she owned the place, through asking questions and cultivating relationships. She discusses the process of creating value in an organization, and the drive for a secure future that grounds her hustle.
Choosing a college major and starting a path post graduation (00:08)
Making impact as a temp at the front desk (11:20)
Navigating promotions and a cross country move (15:10)
A career in finance with no academic background in it (19:15)
Business development analyst work (33:00)
Developing a career plan (42:08)
Lifestyle (43:58)
1 Mar 2021
“I get rejected all the time frankly. I just have to know that I have to find the person, parties receptive to my message.”
We’re talking to a newly transitioned Google Field Sales person on the Google Cloud team. Also known as an Account Executive in software sales, he’s working with businesses in the Bay Area to find out what they need and introduce his organization’s suite of products and resources to address those needs. He breaks down what “the cloud” is and how business take advantage of it to scale their business of today, how much tech he needs to know in order to sell it, and the value of relationships and grit in the sales industry.
The Cloud and its usages: (00:15)
Understanding the needs of businesses (12:51)
The work of an Account Executive (19:00)
How to be an Account Executive (37:07)
Success (44:06)
Lifestyle (49:11)
Family and background (57:55)
Tips for starting in tech sales (1:07:08)
How he got into sales/ Silicon Valley as a non-engineer (1:15:08)
Sidenote: when he says Prep, he means Prep for Prep.
24 Feb 2021
"I am very much on the periphery of helping people not die."
This week, I sit down with one of my dearest friends, a future doctor y’all. As a child of immigrants, particularly West African immigrants, I constantly heard a doctor and lawyer were the gold standards of career choice. I am finally able to relieve the angst of not fulfilling my childhood dream career through the gems and reflections she shared at this point in her career as a 4th year medical student.
Topics discussed:
What a med school student does: 00:00
Types of specialties: 2:26
The journey to medical school: 14:12
Race and Justice in Medicine: 39:53
Supports in med school: 53:27
Finances as a med student: 1:02:58
General Tips: 1:09:40
Doctor Jokes and Next Steps: 1:16:45
Questions, comments, a recommendation for the next interview: htgpseries@gmail.com
24 Feb 2021
Introducing How to Get Paid
Journey with me as I talk to folks across backgrounds, job titles and industries to figure out how they sustain themselves and their families.
I’m listening in learning about the skills people cultivate that empower their work, how they spend their shift, and how that impacts the lifestyle they are able to create for themselves.
From doctors, artists, carpenters, to educators, performers, artists, maybe even a clown or two. I want to better understand how people use their time and get compensated for it.
How to Get Paid, I’m looking forward tothe answers.
Contact How to Get Paid
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