Roads Taken: Recent Episodes
Leslie Jennings Rowley, Dartmouth Class of 1996
Welcome to Roads Taken, the show that reminds us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits.
In each episode, Leslie Jennings Rowley will talk to her guests—each headed down the road to their 25th college reunion—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d be, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today.
Mid-life crises? Maybe. Exactly where they thought they'd be? Rarely.
In the end, each of their stories will show us what Robert Frost was trying to tell us: It doesn’t really matter which way we turn…. a full life awaits, regardless of the ROADS TAKEN.
From very early on, Anna Kontos knew to listen to her heart and intuition to lead her. When her heart told her education was her path, she leaned in. She supplemented part-time leave term consulting gig with substitute teaching, which she enjoyed way more. She was part of the cohort of students who took the education program and stayed a semester after graduation to student teach and gather more in-class tools. She particularly loved how her creative side was grounded by her understanding of cognitive science. But she also knew that intuition—or the art of teaching— can take you only so far and that being the best resource to kids would require more science. She pursued that science and then found many ways to apply it, teach it, and center it at the core of her own practice.In this episode, find out how from Anna how mixing science, art, and a very special sauce can create the alchemy needed to excel.
About This Episode’s Guest
Anna Kontos is a Learning Specialist, Private Tutor, and an educator of educators. She recently co-founded Canvas & Cortex, an integrated consultancy in the Boston area that provides family and school consulting, executive-functioning and ADHD coaching, and workshops that blend creativity with research-backed strategies for student success. She lives with her husband and two sons in the Boston area, close to her large extended Greek family.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Last we spoke with Matthew Wiltshire, he had returned to his beloved Nashville with an eye toward serving the people there. He was doing that in economic development and housing and then a bigger opportunity appeared. He took a shot at running for Mayor of the City of Nashville and learned through the process that there are many ways to serve. He also found that the health of a city and a family has a lot to do with home.//In this episode, find out from Matt how sticking with what seems most pressing can provide some of the best payoffs…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Matthew Wiltshire is a native of Nashville, Tennesse. After a valiant run in the Nashville mayoral race in 2023, he is currently the President of the Pathway Housing Fund, which utilizes low-cost capital to acquire naturally-occurring affordable housing properties in Tennessee that are at risk of becoming unaffordable and provides quality housing for residents. Prior to joining Pathway, Matt worked at MDHA, Nashville's public housing authority, and served as the Director of Economic and Community Development for the city. And somehow along the way, in addition to the properties, he has acquired six kids who keep him busy, and worried, and deeply in love.
For Matt’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to The Home Stretch.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Last we spoke with Maryam Kia-Keating, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a mom of two, she was already a full professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in its school of Education’s Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. Nearly four years later, she still has all her skills and expertise and desire to empower individuals, families, schools and communities. She’s just taken the time to discern where she could make the most impact, which has led her to walk through some unexpected doors.
In this episode, find out from Maryam out how making decisions based around potential impact can open up all sorts of potential…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Maryam Kia-Keating is an author, psychologist, educator, and lifelong storyteller. After serving on the active faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara for 18 years, she is now Professor Emerita there. Currently she serves as the director of counseling at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California, and continues to serve as a consultant for children’s media. A producer of children’s media herself, she is the author of the forthcoming A Suitcase Full, a picture book inspired by her own journey across the world as a child. Find out more about the book (and how to pre-order it) at maryamkia.com.
For Maryam’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Research in Action.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
In college, Keli‘i Opulauoho would have defined himself by the types of activities in which he participated – musical pursuits, student government, student affairs, his policy interests, particularly those related to China and international peace. But many of his classmates also associated him with his homeland of Hawai‘i. And after decades of being away, he has recently moved back home. But, despite some of the family reasons that made him originally consider the move back, it wasn't what he missed that drew home; rather what of his experiences from away that he could bring back to the islands. In this episode, find out from Keli‘i how sometimes repairing things comes from being your whole self where once you weren't.
About This Episode’s Guest
Keli‘i Opulauoho has had a career in corporate organizational development and learning, currently practicing his expertise at Hawaiian Electric, in Honolulu. In addition to supporting a number of LGBTQ+ organizations in Hawai‘i, he serves on the board of directors of many Dartmouth groups, including DGALA, NAAAD – the Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth – and the Dartmouth Club of Hawai‘i. He is a proud Dartmouth ’26 parent and is a formidable karaoke performer wherever he might find himself. And despite what he might think, he’s a great hugger.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
As many of us do, Burns McKinney had a high school teacher who made things come alive, even in the dismal science of economics. With that fire, Burns knew what he wanted to study in college and sought out professors who had that same desire to go beyond theory to application and real-world significance. Starting in the investment banking world in New York City, this Texan learned the fundamentals and how to work hard, but found he would take a role and keep an eye out for what the other guys were doing. Not necessarily feeling their grass was greener, he was just open to the next thing that might be a better fit. When he found the fit in buy-side investment management and refined skills and connections in business school, he also wanted to grow a family. But he knew he wanted to do that closer to his roots.
In this episode, find out from Burns how sometimes looking over the fence makes you realize the grass can be pretty green at home.
About This Episode's Guest
Burns McKinney is currently Senior Portfolio Manager at NFJ Investment Group, a global value equity manager in Dallas, where he's been for the last two decades. His two children are nearly grown, so you will probably find him in Dallas or traveling with his wife Barb to see live music or sporting events.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
With romantic visions of the life of an academic historian, Ryan Carey embarked on the journey he thought would lead him there. But reality was harder to replicate than the models in his mind's eye. After landing an initial position in a claustrophobic environment and putting more energy into his classroom teaching than publishing, his bid for tenure was unsuccessful and he moved away from the academy. He found a public history position in the museum world but found himself missing teaching. When a friend suggested he try teaching at a private high school, he resisted, blind to all the ways it was a perfect match.
In this episode, find out from Ryan how sometimes taking a leap and going beyond the expected can bring you back to where you belong.
About This Episode’s Guest
Ryan Carey currently serves as Director of Experiential Education and Extension Programs at St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Texas at Austin, where he specialized in environmental history and the history of the American West, and is happy to be living, surfing, and soaking up the vistas back on that coast.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
After two decades in the ER, Thomas Fisher encountered a true emergency that seemed all-encompassing but was just the tip of the iceberg. Reflecting on his experiences on the front lines of one of America's busiest urban hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized that his community's literal and metaphorical ills--and those of much of America--are unlikely to heal themselves.
In this episode, find out from Thomas getting to exhaustion and witnessing everyone else's can sometimes provide the energy necessary to take on new challenges.
About This Episode’s Guest
Thomas Fisher is an emergency medicine physician from the south Side of Chicago whose first book The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER was named one of Time Magazine's "100 Must-Read Books" of the year. He is currently running for election to serve the people of Illinois' 7th Congressional District. You can find more about his campaign at thomasfisherforcongress.com.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Hey Roads Taken Listeners. It's been a minute. But we’re back. On the run up to the 30th Reunion of Dartmouth's Class of 1996, host Leslie Jennings Rowley will be talking to more classmates about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. They’ve have had nearly three decades of post-college life and all the highs, lows, bruises, and accolades to prove it.
The new season will begin on February 2, 2026. And just like Groundhog Day, all the pageantry and questions will feel familiar but you won’t quite be sure what the guest of honor will tell us. Will it be a medical doctor running for Congress? A non-profit director fighting to make sure people get what they need? An educator with lots of life lessons to impart?
If you're hearing this, there's a good chance you're already subscribed or are following the show in your favorite podcast app. But if not, please do that now and make sure your auto download feature is turned on so you don't miss any new episodes when they start dropping soon with on Roads Taken.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Last we spoke with Adam Medros, he had moved through a string of ever-more-interesting C-Suite roles. Not long after, he realized he needed to hit the pause button and embarked on a sabbatical of sorts. He filled the time with a number of pursuits, but none as sweet as his serious study of pastries—and not just as being a consumer of them but rather becoming quite the accomplished baker. (Amazingly, his telling of it made this our second episode featuring the word kouign-amann.) After a bit of time without a focus on anything more external to his home kitchen, however, he started getting the itch to hop back on the C-Suite track.
In this episode, find out from Adam taking time to do nothing and some new somethings can help hit the reset…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Adam Medros, an experienced C-level technology executive, is currently CEO of Spark Networks, the parent company of some of the most recognizable online dating brands in the world, particularly for singles over 40 and those with strong faith traditions. Among others, the portfolio includes Jdate, Elite Singles, ChristianMingle, and SilverSingles. And, of course, he is quite the accomplished pastry chef. Here are pictures of Adam with some of his pastry creations and Adam filling donuts.
For Adam’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Disruptive Mindset.
And for the first appearance of the word kouign-amann on our podcast, listen to Risk and Reward with Jamie Hansen.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Last we spoke with Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham, it was summer 2020 and as the head of the upper school at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in Southern California, she was still in the thick of the complexities of covid and retooling just about everything in anticipation of bringing students back in the fall. In the more than four years since, her ability to handle the unexpected has continued to be tested as she has faced fears, uncertainty, and a changing future.
In this episode, find out from Jeneen how keeping service and growth at the center can keep things on track…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
That was Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham who is currently head of school at St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California. She previously was Upper School Principal from 2018 to 2023 and Academic Dean, 2012 to 2018, in addition to teaching AP psychology and serving on the Board of Trustees as a parent of two graduates of the school.
For Jeneen’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Independent Education and her special bonus episode about closing her school for covid lockdown and moving to online learning.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
With only two more episodes in this season of Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley, we are soliciting suggestions for future seasons. Are there any former guests you'd like to see featured on a Roads Taken Revisited episode? Or a voice who hasn't yet been featured who should be persuaded to share their story? Drop us a line through the Contact Us link at RoadsTakenShow.com. Let us know what you might be interested in hearing in a future season.
(And for those Dartmouth '96 alumni out there, I hope you've put a save-the-date on the calendar for our 30th Reunion in Hanover, June 18 to 21, 2026. And if you're dying to get involved in any capacity with planning that event or with other class engagement, drop us a line through the show, too!)
We are so appreciative for all of you who keep listening, week after week, season after season. Thanks so much!
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
In college, Jesse Israel knew that his major didn't really matter so much because he wanted to pursue a life in entertainment and media and early experiences landed him on the path right away. An out-of-season internship at NBC Sports landed him in the president’s office, with access to top executives and the inner workings of things. And when graduation coincided with the Atlanta Olympics, he had a job waiting, albeit a few flights down from the head office. With a career that saw him in every sort of producing role, eventually developing major star vehicles, he realized—in an industry that had transformed thoroughly since he began in it—that there might be another way to use the full range of skills he’d honed over two decades.
In this episode, find out from Jesse how tapping into relationships and dealing with rejection can be quite transferable…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jesse Israel is a certified financial planner, wealth manager, and insurance expert, who currently advises at Capstone Partners Financial and Insurance Services in Los Angeles, where he previously spent a career in the entertainment industry that spanned two decades with stints at NBC Sports and Dateline, and development roles for numerous feature film deals. Being a very proud husband and father of two girls, he is cofounder of the Dad Club, which is just the coolest.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Starting out as pre-med and a member of the development ski team, Dan Kashman changed courses a couple of times in college, first getting his ski time in as a ski instructor instead of on the team, then switching to economics. Right after graduation, he worked got an investment banking job but knew very soon he wanted to get his hands more dirty, or rather more snowy. He wrote to a number of consolidating ski resort companies and figured out how to use his Wall Street experience in a different way. Ultimately, he found that his interests and skills made the most sense in the world of marketing. Moving between smaller companies and larger shops with powerful tools, he learned to find the connections between data, technology, and creativity for companies of all sizes, including his own.
In this episode, find out from Dan how changing course and pursuing longevity aren't always in opposition…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Dan Kashman is an experienced Chief Marketing Officer and entrepreneurial executive with over two decades of experience in finding the connections between data, technology, and creativity for companies large and small. His marketing consultancy Tenth Mountain is a multidisciplinary marketing firm with clients in all sectors. But as a devotee of the health and wellness space, he is also the founder of Medo, which uses AI-powered health coaching to make preventative health optimization accessible to everyone. Check to get your free Sense Score and a holistic view of your longevity potential.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
As she began college, Annie Soutter Horton had a clear, singular identity: She was a swimmer. But something began feeling off and she had to make a change that left her in search of who she really was at core and how she could feel more whole. In following a path toward education, she saw others who might not be secure with who they were and what made them well. She continued to center the idea of wellness in her work. When an opportunity came to move her family across the world to New Zealand she leaned in and found ways to incorporate indigenous ideas of wellness into her academic studies and home life.
In this episode, find out from Annie how quieting yourself to tune into the elements of wellness can bring you fill circle…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Anne Soutter Horton would tell you Three Sisters is her mountain, Metoliius is her river, Oregon is where she is from, Christchurch is where she lives, and her name is Annie. She is currently a lecturer in Educational Studies and Leadership in the Faculty of Education at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where she teaches courses on child and adolescent wellbeing and health, as well as leadership. She is raising a brood of five children with college classmate Travis Horton and, in summer of 2024, competed in New Zealand’s South Island Short Course Championships and broke longstanding national records in her age group in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When we last spoke with Jonathon Stewart, known affectionately to us as Stew, he was in LA hitting his stride in the world of screenwriting and working on animated and live-action feature films. He has continued on this path with his long-time creative partner, depsite the ups and downs that have come in this period of redefinition for the entire film industry.
In this Roads Taken Revisited, find out from Stew how now, with the perspective one gets in the middle stages of life, sometimes looking at the long game really just tracks with searching for the little things that make us human…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jonathon “Stew” Stewart is a screenwriter, producer, and consultant for business, education and content creators. With his long-time creative partner Eyal Podell, he has written for the likes of Pixar, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Paramount, Sony, and Netflix. He has two kids who will invariably feature in his future storytelling.
For Stew’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Character Study.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When last we spoke with Pace Duckenfield, he was on the cusp of retiring from a long and decorated military career and he was weighing how he might use his skills and experience in the private sector. He parlayed the cybersecurity skills he gained in the Army into a stable day job, but he’s most passionate at this point about the business he has started with his brother through the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program. Though he kept his roots in Georgia for continuity for his wife’s job and community they have built for their daughters, he has still found ways to branch out through the new strategy consultancy.
In this episode, find out from Pace how finding gratitude for one path ending and another beginning is the key to moving on…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Pace Duckenfield is a retired Major from the U.S. Army who served four overseas tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, who is co-founder and CEO of DX3 Strategists where he leverages his extensive background in military intelligence and cyber security to guide and manage the firm’s overall operations and to assist its private sector and government clients. He lives in Georgia with his wife, two daughters, and bearded dragon, El.
For Pace’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Intelligence Quotient.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Somehow, Michael Rigney always knew he wanted to work in the climate and energy space. So he studied engineering, but then wasn’t sure what the path would be. What he did know is that he wasn’t afraid of working hard or trying things. Find out how sometimes the journeys that create the most meaningful things are the long ones. Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings RowleyMusic: Brian BurrowsEmail the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When we last spoke with Kira Lawrence, more than two years ago, she was taking a sabbatical from her tenured faculty position to work within New Jersey's Division of Clean Energy at the state’s Board of Public Utilities to try to make more direct impact on the climate crisis. Her time there made her think at length about how to best leverage her time and expertise and realized that—right now—she needs to be outside academia to have a chance to making the immediate impact she seeks. What she learns now about the skills necessary in the future, will hopefully help her return to higher education down the road to develop more people into the agents of change our planet needs. This is similar to the work she is doing to back others in the public sphere facing the broader topics of community diversity and equity.
In this episode, find out from Kira how leadership is rarely about having the answers but motivating people from diverse backgrounds to take on the gnarly questions…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Kira Lawrence is currently senior policy advisor for the board of public utilities for the State of New Jersey.
For Kira’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Better Environments.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
A chance trip to the Soviet Union just before the fall had a huge impact on Erika Monahan and she entered college knowing that she wanted to learn the Russian language and travel back there. Configuring her studies around travel, she became a history major and decided to focus on the present and let the future stay out there until she was ready for it. A web of connections allowed her to revisit after college some of the places she’d gone previously. But her own desire to go deeper into the history and a little adventure put her on a path to navigate other geographies for her career and family. In this episode, find out from Erika how, while clues from the past can certainly inform the future, the present provides a necessary grounding…on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Erika Monahan is currently an associate professor in the department of history at the University of New Mexico, where she has been since 2008. Her research and teaching focus on the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and Russia from the ninth century to the present, with special emphasis on the history of the Russian empire, environmental history, commerce in this part of the world, and Russia in a larger European and global context. Her writing and scholarship have won numerous awards and she recently served as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow in Cologne, Germany.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When Brandon del Pozo first thought about the life of an academic, it seemed way too slow-paced. Like Jack Kerouak, he needed to go experience what people were doing across America. But once he'd walked that road, he realized he could spread innovation by getting beyond the local beat. After concluding his long policing career, he did go back for his PhD and had just completed it when he first spoke with Roads Taken, somewhat in academic limbo as a postdoctoral researcher.
In this episode, find out from Brandon how reflecting on what you've seen and know locally can have eventual large-scale impact …on Roads Taken Revisited with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Brandon del Pozo is currently an assistant professor of medical and health services, policy and practice at Brown University. He conducts NIH-funded research at the intersection of public health, public safety, and justice, focusing on substance use, the overdose crisis, and violence. Prior to his research career, Brandon served as a police officer for 23 years, 19 with the New York City Police Department and an additional four as Chief of Police of Burlington, Vermont, where he directed the city's interdisciplinary response to the opioid crisis, an effort associated with a substantial and sustained reduction in opioid overdose deaths. His book, The Police and the State: Security, Social Cooperation, and the Public Good, was published in 2023 by Cambridge University Press. You can find out more at brandondelpozo.com. (240)
For Brandon’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to The Philosopher Officer.
Find out how reflecting on what you've seen and know locally can have eventual large-scale impact..
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley will be returning for an all new season this summer— but don’t expect frothy beach-read material. We’re getting into the heavy stuff of the current moment—the opioid epidemic, higher education, the climate crisis and scariest of all, online dating. As in all our previous seasons, we will talk with new guests—all a quarter-century-plus after college—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. But this time, interspersed with those new voices, we will be sitting down anew with some previous guests to get an update on the paths they've trod since our last conversation. It might not all be fun and games but, in talking to these special humans, we will certainly be finding the humanity in it all.//You might want to re-listen to a few previous episodes.
Particularly handy might be the episodes withBrandon del Pozo (The Philosopher Officer),Kira Lawrence (Better Environments), andAdam Medros (Disruptive Mindset). Or visit our full archive at RoadsTakenShow.com. And be sure you've subscribed or you're following in your favorite podcast app and that your auto download feature is turned on so you don't miss any new episodes when they start dropping later in July 2024.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Welcome back to Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley. We are thrilled to be bringing you another great season of stories that remind us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits. As in all our previous seasons, in each episode we will talk to our guests—all a quarter-century-plus after college—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. Interspersed with these new voices, we will be sitting down anew with some previous guests to get an update on the paths they've trod since our last conversation. New episodes post every Monday during each active season.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When we last spoke with Doug Asano, he talked about how our notions of success were a little skewed in the early days and it took a little time—and the help of friends—to figure out what a good life really looks like. In this Roads Taken Revisited, Doug reflects—as his daughters fledge and leave him with an empty nest—on words of wisdom dispensed as he was making his own full leap into the world. Realizing how special his friendships were and taking the time to nurture them has been a lifelong process and one that continues to pay dividends.
In this episode, find out from Doug how keeping up connections and tapping in can make even the quietest moments joyful…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Doug Asano continues to serve as Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing at Roseburg Forest Products. He lives in an empty though still really fun nest in North Carolina with his wife, with room for his daughters to come in and out from time to time.
For Doug’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to our episode Redefining Success.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When Mario Barge got to college, he was thinking medicine but eventually realized his love since childhood for the outdoors was leading him to environmental law. Once at law school around others with deeper environmental roots, he found another way to serve and advocate through labor law. Initial stumbles in the law firm track pointed him to the legal and compliance side of corporate human resources. He served in a variety of HR capacities within Nationwide and had other corporate experiences before hitting it out in his own firm.
Along the way, however, he had a number of unorthodox life experiences that made helped give him the perspective that stuff is just stuff and the outward trappings of success might not really be what we’re after anyway.//In this episode, find out from Mario how paying attention and being self-aware can help us see that life is really just for living, not perfecting…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Mario Barge is Co-Founder and Principal at Geneva Executive Partners, and is an expert in human resource development, coaching and consulting having previously served in a variety of HR leadership roles for Fortune 100 companies. He spends lots of time with his family and continues to learn more about himself.
For another story about someone who hones self-awareness and helps others do likewise, listen to our episode with Jennie Tranter.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When Mal Wrenn Corbin got to college, the bucolic, peaceful campus seemed not only like a haven but a world away from the turbulence of her life in post-industrial Worcester, Massachusettes. As she set out to find success in the professional world, there was always a feeling that perhaps she hadn't tucked that history far back enough and she would be found out as who she'd been. Once she decided to face the trauma in her past, she was able to recognize that her full story was worth telling.
In this episode, find out from Mal how looking back and bridging the distance can sometimes show how far we've come…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Mal Wrenn Corbin has had a full career in the financial services industry, with experience in Fortune 500 companies, deepening client engagement and cultivating high profile client relationships, particularly with C-suite executives. Her successes there have tended to be shadowed, though, by deep seated trauma from her youth that she is finally addressing in her newly-published book Raising Wrenns: A Memoir. The book captures stories of her family’s life in post-industrial Worcester and how, unlike her brother and father whose lives were cut short there, she was able to leave and create a different life. Comparing and contrasting the Wrenn family’s behaviors with those of their avian namesake, the memoir touches on trauma and the strength it takes to fly.
Find out more at malwrenncorbin.com and be sure to get a copy of Raising Wrenns: A Memoir wherever you buy books.
For another story about someone coming to terms with who their parents could and couldn’t be for them, listen to our episode with Jackie Kim Chappel.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When we last spoke with Michelle Villalobos, in our very first month of producing this podcast, she talked about how sometimes you need to quiet the noise and listen more carefully inside to figure out who you are and where you're going. Recently, that voice from inside woke her up to a new message she couldn't shake. In this Roads Taken Revisited, Michelle talk about how that has manifested into a book that is growing its own wings but not precisely on her imagined timetable.
In this episode, find out from Michelle how letting nature take the lead can show us that everything has its season…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Michelle Villalobos helps empower people to share their gifts, grow their impact, and “monetize their magic” as she puts it. She offers courses and retreats through her Superstar Activator brand. Her newest creation is But I Want to Fly: An Adventure Book for Dreamers of All Ages. Check it out, along with all of her other wisdom and offerings at SuperstarActivator.com. (174)
For Michelle’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to our episode Superstar Activator.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Last we spoke with Joey Hood, he was between assignments with the State Department, waiting for word on where he and his family would go next. It seemed everything from his language study to early career experiences were setting him up for the ultimate big league position. In this Roads Taken Revisited, Joey talks about being nominated as U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, the confirmation process, and what he sees as the potential in growing our bilateral relationship.
In this episode, find out from Joey how taking everything as it comes can sometimes lead you to where you’re meant to be…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Joey Hood was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia by the U.S. Senate in December 2022. He served in leadership positions in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, including as Acting Assistant Secretary. He has served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq and in Kuwait, as well as Consul General and Principal Officer in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Prior to these assignments, Mr. Hood was Acting Director of the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs.
For Joey’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to The Generalist Diplomat.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When we last spoke with Keshav Puttaswamy, he told us about spending 20 years at Microsoft, finally making the break for a new venture in Australia and ultimately coming back home again. In this Roads Taken Revisited, Keshav talks about the five years that passed at Microsoft since his return from Australia and how the coincidence of 25 years at one company and his daughter’s prep for her college career jumpstarted a new venture for him.
In this episode, find out from Keshav how being open and staying in the present can provide options for the future…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Keshav Puttaswamy, a Seattle-based product manager, recently hit his 25th work anniversary at Microsoft and took it as an opportunity to take a chance on a new experience. His new chapter has begun with a leap to the Foundations team at Meta where he will weave his product management experience into something new and far-reaching. Check out the picture from his going-away party at Microsoft, complete with cupcakes with his face on them.
For Keshav’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Time Traveler.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
A very early interest in the business world, planted by his father’s explanations of his own work and nurtured by mentors in the investment industry, gave Jamie Keenan a vision for what his future might hold. He decided to seek out breadth through his history major, foreign study in France, club water polo and his fraternity. When he started to think venture capital would be his direction, he learned there is no straight path to get there. He took the advice to pursue investment banking to get both the breadth of experience it afforded and the deep industry-specific knowledge he was lacking but would need in the future. And even though his mentors instilled in him the discipline to keep an eye on the long game, his chance to realize some of his dreams came a lot earlier than he'd thought possible.
Find out from Jamie how asking for guidance and following up on good advice can help in both the short and long run…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jamie Keenan has been in the investing world nearly three decades. He is Managing Partner at Keenan Capital, which he's run since 2012. His long stint of managing portfolios for his partners and family has kept him busy but also has afforded him time to be with his extended family in the Bay Area.
For another story about someone hitting it out on their own, listen to our episode with Jessica Drolet Wadlow.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Last we spoke with Karen M. Smith Debolt she was continuing her campaign to Make Karen Great Again and yet didn’t know what might be the next chapter. The conversation actually proved to be a bit of a kickstart to get her involved in something new. In this Roads Taken Revisited, Karen talks about Humble Design, the organization that she found that gave her a new perspective on the talents and passions she has and how they can go to work for the benefit of others.//In this episode, find out from Karen how helping others feel at home can sometimes help you find your own place…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Karen M. Smith Debolt is involved with Humble Design, an organization that changes the lives of families emerging from homelessness by furnishing and decorating their bare homes with donated funds and goods from individuals, institutions, and corporate partners. Since 2009, they have transformed nearly 3,000 spaces for single mothers, children, and veterans nationally. Especially if you live in the Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, San Diego, or Seattle area, Karen invites you (or your friends and family in those towns) to check out the organization. And, since she's been feeling LinkedOut, give her a shout-out, too.
For Karen’s first appearance on Roads Taken, listen to Making Karen Great Again.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Welcome to Roads Taken and another great season of stories that remind us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits. As in all our previous seasons, we will greet new guests—all a quarter-century-plus after college—and ask them about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. (From what we've hearned thus far, where we end up is rarely what we anticipated.) Interspersed with these stories from new guests this season, we will be sitting down anew with some previous guests to get an update on the paths they've trod since our last conversation. You can find our full archive at RoadsTakenShow.com and get a new episode each Monday when you subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. Every time, our guest's story will show us what Robert Frost was trying to tell us: It doesn’t really matter which way we turn….a full life awaits, regardless of the ROADS TAKEN.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley will be returning for an all new season soon—this time with a bit of a twist. As in all our previous seasons, we will talk with new guests—all a quarter-century-plus after college—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. But this time, interspersed with those new voices, we will be sitting down anew with some previous guests to get an update on the paths they've trod since our last conversation.
You might want to re-listen to a few previous episodes.
Particularly handy might be the episodes with Karen M. Smith Debolt (Making Karen Great Again), Keshav Puttaswamy (Time Traveler), and Joey Hood (The Generalist Diplomat). Or visit our full archive at RoadsTakenShow.com. And be sure you've subscribed or you're following in your favorite podcast app and that your auto download feature is turned on so you don't miss any new episodes when they start dropping on January 1, 2024.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Sunni Chauhan and Sheryl Jacobson became friends freshman year of college, living in the same distant dorm near the river. Across the years, never living in the same city, they have maintained a close friendship that has sustained them. In this conversation, they discuss their friendship's origin story, how they have kept the relationship going over the years and what it has meant to each of them.
You can hear each one of their stories on a previous Roads Taken Episode. Sunni was featured in Episode 143 called Merging Interests and Sheryl was featured in Episode 144 called The Sometimes Lonely Road.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Coming from a family of accountants and engineers, Sheryl Jacobson didn't have any real models of what to do with a liberal arts degree. But with a love of history, culture, and story she knew she wanted an international experience after graduation. She landed a job with the boutique Monitor Group, working first in marketing and market research, just beyond her comfort zone. Her consulting life bounced her all over the world and presented her with opportunities she never could have imagined from London and Hong Kong to Istanbul and Shanghai, even as Monitor became part of Deloitte. Meeting her husband along the way and contemplating motherhood after many years, she realized she could come home and still have other adventures.
In this episode, find out from Sheryl how balancing adventure and loneliness is a dance that can work out in the end…on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Sheryl Jacobson is the lead strategy partner for one of Deloitte’s Life Sciences clients. She has spent the last 20+ years helping clients and her sole employer Deloitte tackle strategic challenges and make the most of opportunities for growth and innovation. She lives in her to-the-studs renovated Brownstone in Harlem with her husband and their son.
For another story about the ups and downs of expat life with Heather McNemar.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Although Sunni Chauhan had embraced the idea of becoming a doctor, as she knew she loved both problem solving and helping people, she thought if she was going to in medicine the rest of her life she’d take pre-med classes alongside something else that interested her. She became an economics major. At graduation, she decided to take a two-year break before jumping into med school and figured she’d be a management consultant. But if it really was going to be only two years, she realized she'd see a lot more from a deal perspective in banking where the cycles are shorter. Somehow, the two years turned into 16 and the MD her parents thought would be medical doctor turned to managing director.
Her love of mergers and acquisitions allowed her to see a lot and learn a lot over those many years. When given a chance to reinvent herself, she took those skills, found ways to acquire new ones, and landed in new spots a few times over.//In this episode, find out from Sunni how keeping open to new things can lead to unexpected joys …on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Sunni Chauhan is a strategic business leader with more than 25 years of experience advising leaders on value creation through talent, strategy, M&A and corporate finance, sustainability and stakeholder engagement. Currently she is exercising her broad skillset, gained over a wide range of professional experiences, as a consultant in the board and CEO practice at Spencer Stuart. She and her family live in London.
For another story about someone who thought they’d take a two year break and go back to the plan (and also about taking a new path after a long run) listen to our epsiode with Cameron Turner.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
As a young person, Louis Chang would make lists. Lists of long term, mid-term, and short-term goals as well as the daily tasks that he needed to do to achieve them. When he didn’t finish his daily list, he would push it to another day. One major goal was medical school right after college. But after a less than stellar grade in his intro chem class, he felt his chances at med school were over. A momentary detour afforded him the opportunity to take a range of other classes from government to German, but he actually stuck with chemistry as a major, facing the challenge head on. The breadth of experiences he had during college and his true interest for organic chemistry, however, made him question his original idea of medical school so he didn’t even take the MCATs before graduating. Instead, he worked in a chem lab at the NIH, almost pursued a PhD, and ultimately realized bench science was a little too isolating.
Unsure what was next, he tried his hand at a law firm in DC but pretty soon he knew that wasn’t the right fit either and finally applied to med school. The mix of tenacity and a willingness to try something new came in handy again when he actually did follow the to-do list toward his anticipated speciality, only to find out life had other plans.
In this episode, find out from Louis how checking out the detours can help you leave no regrets …on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Louis Chang a neurosurgical spine specialist with expertise in minimally invasive surgery for spinal disorders. He also is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
For another story about navigating the path to the medical life that feels right (this time in urology!), listen to our episode with George Huang.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
A chance selection of a freshman seminar on environmental health made Derek Shendell recognize there were entirely new ways of using his interest in science and medicine. A subsequent international experience showed him first-hand how geography and other social factors were involved. Public health had been an unknown career path to him, but rather quickly he realized it was exactly how he wanted to make an impact in the world. Getting a little bogged down by joint MD/MPH programs, he stumbled a bit at the start but got on the right track and found he could make impact with a number of different lines of work, all focusing on shining light on inequities and doing good science to help shift policies to make society healthier.
In this episode, find out from Derrek how looking beyond your own environment can sometimes help you see how you can do the most good…on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Derek Shedell is Professor and Concentration Leader for Environmental Health Sciences in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health & Justice at the Rutgers School of Public Health. He is also the Director of the New Jersey Safe Schools Program there. He is widely published and continues churning out high-impact work.
For another story about seeing the world around you and wanting to make it healthier, listen to our episode with John Peoples.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
In his younger days, when many of his contemporaries didn't really know what they wanted, David Reynolds was pretty clear on where he’d end up. And things ultimately came to pass just as he had imagined in both professional and recreational pursuits. He parlayed his engineering degrees into roles in technology and manufacturing and honed his leadership skills in business school. Spending twenty years in the same company afforded him the opportunity to flex those skills and build a broad toolkit. But now, with some years behind him, he is wondering about the opportunity costs of staying in one spot.
In this episode, find out from David how sticking with things for a while can both help you get better and leave you guessing about alternatives …on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
David Reynolds has a wide variety of experiences and a deep skill set in technology manufacturing management. He has spent more than two decades with Cabot Corporation in the greater Boston area, where he lives with his family. He is still into competitive sailing and on and off the water wants to keep getting better at things while always looking to what's on the horizon.
For another story about balancing stability and change, listen to our episode with Keshav Puttaswamy.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
With an inclination toward making things, Ben Mitchell was drawn to an engineering path until differential equations came along. The promise of being able to get his hands dirty with tools right away made the computer science major more appealing. The burgeoning tech world seemed the natural fit after graduation and an MBA gave him the management skills to complement his coding ones so that he could flex in product management roles. Luckily the ebbs and flows of the tech industry gave him opportunities to get his hands dirty in not only a variety of companies but also outside pursuits.
In this episode, find out from Ben how keeping the maker spirit alive outside the day job can sustain you in important ways …on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Ben Mitchell has had a bunch of experiences in the online world, including product management, service delivery, and privacy in such settings as PayPal, Cisco, and Facebook. He's also gotten into lobster diving, has built a boat with his dad, and continues to build large scale mechanical contraptions for theatrical shows all in his non-working hours.
And, as promised, here's a picture of Ben with a really big lobster.
For another story about working to live, listen to our episode with (Ben’s fellow Zete) Zack Stein.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Believing that her future was in the ministry, Kristen Carlone Hurley saw a future in divinity school with a husband and kids somewhere in the Northeast. When her parents blindsided her with the news of their divorce in just before her junior year and she was going through relationship issues of her own, her faith was shaken. She dealt with a period of depression and first put the divinity school on hold until she realized she needed another path. After regrouping, she took opportunities as they came, no matter how divergent from the original ideal. Ultimately where she landed diverged quite a bit.
In this episode, find out from Kristen how sometimes exercising faith means knowing you'll find something good where it is, not necessarily where you thought it would be…on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Kristen Carlone Hurley followed opportunities as they came about, ultimately finding herself in the financial sector. She lives in Florida with her husband, enjoying the sunshine and living her bliss.
For another story about faith taking you to unexpected places, listen to our episode with Michelle Erickson Waters.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When Ilana Davidi Reeves walked into the computer science placement test at the start of college and she was the only woman, she walked out and found a new major. But tech-related internships at ESPN and an early internet company kept her interest piqued and on the second day of her first consulting job out of college, she found herself in their Java lab and kept programming and technology front and center in her career.
Seemingly against the odds, she exceled in software engineering as one of the only women in the field. She had to deal not only with the volatility of the industry but also the discrimination there during the 2009 recession and later when she needed to juggle it all with motherhood. The struggles and the support she found from her network at that time, however, would prove to be beneficial when she found the odds stacked against her in other ways in her personal life later on.
In this episode, find out from Ilana how sticking through the hard things can set you up for success and a sense of gratitude later…on today's Roads Taken, with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Ilana Davidi Reeves is a software engineering and architecture leader with 25 years of experiences across diverse industries, who currently serves as Engineering Lead, Fulfillment at Square. She has managed, mentored, and directed local, off-shore, and near-shore teams including the new wave of women in the space. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and their two boys. (252)
For another story about being an outlier in your industry and leading through it, listen to our episode with Tim Chow.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Having decided on a life of public service, Kristina Marty pursued public administration immediately after graduating college—first in a masters of public administration program and then in various practitioner roles, mostly focused on health and human services agencies. After these work experiences, which included a little research, she decided to go back for her PhD and looked at public administration from the academic side. Starting in a tenure track position and a newborn and felt the crush of trying to do it all but somehow she kept things together. At a certain point, however, she learned that all was not as it seemed and the marriage that she was relying on dissolved.
The lessons she learned from dealing with this unexpected and unwelcome wrench in the plans taught her a lot about what to do when your first choice outcome is no longer in the set of realistic options. And when health became something more than academic for her, she relied on the lessons learned with her earlier dose of adversity.
In this episode, find out from Kristina how learning what you can and can't control can ultimately guide you to a little serenity and gratitude.
About This Episode’s Guest
Kristina Marty is a mother and cancer survivor Kristina Marty who also currently serves as Senior Associate Dean in the College of Community and Public Affairs, and Professor of Public Administration at Binghamton University. As she suggested, if you have young people in your life, learn more about the HPV vaccine at cdc.gov/hpv and encourage them to get the vaccine, if eligible.
For another story about learning fundamental lessons from adversity, listen to our episode with Doug Asano.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
We wanted to provide quick update about a previous set of episodes. Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla was kind enough to share the story of her husband and son's struggles with Huntington's Disease. In March of this year, her son August Gianpiero King Chinchilla passed away. In just one week, on what would be Auggie's birthday, Nakiah will be holding the celebration of life that Auggie helped planned. As Nakiah says: "While it took many iterations over the years, he never went too far from his original beach party idea. He wanted a party at the Santa Monica Pier and for his friends to ride the rides all day and eat cotton candy. And so that’s what we are going to do!!" Find out more about Auggiepalooza on Facebook or GoFundMe, keep Nakiah and Auggie in your thoughts next Friday, August 4, and be sure to hug those you love.
Throughout her career, Jamie Hansen would often find herself at a juncture where a leap was necessary. She first needed to navigate a start in the start-up world on the wrong coast and then got to the Bay Area just before the dotcom bust. She then needed to navigate her way from web development roles to solutions engineering to find more stability. But the stability afforded by a big company didn’t fit with her personality and so she took another leap into food entrepreneurship.
Along the way, where some people would see high risk, she just saw something to navigate through. Eventually, that outlook prepared her for what she'd face in her personal life, too.
In this episode, find out how from Jamie how defining risk is all in the eye of the beholder…on today's Roads Taken, with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jamie Hansenan experienced solutions leader currently working to help a startup in the procurement space, Zip, move to the next level. She has worked at companies companies large—including Salesforce—and small—including her own wholesale bakery business. She lives in the San Diego area with her twin girls, living it up by the water and basking in the sunshine.
For another story about leaping across careers with baked goods and family in the middle, listen to our episode with Chesley Homan Flotten.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Always with a medical future in sight, George Huang figured he would be a pediatrician just like his father. But when he got to med school and saw what surgery looked like, he changed his plans even as his father worried about the kind of work life balance that he might have in the surgical world. He ultimately found his niche performing surgeries on urologic cancers and progressed in a successful academic medical career.
Not necessarily due to the speciality, but the rather the environment in which he practiced, he did start to question whether the balance was right in his life. At just the right time, he learned about a place that might suit him better. But again, outside voices questioned his desire to go in the new direction.
In this episode, find out from George how realizing what will make you truly happy sometimes requires quieting the voices around you…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
George Huang is a urologist at Kaiser Permanente at Redwood City Medical Center, a physician and surgeon who treats diseases and conditions of the genito-urinary system. He sub-specializes in the treatment of genito-urinary cancers and treasures the patient-doctor relationship he now has in his community practice. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.
For another story about listening to others and finding your way in medicine, listen to our episode with Woojin Kim.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Local to the area where he’d eventually go to college, Marc-François Bradley felt it was a happy accident to land there and benefit from good experiences with hockey, friends, education and the opportunity to kindle a relationship with the woman who would eventually become his wife. But like the spirit of accepting what will come for college, he didn’t launch into a career with a particularly pathway in mind. Instead, he said he set a few guardrails based on the guiding principles of seeking to make a difference and expecting good outcomes. He parlayed his computer science skills into various technology opportunities but when his first child was born very early and needed extensive care, a new path took shape, guided by his guardrails and new priorities.
In this episode, find out from Mark how setting your guardrails sometimes provides all the structure you need…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Marc-François Bradley is a digital healthcare strategist and manager with extensive experience in innovation, information technology, and development of strategic corporate relationships. For the last decade, he has been founder and CEO of Sophrona, an online patient-physician communication technology and SaaS solution for ophthalmology. He lives with his family in Idaho, racing his bike and appreciating all he has done and will do.
For another story about grounding decisions in values, listen to our episode with Jennie Tranter.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Almost defying her own expectations, Eva Sheibar Heyman navigated a fast-track trajectory as a high-powered career woman with relative ease. She had started out on a marketing track in a company that embraced the digital wave just before it crested and so she developed exertise not only in content but management. After a long initial run at that company and the grounding of business school, she found C-suite roles in a number of organizations.
And while she appreciated her achievements and lifestyle on a cerebral level, it took the covid pandemic and attendant lockdowns with family to help her recognize how much more joy she could cultivate by slowing down and being present.
In this episode, find out from Eva how sometimes it takes settling into the experience to find the joy… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Eva Sheibar Heyman is a seasoned marketing and communications executive who has held C-suite roles in a diversity of industries, most recently as Chief Brand Officer and Global Head of Commercial Operations and Marketing Services, Bloomberg Media, and Marketing and Communications Executive at Civic Entertainment Group. When not in a board room, she can be found in the middle of a comfy sofa in New York, intertwined with her husband and their three children.
For another story about finding joy through being present, listen to our episode with Karen M. Smith DeBolt.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Although generally a good student, Eric Jensen wasn't particularly driven to excel in the classroom. Slightly more interested in keeping track of his favorite jam bands than his studies, he ditched a science track for an English major. Upon graduation, he still found a way to meld his longstanding interest in science with his English degree, ultimately ending up in advertising for the bio pharmaceutical world. When the time came to try pivoting, he went to business school. Yet when given the chance to choose something new, he stuck with the industry and through a stroke of fate ended up on the track to stay with the same company for nearly two decades. Only when the groove started feeling repetitive did he look elsewhere, finding a new way to amp up the impact.
In this episode, find out from Eric how letting yourself get in the groove can often keep the jam going.… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Eric Jensen currently serves as Vice President, Head of Clinic Channel at Grail, where his team detects cancer early when it can best be treated and cured. Prior to his current role, he spent nearly two decades in a variety of positions at biotechnology giant Amgen. He lives with his family in the Columbus, Ohio area.
For another story about finding impact through early-stage therapies, listen to our episode with Drew Natenshon.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Since he didn't have a solid idea of where or how he would make a career in biology, Stephen Haddadveered away from science in the early part of his career. He started out in management consulting and was happy to get a broad view of how business works, but the siren call of science made him take a smattering of research positions before realizing that he needed to go back to school for more specialized training in genetics and epidemiology.
As it turned out, not getting into a scientific role earlier was a good thing as the field that ultimately was a match for his interests and his skills didn't even exist until more than a decade after graduation. And in the end, it turned out that moving more slowly and methodically in the personal realm was as advantageous as in the professional one.
In this episode, find out from Steve how proceeding slow and steady is required not only for winning the race but sometimes even getting to the starting line… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Stephen Haddad is an expert in applied human genetics with degrees in epidemiology from Harvard and Boston University. He is currently a scientific investigator at GlaxoSmithKline. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and young daughter.
For another story about the letting the path open to you slowly, listen to our episode with Jennie Tranter.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
As a kid, Amy Harman Burkart wanted to be a lawyer like you see on tv with the courtroom lawyering and criminal procedure. After law school, she honed in on being a federal prosecutor and set herself up to be in the right place at the right time. Timing, though, is a funny thing. When her husband wanted to go to business school she decided it would be good to try to expand their family so was an adjunct law professor when she became a mother. Then just as she was ready for the role in Boston, there was a hiring freeze and no openings meant she needed an alternate plan.
In this episode, find out from Amy how staying true to yourself can sometimes steer you to the original dream after all … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Amy Harman Burkart is a litigation specialist who has been associated with many esteemed law firms and has had a variety of experiences in the law. Her dreams of serving as a federal prosecutor came true when she served as an Assistant United States Attorney for nearly a decade and was the Chief of the Cybercrime Unit. She is currently a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She lives with her husband and kids in the Boston area and is always up for a fun time. So call her if the need for a costume box should arise.
For another story about hanging on until the timing is right, listen to our episode with Elizabeth Manheim.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Entering college, Laura Bright was drawn to both French and math, two subjects she exceled in in high school. French remained something that came easily and she took for fun. But the math she took in college didn’t look like high school math and she wondered if that was the right path. As the department was combined with computer science, she took the advice of a female researcher and tried her hand at computer science.//She was drawn the more technical sides of her field but never considered herself a programmer. She thought she wanted to teach and make computer science come alive for other learners so pursued the PhD. She realized, though, that she wanted more hands on opportunities. Going into industry, she did more applied work and ultimately made a discovery about herself.
In this episode, find out from Laura how taking the opportunity just outside your comfort zone often leads to insights about who you are… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Laura Bright is a software engineer who has spent time in academia and industry and who currently serves as a Senior Software Engineer at Finastra, a fintech company based in Portland, Oregon.
For another story about graduate school leading to personal insights, listen to our episode with Oliver Will.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
In college, Nathan Paine exhibited an unbridled free spirit—playing Hacky sack, riding a motorcycle, and letting his long hair flow like his multi-colored graduation robes. His love of languages and cultures—inspired by living in France in high school and taking language study in Brazil in undergraduate days—took him to Japan to teach English for a year. That turned into nearly two decades in Japan with a number of international adventures and left him with a resume that reads decidedly more corporate than one could have imagined. Despite the professional path, he has maintained his free spirit, though, by continuing to not take himself seriously and to treat both himself and others with compassion. Even an unanticipated diagnosis during COVID and his move back home to Boston allowed him to a look a little more deeply and realize he's always been the same person.
In this episode, find out from Nathan how the external trappings of this life are just a cover to the true essence of being that's inside.… on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Nathan Paine is Senior Vice President, Client Relations at Prologis, where he's worked for nearly two decades across continents and multiple time zones. He is also into impact investing and making the most of life with his wife and two kids in Boston.
For another story about international living, listen to our episode with Shuhei Sekiguchi.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Going into college, Heather Morein French thought that success meant pursuing either business, law, or medicine as those would provide the kind of stability her childhood hadn’t afforded her. She had an interest in science and though the classes she experienced were quite challenging, she knew the humanities courses with reading heavy curricula would be even more intimidating, given her dyslexia diagnosis. She made it through with an eye toward a career in medicine, though wasn’t so sure about it at graduation. She took some lab jobs and tutored MCAT prep to make sure it was the path for her. She tied herself to a primary care route to avail herself of a tuition break but realized that it didn’t make sense for the long term and she needed to turn to an external support system.
In this episode, find out from Heather how friends and family often end up providing the most stability...on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Heather Morein French, MD is the Neonatology Fellowship Program Director, Assistant Director of the Neonatal Education Simulation Training Program, and an attending neonatologist with the Division of Neonatology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania. She lives in the greater Philadelphia area with fellow Dartmouth ’96 husband Charley French and their two kids.
For more stories about approaches to pediatric medicine, listen to our episode with Mary Romano, John Peoples, Kristen Calcagni Johnson, and Blair Seidler Hammond.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
With visions of a biology PhD dashed in a senior lab experiment gone way wrong, Andrew Obenshain envisioned a business career that would ultimately land him as CEO of a biotech firm. The industry being in its nascent days, there weren’t many avenues there, but he found his way into a biotech consulting firm and later a biotech venture capital firm. Realizing if he wanted to be a CEO he’d need to know what CEO’s do and realized they all had on-the-ground operations experience within a company. So to even get a foot in the door, he had to take some odd-looking sidesteps including taking a post business school job as a sales guy which he then parlayed to some other opportunities.
His highly successful type A wife, who had her own career. And while paving the way for many of the family’s moves, she made it possible for them to live out a dream to move with their kids to Paris. A period full of exploration and fun, however, was upended by a set of unexpected diagnoses.
In this episode, find out from Andrew how finding joy can be possible even in the hardest times … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Andrew Obenshain is CEO of Bluebird Bio, a biotech company focused on advancing therapies for rare diseases. He lives with his three kids in a suburb of Boston and is surrounded by the love of family and friends, present and past, at all times. (250)
For another story about finding joy in parenthood and community despite loss, listen to our Christy Hansel Lohof.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
When Jackie Kim Chappel left Hawaii for college in the east, she was leaving more than the island lifestyle behind. For her own mental wellbeing, she severed ties from her tiger mother and started exploring all the different ways she could be in the world. She was happy reading and writing and researching and started a career in marketing. The New York life wasn’t hitting all the marks and her eventual husband moved back to Hawaii, so she found a job in media planning and research back home. Once there, she eventually decided to reach out to her mother again but found that what she’d chalked up to their personal differences actually went much deeper. Her mother’s mental health diagnoses changed not only her perspective but the way that she would navigtate her own life.
In this episode, find out from Jackie how recognizing who someone can and can't be for you can help bring clarity to who you are and what your purpose is … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jacquelyn Kim Chappel is a writer, teacher, and researcher who lives in Honolulu. She earned her Master’s in Literary studies and PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and now teaches Composition and Developmental English at Kapiolani Community College. Jackie also serves as a supervisor for teacher candidates at Leeward Community College and is active in many other support and advocacy organizations. And, of course, she is still in formation.
For another story about how revelations about our parents can affect our own adulthoods, listen to our episode with Jonathon Stewart.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
New Hampshire native Jessica Drolet Wadlow felt college was home away from home being so close. She got involved in many things and was an economic major who went directly into the corporate world mostly out of interest but also because she had some loans to pay off. She landed in a management rotation program at JP Morgan and then went to business school. She switched careers into brand management and found herself at Johnson & Johnson where she stayed for many years.
Needing to make a physical move for family reasons, she asked for a telecommuting situation long before that was en vogue and when it meant days spent on no-video conference calls. When she realized she needed another kind of move with the company to accommodate a growing family, she knew what she needed to do.
In this episode, find out from Jessica how sometimes the only way to get what you need is to ask for it.
About This Episode’s Guest
Innovation and marketing strategist Jessica Drolet Wadlow is founder and president of J. Wadlow Consulting. For the past fifteen years, she has been an independent consultant working with large firms such as Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey, and Walgreens, as well as start-ups in need of accelerating growth via new business ventures and new business models.
For another story about forging your own path to make life work for you, listen to our episode with Shakari Cameron Byerly.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
After high school, guest Michael Anderson was wrestling whether he wanted to arrive at college as a Michael or Mike. It became a moot point after his Boy Scout qualities were immortalized a nickname given to him in orientation: Ranger. Known thusly ever since, Ranger soaked up the experiences of college and yet didn't leave with a clear path in mind. Early jobs in Boston were of the "work to live" sort, providing him enough structure and income to allow him to concentrate being in the moment with friends, a marker of achievement at the time. Recognizing he wasn't enjoying his work, he decided to pack it in for home in Chicago and press reset. After some soul searching he realized he was interested in urban planning and public policy and went back to graduate school.
An early position in municipal planning led him to understand that many of the ways his hands were tied at the local level came from decisions made at the federal level. So he headed to Washington and landed in the Department of Commerce, where he would ultimately spend his career in various analyst and budget director roles. When he realized that the pendulum of achievement had shifted too far to the career and too far from other markers of a well-lived life, he decided he needed to refocus once more. Making some major adjustments later in life, he found what achievement looks like changes as life experiences and circumstances change as well.
In this episode find out from Ranger how the desire to make a difference can remain strong even as the scope changes from the wider world to the world within your own four walls.
About This Episode’s Guest
Former Boy Scout Michael 'Ranger' Anderson has a master's degree in urban planning and public policy. He is a long-time budget director within the U.S. Department of Commerce, currently working within the International Trade Administration. He lives in Fairfax County with his wife and pandemic baby. Luckily, Ranger has the balance necessary to be there for them.
For another story about discerning a truer source of personal achievement, listen to our episode with John Strayer.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Amy McLean Sprole grew up in Kansas and knew two things when she was graduating high school: She wanted to go into medicine and she wanted to spread her wings outside the midwest. She immediatly dove into the pre-med track and was so focused that she was able to do all of those requirements and still make time for international study abroad opportunities, including an art history experience in Italy. She thinks that out-of-the-ordinary adventure made her stand out in med school applications and may have been a reason for her acceptance to Cornell.
She entered into med school thinking that she would pursue surgery without being able to articulate why, except that it seemed the hardest thing to do, a pattern she realizes she had had throughout life. She had to consciously set out to choose instead what she liked. She found plastic surgery and fell in love.After 10 years of training in New York, she found just the right mix of surgery and enterpreneurship that she'd been looking for, but it sprang up where she least expected it.
In this epsiode, find out from Amy how, when looking for where you belong, sometimes there really is no place like home...…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Amy McLean Sprole is a board certified plastic surgeon, trained in both aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. Having returned to her native Wichita, she is now one of the only female plastic surgeons in the area. In addition to her clinical work, she is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Wichita. You can find out more about her practice at pscwichita.com.
For another story about an unexpected homecoming, listen to our episode with Jenny Land MacKenzie.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Welcome back to Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley. We are thrilled to be bringing you another great season of stories that remind us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits. As in all our previous seasons, in each episode we will talk to our guests—all a quarter-century-plus after college—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d become, and how they’ve traveled down various roads to get where they are today. This season, we will be talking about sizing up achievement, finding home, experiencing loss, and picking yourself up again.
You can find our full archive (which used to be three really long seasons but we recently renumbered them into shorter seasons to make the sifting through a little easier) at RoadsTakenShow.Com and get a new episode each Monday when you subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, Roads Taken listeners. The show will returning for another season on Monday, April 17. We have spent our hiatus going to bed at a reasonable hour on Sunday nights and lining up a slew of great guests for you. So you have only a couple more weeks of waiting to hear their journeys. (Listen to find out how we went from season 3 to season 8!) Just make sure you have subscribed or you're following in your favorite podcast app and that your auto download feature is turned on so you don't miss any new episodes when they start dropping on April 17 with all new guests and Leslie Jennings Rowley on Roads Taken.
After a successful Season 3, which hosted our 120th guest, Roads Taken will take another brief hiatus. During the break, revisit the rich archive of past episodes at RoadsTakenShow.com and also nominate yourself or another storyteller to be on the show. We will do some interviews this winter and come back in the spring with a new slew of stories for Season 4.
Guest Peter Jastreboff had considered a variety of paths to travel at college, from politics to medicine. When he actually started, his interests remained varied, diverging from those early thoughts and staying seemingly scattered. He ended up melding computer science and psychology into a major to better understand neural networks and minoring in religion. Put those pursuits together with his extensive time at the college radio station and it’s clear that at the core of his interests lies a fascination with the nature of human interaction.
Ultimately, after college, he found himself where technology and finance interact—first creating his own company with a college classmate and then taking on a number of technology management roles at financial firms large and small. Over time, though, he learned that it was the human side of the business that appealed as much as the technology.
In this episode, find out from Pete how searching for a sense of belonging and listening to the nuances of culture can sometimes be the key to everything…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Peter Jasterboff is a global technology leader who has spent a career in the finance industry. He is currently VP of Client Services at Talos, helping provide institutional-grade technology infrastructure for digital assets trading. Though he's been in all the world's financial centers, he’s recently moved with his wife and children to London.
For another story about moving around the world and finding the core meaning in what you’re doing beyond the industry, listen to our episode with Shuhei Sekiguchi.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Going along with the flow was the natural way for Jack Kolodny. He tended to stick with what he knew--particularly those things where there were cut-and-dried, right-and-wrong answers but he also followed his interests and things that other nice people were interested in and cultivated an interesting life in college. Upon leaving, he didn't change course so much, hearing from a friend that management consulting was fun and following nice people to a good firm. He characterizes this approach as being a leaf in a stream
But at some point, around the time of attending business school, he realized that the people that were paddling all around him might be on to something and he started paying attention to how his skills and values pointed him on the right course. He wanted more skin in the game so worked at a hedge fund helping the newly acquired businesses run. Eventually he wanted even more of. say in the values that would underlie the decision-making so co-founded his own firm. He finally shifted from being a leaf in the stream to paddling his own course.
In this episode, find out from Jack how getting the right people in the boat with you can make all the difference…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jack Kolodny is Managing Partner at Auxo Investment Partners, an operationally-focused private investment firm that specializes in investing in and growing founder- and family-owned industrial, manufacturing and business-services companies. He lives in one of the L.A. area canyons, growing wine grapes on his back slope. He's accompanied on his life's boat by his wife and their three children—one who envisions paddling toward far off oceans, one already blowing up Instagram with his fashion designs, and one who will figure it out in time.
For another story about centering other people in our lives, listen to our episode with Jonathon Stewart.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Ben Brainard had cared for only a goldfish before getting to college but he somehow had the idea of becoming a veterinarian. He thinks it might have been on account of reading James Harriot’s tales of days spent bucolically going from farm to farm treating animals of all sizes. But even after doing the pre-med track and shadowing vets in Vermont he still didn’t have the full picture of what a diary animal doctor did. In vet school he discovered much of the reality of that work was caring for the farm rather than the individual animals and he realized he needed to switch gears. Going into critical care for people’s pets, he got to exercise his interests in both problem solving on the fly and communicating with people. Along the way he needed to negotiate with the person closest to him and ultimately decide on caring for his own.
In this episode, find out from Ben how figuring out who we want to care for is often a path to contentment…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Ben Brainard is currently Edward H. Gunst Professor of Small Animal Critical Care at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, where he is also director of clinical research. He is an expert in fish anesthesia, coagulation, and--as we heard earlier--dealing with primates of all sorts through the Great Ape Heart Project. Ben and his wife are raising their inquisitive daughter in Athens, Georgia. And though he seems to have put his basement band dreams to rest with Vegetative Propagation, he thankfully still wears bow ties.
For another story centered on caring for creatures great and small (and even our own), listen to ourepisode with Liz Rawson.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Shilyh Warren was comfortable in college having uncomfortable conversations about inequality and gender and felt herself to be a bit of a ramble-rouser. She wasn’t exactly sure what her path would be like but she wanted to emulate the activists who went out and made a difference in the world dismantling systems. Her first job after college was doing political organizing, where she realized how hard that work was and the pace of change didn’t meet her expectations. After investigating a few more options, she decided to join a boyfriend’s dream to travel and work in South America. A twist in that story that made her take a look at what her own dreams held, led her to a few different kinds of adventure. Ultimately the cultural pieces that she was learning on the road intersected with the life of the mind she’d loved cultivating in the classroom.
In this episode, find out from Shilyh out how casting a critical eye and reflecting deeply can manifest in different kinds of activism…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Shilyh Warren is currently at the University of Texas, Dallas where she is Associate Professor of Visual and Performing Arts & Film Studies as well as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. Her research takes up debates in film history, feminist theory, documentary studies, and film theory. She and her writing, including her award-winning piece "Revolution is Another Climax," can be found @shelikeswhat on Twitter (if that's still a thing.)
For another story centered on finding an outlet for gender-related activism in the arts and the academy, listen to ourepisode with Erika Meitner.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Chris McGee loved science--even lab work--but it was really the story behind the science that captivated him. He thought that probably meant being in the biotechnology industry, but wasn't exactly sure how that would manifest in his life right after college. In an early attempt, he realized he was too far removed from the impact of the work. At the next company, he was getting closer to the actual work, but it wasn't the kind of work I wanted to be doing. At that point, the suggestion from a friend to pack it up and take an adventure to Nepal provided the welcome break he needed. He extended his adventuring with another friend but finally decided to move across the country for both professional and professional reasons.
In this episode, find out from Chris out how momentarily getting off the path you’re on—even the right one—sometimes lets you travel it more wisely…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Chris McGee currently serves Portfolio and Project Management Team Leader at Pfizer, where he has worked in various capacities since 2006. While dodging potentially ill-advised adventure offers from friends, he has his own adventures with his wife and two children in Brooklyn. (207)
For another story centered on pharmaceutical development, listen to ourepisode with Drew Natenshon.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Christopher Kelly spent many a night during his college career in a film screening, honing a knowledge and love of cinema. But even more than his abiding love of film was his passion for writing about it and reflecting on culture more broadly. It wasn’t immediately obvious, however, how to make a life’s work of that. After a few placements at magazines and a freelance career that could keep ends meet, he applied on a whim to an open film critic position at a newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas, and he got it. That remained the dream job for a few years and then he was ready for new opportunities, just as the two worlds on which his career was built—the film industry and print journalism—were undergoing complete transformation.
In this episode,find out from Chris how staying attuned to the tastes of the audience and being open to change can help you navigate the critical junctures…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Christopher Kelly is Vice President of Content of NJ Advance Media, overseeing all content for NJ.com and the Newark Star-Ledger. He is also a novelist, who won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Debut Fiction in 2008 for his combination “coming-of-age and revenge story” A Push and a Shove. His second novel, The Pink Bus, was published in 2016, just before he found other ways to spend his free time with his husband and two kids.
For another story featuring a writer about culture and film, listen to ourepisode with Suzanne Leonard.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Blair Seidler Hammond navigated her freshman year of college knowing that her mother was sick with cancer. Her mother died at the end of that year and when Blair returned after the summer break, she was still trying to process and understand what the purpose of life was. Feeling the answer was to live into every moment, she prioritized daily joys such as painting and sailing. Realizing her fatalism might be a little outsized, she started reevaluating what a well-lived life was, and was determined to final a vocation that felt full of purpose. The problem was, even though everyone was telling her she should be a doctor, she couldn’t stand the sight of blood. Eventually, she let her love of science manifest it in teaching and research but finally felt the pull back to the classroom and entered med school. When she found pediatrics, she realized she could live out the purpose-driven life imagined after all.
In this episode, find out from Blair how leaning into joy and relationships can actually be the same thing as finding meaning…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Blair Seidler Hammond is a board certified pediatrician at the Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice where she founded the General Pediatrics Faculty Practice. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai, where she has received their Excellence in Teaching Award. Along with classmate Aliza Pressman, Blair is Co-Founding Director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center, where she also serves as Director of Medical Education, helping to transform the way pediatric healthcare is delivered by maximizing opportunities to promote strong parent-child relationships and early childhood development within everyday healthcare interactions. She applies her work at home, too—living and parenting as she does with her husband and classmate Scott Hammond and their three children—in Westchester, New York.
For another story featuring the Mount Sinai Parenting Center that Blair discussed founding, listen to ourepisode with Aliza Pressman, the program’s co-founder.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Heather McNemar experienced a taste of world travel while in high school, when her father took a sabbatical and the family visited many spots, including Siberia for a slightly extended stay. Heather was drawn to the language and the culture and knew she would study both in college. Later, as she was making her way into the world, she didn’t know exactly how she would use her skills but knew she wanted to help people. She got a job helping newly settled immigrants to the U.S. get jobs and realized that good language skills were key to their success. She began taking classes to teach English as a Second Language and landed a spot as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan. While there, she met the man who would become her husband, also a Peace Corps volunteer but had his sights set on diplomatic work with the U.S. Department of State.
In this episode, find out from Heather how finding your way in a new place can also help others do likewise…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Heather McNemar is a former Peace Corps volunteer who has gone round this girdled earth a number of times with her family as her husbnad has been posted with the U.S. State Department. Her fluency in Russian and her expertise in helping others find their footing in new places and new careers has been helpful in many of her posts. She is currently in the middle of a stint in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and continues running, finding that it is often a great way to get to know a new place.
For another story about the peripatetic life that comes with a State Department gig, listen to our episode with Joey Hood.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Kristen Calcagni Johnson pinned her early thoughts of being a doctor on her ability to stay calm when everyone else was stressing out. But even more core to her personality is her drive to experience many things, find joy in varied activities, and live into many facets of her identity and a balanced life. Since she was choosing colleges to today, she has always known that—while she takes her work and her activities seriously—she is willing to accept a little imperfection if it means that she will have more room in her life for different experiences and time for loved ones. She even finds it imperative to find room in her life to engage in activities she “is bad at”—like tennis—to balance out a work environment in pediatrics that demands more precision.
In this episode, find out from Kristen how making space for being good at things and bad at things can help you bring a whole person approach to care-giving…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Kristen Calcagni Johnson, as a friend once described her, is a woodworker, she sews clothes, she’s a big reader, she speaks Italian, by, the way, she’s a pediatrician. She practices with Core Physicians, affiliated with Exeter Hospital, in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region. She lives with her husband and two children there, where she was awarded the 2021 Exeter Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, chiefly for her work on the front line of the pandemic, as a critical partner to the community and school district on health and safety issues. Had there been a furniture- or shed-building category, we are sure she would have come out on top of that one, too.
For another story about making sure you make time for multiple activities, even ones in which you’re less than talented, listen to our episode with Stephanie Argamaso.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Jenny Land Mackenzie grew up in Vermont and figured she would likely return there one day. However, her college career—filled as it was with all sort of creative explorations and outdoor adventures—set her up to delve into one passion only to have it lead her to another passion. This began when her interest in the history of clothing led her to an internship at a museum led by a mentor who would ultimately spark a passion for organic farming. The love of the land led her to other gardening adventures which led her to teaching adventures. Teaching led to a break for her own schooling, which led to more teaching and the development of a family life. Passion for her family ultimately led her to create the type of teaching and writing career that fills her soul.//In this episode, find out from Jenny how planting seeds for tomorrow’s bounty can sometimes nurture your own sense of place…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest//Jenny Land Mackenzie lives in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom with her husband—with whom she teaches at St. Johnsbury Academy—and their twins. Along with having a soft spot for organic farming, hiking, singing and the history of fashion, Jenny enjoys the process of writing in all genres. She is the author of The Spare Room, a historical novel for middle grade readers, as well as the non-fiction volume Teaching Rules! 52 Ways to Achieve Teaching Success. In 2015, Jenny was the grand-prize winner for that year’s Reader’s Digest Poetry Contest for her poem “After the Death of Their Child,” inspired by the infamous Lindberg baby. The following year, she won another top honor, as her poem “Morning E.R.” was selected by the Telegraph newspaper as the winning entry in the poetry contest to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday.
Read Jenny’s award-winning poem, “Morning E.R.” about Queen Elizabeth II.
And to see examples of the homemade Halloween costumes Jenny mentioned, see this year's dragon and gnome.
For another story about being called to one thing and following another to find your way home, listen to our episode with Michelle Erickson Waters.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Amel Ahmed ventured to college from an urban immigrant community and she spent much of her college career trying to figure out what was happening—academically, socially, culturally. She realized that she found comfort in embedding herself in the liminal spaces and really probing them, using the eye of an astute ethnographer and sleuthing historian. By the time she was ready to leave her undergraduate experience, she had a laser focus on continuing to study the Middle East and how ideals and systems of democracy could be spread there.
In her first semester of grad school, however, a professor made a comment about the very notion of democracy that took her right back to asking what was happening and how that informs the way you approach the ideas that are at your core.
In this episode, find out from Amel how asking the fundamental question of “what are we really doing here” is often the only way to know where we are headed…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Amel Ahmed is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She specializes in democratic studies—approaching the work from historical and comparative perspectives, focusing on both Europe and the United States. She is particularly interested in elections, voting systems, legislative politics, party development, and voting rights.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Luke Brown had a long-standing desire to become a professor. Though both English and physics seemed plausible at one point, he was pulled into the study of history through a classics course. His senior year of college, he thought he had it all figured out: he got engaged to his college girlfriend and he was applying to graduate school. He ended up getting married, but he also got rejected from every history graduate program to which he had applied. He got back on track a year later, but ultimately let go of the PhD he'd thought he'd been destined for.
In pulling away from the program and academic life completely, he found himself in an identity crisis. He landed jobs that were enjoyable, but in a different field and not quite what he had in mind for himself. Of course, when he reflects on things—especially his wife of more than 25 years and three children—he recognizes that life isn’t all about one’s career.
In this episode, find out from Luke how adjusting your expectations and giving yourself grace to find a new identity can take a bit of time …on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Luke Brown continues to hone an eclectic set of interests and currently lends his talents to help organizations use technology to operate more effectively. While he's continuing to figure out who he'll be when he grows up, he is working on putting his three kids on paths of their own. He lives with them and his wife in Minneapolis. (258)
For another story about career expectations being mismatched with reality, listen to our episode with John Strayer.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest John Peoples had never considered himself a science person, let alone one to follow the pre-med track. He had only a sense that he was independent and wanted to help people. After an off-term spent caring for his ailing grandfather and hearing his grandmother's stories about caregivers in their family, he began to reconsider a career in medicine. He returned to school and fleshed out his history major with pre-med requirements. With not quite enough time to finish and take the MCAT before graduation, he enrolled in a post-baccalaureate pre-med program in New York.
Not sure he wanted to commit to the long hours of the medical school and ultimate doctor life right away, he found a way to use both his growing medical interests and his Spanish language in a clinic in California. Ultimately, he set off to med school, perhaps later than most. And he found ways to incorporate his desire to work more directly with individuals, families, and communities in need of care.
In this episode, find out from John how listening to people’s stories and coming to understand people's needs can sometimes lead to your calling…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
John Peoples is a bi-lingual board certified pediatrician who practices at Central Oregon Pediatric Associates in Bend, Oregon. When he is not working with families to build a strong foundation for children’s educational, developmental, and mental health needs, he is likely off hiking with his wife, son, and crazy dogs.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Patricia Herrera was on the premed path, happily thinking of herself as a STEM person. A chance encounter with Latinx theater in a freshman seminar led her to take to the stage and realized she loved it. She infused her science studies with healthy doses of theater opportunities but always thought of those pursuits as a hobby. After a term-long immersion experience with peers who were thinking about the stage as a profession, she received advice from a counselor: You don’t have to do what others expect but rather what makes you happy. She changed majors to theater and what would now be termed Latinx studies, and had to “come out” to her parents with a new identity as an artist.
As she gained experience in acting, directing, writing, and the academic side of things, she couldn’t decide which part of the theatrical enterprise most intrigued her. So she applied to graduate programs in all areas and found ways to keep active in the performing world while also analyzing that world in her academic studies. Ultimately, she found a landing spot where she could continue to do both.
In this episode, find out from Patricia how centering your community’s stories in your work can help you give voice to your own…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Patricia Herrera is a community-engaged artist whose mission is to create a more just world through theater and the arts. She is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Richmond, which has been her academic home for over a decade. Her teaching, research, and community-based projects explore the social inequities experienced by underrepresented communities, especially in the places that she calls home. Find out more about her work at drpatriciaherrera.com.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Joseph Marcheso was six or seven years old when he found out that being an opera conductor was something someone could do. From that moment, he knew he wanted to be one. So going to an Ivy League school was somewhat of an insurance policy in case he decided to let go of his dream. When his dream didn’t change, it became a bit of a liability as it disconnected him from the musical world for a number of years.
Through persistence, he built the connections and skills that he needed by conducting at a smaller theater in New York and then participating in a master’s program in San Francisco. When he got the opportunity to conduct at Opera San José Opera he realized that he’d found the type of place he could call home. With that came the realization of other dreams that seemed even less likely to come true.
In this episode, find out from Joe how matching your value to someone else’s needs and vice versa can keep you content if you let it…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Maestro Joseph Marcheso is a world-class conductor most recognized for his affiliation with Opera San José, where he has served as Music Director since 2014. He has also been a member of the conducting staff at San Francisco Opera and boasts an extensive and impressive repertoire of over 60 operas. Though he still travels to many of the world’s opera houses, he lives in Berkeley, California, with his husband and their young son. Find out more about his latest musical adventures at josephmarcheso.com.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Tiernan Sittenfeld had glimpses in high school of not only the grandeur of America's landscapes but also the degradation that was happening within them when she saw clear cuts up close. She was drawn to understand how we can best conserve these lands and the communities linked to them and took advantage of the first opportunity to earn an Environmental Studies certificate in college and take an international study program in Kenya. Those experiences, and a term spent working on a state senate race, made her see the overlap between conservation and politics.
She began her career as an organizer leading student communities and expanded into more general audiences, exercising her public speaking skills and community building skills along the way. When she needed to decide whether to pursue a law degree, she realized she’d found a place where she could grow all sorts of skills and tackle bigger and bigger challenges.
In this episode, find out from Tiernan how organizing and connecting with others can sometimes help you find your own voice…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Tiernan Sittenfeld currently serves as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs at the League of Conservation Voters where she has worked for the past 17 years, tirelessly advocating for sound environmental laws and policies to help protect our planet and the communities that are most impacted by climate and environmental change. She lives in Washington DC with her husband and two sons, where she has been named by the National Journal as one of the top 50 people changing the game in Washington.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
For another story about making a career fighting for better environmental policy, listen to our episode with Kira Lawrence.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Cameron Turner had come to college with a full-sized drafting table and a dream to become an architect. He had to build his own academic program, augmenting his studio art major with an engineering minor and internship experiences at a variety of architecture firms. Going through corporate recruiting, he got an opportunity to work at Microsoft and figured it would be an experience for a couple years. The company sought his design skills, however, to help make its productivity products more robust and elegant and put him on a path within product management and user experience design and those couple of years proved to be longer than he expected.
After and MBA and a masters in statistics, he applied his skills toward his own businesses and pivoted toward the world of big data and AI. But his desire to remain close to the customer and approach their challenges with a design lens hasn’t changed from his days of dreaming of architecture.
In this episode, find out from Cameron how creating new worlds is sometimes less about what you construct and more about how people feel at home in what you build…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Cameron Turner is Vice President of Data Science for Kin + Carta, who acquired Datorium, one of the companies he founded. He is an executive data science leader, applied AI specialist, and serial entrepreneur with a track record of digital transformation and build out of new data-driven businesses. He and his family continue to soak in the sunshine in Palo Alto. (246)
For another story about making a career at Microsoft after thinking it would last only two years, listen to our epsiode with Keshav Puttaswamy.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Keshav Puttaswamy was excited to be able to dabble in the full liberal arts curriculum of college and found an interest in computer science. When he had the opportunity to intern at Microsoft in a rather new role of product manager he took it despite not knowing what it would entail. He ended up learning a lot about not only computer science but also how the business worked and had fun doing it. But it felt didn’t feel like a mainstream route for either a computer scientist or a business person so he thought about other roles in each field. Ultimately he decided to take the offer to work at Microsoft, but he figured it would be for only two years and then he’d get into something more “normal” in the business world.
Those two years turned into twenty when it became clear that his skill set was well suited for product management and seeing how the variety of projects he got to work on was vast. But the desire to change came again when he thought about providing his children the opportunity to live abroad, as he had been afforded by his parents.//In this episode, find out from Keshav how feeling years to be long or short is sometimes related to the pace of change and sometimes to how right things feel…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Keshav Puttaswamy is a near lifer at Microsoft. He spent the first 20 years there in product management leadership roles and currently leads the collaboration and workplace experiences there, helping to deliver transformational digital experiences for Microsoft employees that serve as a blueprint for customers’ own digital transformation journeys. During his family’s two years in Sydney he led the server and enterprise-focused data center products for Atlassian before boomeranging back to Seattle. In addition to the travel, Keshav also enjoys cricket, cooking, and cocktails. (307)
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Suzanne Leonard joined the staff of The Dartmouth, but realized the pace of a daily paper didn’t give her time to spend with the stories or the words she was writing. A work-study job at the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine gave her a taste of a different pace that suited her better. A double English and psychology major, she found the perfect internship, working as an assistant at Psychology Today and left college convinced she would work in magazine publishing. Landing at Fitness magazine, she didn’t end up feeling comfortable with either the content or the paycheck. She took advice from her professor father that she might want to consider graduate school, applied, and found herself—and her people—in a master’s program in Wisconsin. Realizing she was better suited to write about magazines than for them, she pursued her PhD in literature and worked across a variety of media, ultimately concentrating in gender, media, and popular culture.
When she realized that the winds of popular opinion were blowing in ideas about what constituted “appropriate” curricula for schools across the country and particularly her middle-class town in Massachusetts, she realized that she her knowledge of critical race and gender theory needed to be applied to the debate and she ran for an open seat on the school committee in her town.
In this episode, find out from Suzanne how moving from doing what you know to casting a critical eye toward it can sometimes make more impact…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Suzanne Leonard is Professor of English and the Director of the Graduate Program in Gender and Cultural Studies at Simmons University. She is on the board of Console-ing Passions, an organization devoted to the study of Television, Video, Audio, New Media, and Feminism. Her recent books include Wife, Inc.: The Business of Marriage in the Twenty-First Century (2018); and the edited volume Imagining We in the Age of I: Romance and Social Bonding in Contemporary Culture(2021). She is an elected member of the Winthrop School Committee in Winthrop, Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and daughter.
Mentioned in this Episode
Suzanne wrote a piece, "Knowing the Dead," for the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine about her work-study job prepping class secretaries to write obituaries. Read the piece from the DAM archives.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
The 25th-ish college reunion that many of the shows guests and host Leslie Jennings Rowley were able to attend this summer was a great chance to reconnect, and she felt as though that they were able to greet one another with a lot more authenticity this time around. It could have just been their slightly advanced age and the wisdom that comes with it. But enough people mentioned that having heard classmates’ stories ahead of time—where they shared their vulnerabilities, their twists and turns, their ups and downs—actually made jumping into the face-to-face feel a lot less surface and provided a deeper experience.
We are so glad to be launching another season of stories. Many of the stories from our prior seasons feature big pivots and we’ll hear a few more of those this time around, too. But we will also be hearing from many more people who have kind of held steady – either in a job or a family role – and still have been able to reinvent themselves in a variety of ways. As always, we hope these stories inspire you to reflect on the roads you’ve taken and realize much of the time, we are exactly where we’re supposed to be.
Season Three kicks of Monday, September 12. At any time you can check out our back catalog and make suggestions for future episodes at RoadsTakenShow.Com. But be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss anything new as we launch a new episode each week on Roads Taken.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
The original aim of this podcast series was to tell the stories of many classmates of the Dartmouth Class of 1996 before our 25th reunion. Due to the postponement, we've had a chance to interview even more people than we thought we could. The Reunion is coming up next week and we can't wait to make even deeper connections in person in a live event and just through normal conversation. The show will be taking a much deserved hiatus.
But before we do take a break, we wanted to reflect on what we learned in our 100-plus conversations. First: Who we thought we would be and who we have become are usually not the same…at least when using that narrow interpretation of “becoming” to reflect our professional pursuits or our family unit make-up or things like that. Along the way, some windows were closed, some other doors opened, and we have mostly made our way to where we are NOW by taking those winding paths.
But WHO we really are…that’s more complicated. On one hand, I would say our guests’ stories these two years have shown that while our edges might have gotten honed by way of a personal wake-up call of some sort or another, under it ALL the Values we hold and WHAT we value the most, have generally remained stable over time. And yet, we’ve all changed a bit, too.
In the episode with Jonathon Stewart, we talked a lot about the evolution of people throughout their lives – even ourselves. As Stew put it “we do keep evolving as people. And there are things about ourselves that we may or may not know. [And] life is a continual journey of discovery.”
If you haven’t been doing this all along…we invite all of you listeners of this podcast to think about the ways you have evolved over the past however-many years. In what ways are you the same person you were a decade or two ago? In what ways are you different? How have the experiences you’ve had—both fabulous and challenging—impacted which parts of yourself you’ve leaned into? Are there any pieces of you that you left behind? Was that for the best, or is there a part of your past that you’re yearning to have the world get reacquainted with? What essential aspect of what makes you YOU…TODAY… is waiting to take on a larger role in your future?
Whatever your answers, we hope you share them with the people you come across in your life. The other thing we’ve learned from this podcast is that you don’t have to have known someone to GET to know them. We are so grateful for all our guests who’ve let Leslie – and you – get to know them a little better through hearing their stories.
Although we’re going on hiatus, don't forget you can find the full archive of all the interviews and bonus features, show notes, and transcripts at RoadsTakenShow.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Oliver Will was always good at math and when he got to college he figured he would parlay that into a science or engineering degree. While taking the mathematics prerequisites for a number of majors, he realized he liked the theoretical elegance of the math itself. And yet, he was interested in real-world applications, too. A course in bioethics introduced him to the idea of the computational work involved the human genome sequencing and the idea of bio-statistics. He applied to graduate programs straight from undergrad and got a PhD in applied mathematics.
As other guests on Roads Taken have discussed, a tight job market for academic positions is complicated by factors such as timing, geography, and luck. Although he’d thought the life of professor would suit him, after a rather unfulfilling postdoctoral fellowship, Oliver decided that the business world might be better suited for his skills and expertise. Unfortunately, his first experience was with a start-up that ran out of its funding, so he made one more return to the academic world—halfway around the globe—only to discover industry was probably the better fit. He became a statistician for a marketing company and continued using both big picture thinking and his applied skills to tackle everyday realities at a number of companies in a variety of fields.
While he got better at pivoting from his expected outcomes to the newer opportunities available to him in a business context,it was somewhat harder when the circumstances were personal. In this episode, find out from Oliver how sometimes sometimes envisioning a future and living into what's in front of you are two different things…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Oliver Will is has been a research scientist in advanced analytics for primary research at a number of companies, most recently Cerner Enviza, an Oracle company. He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and their cats.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Brendan Doherty had entered college thinking he was a math and science person, was then drawn to government but his choice of major—geography—ultimately felt made for him when the government courses were all full. His post-college decision points, however, seemed to always weigh the balance between two weighty options. First he needed to decide whether he would stick with the favored idea of law school and not fully enjoy the work or choose a riskier unsure path. Then, when conflicting religious beliefs complicated his burgeoning relationship with a wonderful woman, he needed to decide whether they should break up or figure out a compromise. He weighed keeping a commitment to the Peace Corps with returning to a safer environment with loved ones and then whether to cut a west coast adventure short to move east or make a 5,000-mile trip to keep the California dream alive. Not always was the first choice the choice that stuck.
In this episode, find out from Brendan how sometimes just making any choice shows you, ultimately, the way to the right path…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Brendan Doherty is a Professor of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy. Fittingly for someone who was our class president for much of his time at college, he focuses his research and teaching on the U.S. presidency, campaigns, and elections. Brendan lives in the D.C. area with his wife and their two children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Lara Fowler about her tendency to become and remain curious about things, leading her to a wide variety of interests and ultimately into a career in water resource management.When the coronavirus pandemic hit, she had to wind down a year living in Sweden with her family and navigate her husband’s long covid symptoms on two continents. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Lara about this for a special covid-19 Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.
For more on Lara's adventures in Sweden with husband Chris (Dartmouth '97) and their two kids, check out their blog, https://skoldpaddan.csfowler.com, including posts on the covid situation.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Clancy Rowley on a theme by Worth Rowley
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Guest Lara Fowler had been a cross-country ski racer and studied Japanese in high school in Portland, Oregon. She took those two pursuits to college and pursued them to their highest. With all of the language requirements and a study abroad program that she wanted to undertake, she had nearly completed a major in Asian Studies. But she also had a long-standing interest in water. So in fulfilling her distribution requirements, she found ways to study water from multiple angles, did off-campus research in the topic, and ultimately won a senior fellowship to devote her final year to writing a book on water policy, in effect creating her own second major in water resource management.
After graduation, she took a year to pursue ski racing but decided to hang up the skiis and get a job in the water world. Recognizing that much of the discourse around water intersected with the law, she went to law school and ultimately worked as a water mediator, bringing disparate voices together to find solutions in water allocation. When her husband got the academic job he had long wanted, she found a new way to apply her skills and spark new interests.
In this episode, find out from Lara how keeping curiosity alive and being willing to ask questions helps you move from novice to expert…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Lara Fowler is an attorney and mediator who focuses on environmental, energy, and natural resource law, with a specific focus on water-related issues. She has a joint appointment at Penn State Law where she teaches natural resource law and negotiations and the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment where she is working on questions related to water, the Chesapeake Bay, and systems-level behavioral change. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest John Strayer had figured his post-graduation life would find him either the author of the Great American Novel or dead. While his ambition was large, so was his problem with alcohol. His alcoholism made him limp along senior year. Luckily, as he says, he hit rock bottom soon thereafter and has been sober 25 years. While the Midwest was a good landing pad while he got his life back on track, he missed the pace and intellectualism of the east coast and picked up and moved to D.C. He knew law school would be in the cards, but he first worked for Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). The big fights to achieve small wins in the Senate grated on his ambition and sent him quickly to law school. At Georgetown, he was introduced early to criminal defense and he felt he had found a calling to match his inner crusader for the marginalized.
After an early experience on a high-exposure case, he landed in Maryland’s public defender’s office. Unfortunately, his undiagnosed ADD made sticking to court times and case load problematic and he was fired. Despite his often grasping the law better than those around him, subsequent jobs in the legal field didn’t pan out either. When a coach suggested that he think about making his outside hobby of carpentry into a paying job—and he got a taste of property management through being the president of his co-op board, he realized that working with his hands gave him a new route to helping others. In this episode, find out from John how being the smartest in the room isn't the only way to help people…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
John Strayer is a former public defender who has found that working with his hands gets him in the zone far more than the law ever did. He is a property manager in Washington, DC, where he lives with and cooks for his wife.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Last week, to mark both memorial day and our 96th full-length episode of Roads Taken, we presented the first in this two-part series in which we remember those classmates in Dartmouth’s Class of 1996 who have died. Although their roads were too short, their stories stay with us.
In this second of two episodes, we remember nine of the nineteen classmates who have died:
Katherine Domingo
Grier Laughlin
Leigh Warren
Pei Lynn Yee
Maribel Sanchez Souther
Tom McClure
Andre Junior
Jason York
Russell Dalferes
[A transcript of the brief remembrances is available.]
We remember our friends today and always.
If you have any additional words of remembrance for any of the classmates discussed on today’s episode, please visit the Roads Taken show page within Apple Podcasts and write a review filled with your memories. Or leave us a note through the Contact Us link at RoadsTakenShow.com.
May the memories of our time together and these lives that intertwined with ours be reminders to make the most of our time on Earth, and to be grateful for our own Roads Taken.
On this memorial day, when the country mourns the loss of the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces, we join in the tradition of giving solemn thanks and remembrance. To mark our 96th full-length episode of Roads Taken, we are presenting this special Memorial Day episode in which we remember those classmates in Dartmouth’s Class of 1996 who have died. Only one of these classmates served in the U.S. military, though they all shared a spirit of service. Although their roads were too short, their stories stay with us.
In this first of two episodes, we remember ten of the nineteen classmates who have died:
Sarah Devens
Phil Deloria
Heidi Hatchel
John Higgins
Dean Maragos
Christopher Ostoj
Jeremiah Thompson
John Cocoziello
Kimberly Williams
Timothy Farrell
[A transcript of the brief remembrances is available.]
We remember our friends today and always.
Next week, we will remember the other nine classmates whose roads were cut way too short.
Until then, if you have any additional words of remembrance for any of the classmates discussed on today’s episode, please visit the Roads Taken show page within Apple Podcasts and write a review filled with your memories. Or leave us a note through the Contact Us link at RoadsTakenShow.com.
May the memories of our time together and these lives that intertwined with ours be reminders to make the most of our time on Earth, and to be grateful for our own Roads Taken.
Guest Michael Roberts had already taken on the identity of musician—specifically singer—while in high school. He was encouraged by his parents to attend college where he could be pursue what he loved while being exposed to a wide range of subjects and experiences through a liberal arts curriculum. It would also be convenient if he attended Dartmouth, the same place his three siblings had already enrolled. And so he did, and he continued to live into the singer identity, graduating into a master’s program in vocal music with his sights set on continuing a professional voice career. When he moved to New York and saw others who had gained the discipline and more honed skillset that an undergraduate conservatory experience provided, he realized he might have to supplement his earnings with something else.
He landed a job in consulting and, swiftly moving through the ranks, realized strategy consulting let him dwell in big ideas and communicate with a variety of people. Eventually, his experience in strategy and internal consulting at the top levels of a number of global firms, led him to a project setting strategy for marketing operations. This eventually led to his gaining an on-the-job MBA in marketing and to leadership roles and finally the Chief Marketing Officer role. Throughout his business career, he has been able to apply the lessons at the core of making music—taking risks, putting in the work to get better, and learning how to communicate what you need to say to a new audience all the time.
In this episode, find out from Michael how getting better at communicating what you have in mind and connecting with people can help make impact in the world…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Michael Roberts is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at MetLife, one of the global leaders in insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs. Previously he has held the CMO role and other senior strategy and marketing positions at some of the biggest names in the financial sector including TIAA and Vanguard. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and is still an active classical vocalist.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Kira Lawrence felt, in high school, that she was considered odd by the academic kids because she was a “jock” and wasn’t quite a mainstream athlete because she was a “brain.” In college she felt accepted for both of those identities in a place that had lots of people who were both. But, in realizing she was gay, she gained a whole new perspective on what it meant to feel “othered.” While initially frustrating, she contends that that perspective has infused her personal and professional passions with a fight for more equality.
At a time when mainstream religion did not seem welcoming to her, she ended up finding a connection to the universe through earth sciences, her selected major. She went on to graduate school in the subject and began her focus on climate science. The safeguarding of our planet for future generations has become her focus and she has recently found ways to spend more time applying her research knowledge to the pressing real-world problems facing humanity today. Outside of environmental work, her local activism also centers on making society's future brighter.//In this episode, find out from Kira how unearthing strength in difference can help us leave things better than we found them…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Kira Lawrence who is the John H. Markle Professor of Geology at Lafayette College. She is an expert in paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, and earth systems history who uses the remnants of organisms preserved in ocean sediments to reconstruct past changes in ocean surface temperature to help us sort out where we are today and where we might be headed in the future. She is currently applying her expertise outside of academia, working to inform climate-related policy within New Jersey's Division of Clean Energy at the state’s Board of Public Utilities, which has been tasked with many of the elements of the clean-energy transition plans in New Jersey. She lives there with her wife and son, who will certainly know that at the end of her days, she will have done all she can for the planet.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Sharon Walker left her home in Trinidad for college in New Hampshire, thinking it was somewhere close to New York City. She quickly realized the cosmopolitan life she’d anticipated wasn’t what she would be living. So that first year was rather miserable. It was only after deciding that summer that she’d fling herself into activities that she started feeling part of the community and took advantage of what college could offer her.
Upon graduation, she finally made it to New York, living with friends and working at a start-up. But when her visa ran out, she returned to her birth-country of Canada and started over, again knowing no one and not knowing what to expect. She took temp jobs and considered med school, but ultimately decided on law school even though, again, she had no idea what “lawyering” would look like.//In figuring out that the regimented nature of law wasn’t a good fit for her more creative leanings, she has taken on a project to help others who feel “unsuited” to law practice figure out how to transfer those skills to something more meaningful.
In this episode, find out from Sharon how being uncomfortable in a space and recognizing how you grow can help you make different decisions…on today’s Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Sharon Walker is a Canadian by-way-of Trinidad writer, traveler and self-described escapee of private practice law on the quest to design her better life. When she is not taking on consulting projects that run the gamut from helping build a company’s strategic vision to providing legal counsel, she posts to her blog and lifestyle community, Unsuited, for lawyers and non-lawyers who have "come to the sudden and unwelcome realization that maybe we fundamentally misunderstood the assignment. Who feel UNSUIT-ED to and UNSUIT-ABLE for the place we now find ourselves.” Check it out at UnsuitedTheBlog.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Dave Leone realized during college that his interest in chemistry might not be long lived. Instead, he found earth sciences. Upon graduation, he options were graduate school, petroleum geology, or environmental geology. He found a small environmental firm that let him do a little of everything and then moved on to a larger firm where he has stayed for nearly a quarter century, assessing contaminated properties and remediating them for beneficial use.
It was at the firm—during a 200-mile charity bike ride—that he met his wife. And after buying a house and expecting a baby, life looked good. Then, in one unexpected moment falling off a ladder one Labor Day weekend, he realized his life had changed forever.
In this episode, find out from Dave how finding focus beyond yourself can give you a way to get back on track…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Dave Leone is Associate Principal at GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. in Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and son. He is a geologist with over 20 years of experience performing hazardous waste site investigations and remediation work at state-regulated hazardous waste sites.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Stephanie Argamaso knew exactly who she was when she entered college: a quiet perfectionist—to the point of having to write a script for her pizza order to place next to the phone. She majored in environmental science and minored in religion but didn’t see herself using those fields after graduation. In order not to have to go home to New York, she stuck around Hanover for a couple extra years and had the fortune to audit a filmmaking class, which sparked her interest. She ended up taking a film bootcamp and getting experience—and an IMDb editing credit—on a feature film. After a little more production work, she realized she would be happier watching and appreciating films than working on them so went back to school for a master’s in film studies. She found ways to stay in the industry, though, with various 9 to 5s.
Treating her job as just that, however, she has had free time to devote to various pursuits, just for the sake of learning something new. In treating the new experiences—from the mundane to the extraordinary—as learning adventures, she used her beginner’s mind to start chipping away at her earlier need at perfectionism.
In this episode, find out from Stephanie how saying yes and embracing the beginner's mind can make for an exciting life…on today’s Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Stephanie Argamaso works, by day, in the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting within the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, approving film shoots in the five boroughs. At all other hours, you can find her taking advantage of a new learning opportunity--from sword fighting to pole dancing to being in an all-women's drum line.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Rebecca Benn was excited to meet new people at college since she had been with the same small handful of schoolmates in her Mississippi Catholic school for her entire upbringing. Despite the welcome diversity of experiences of that she saw in her college friends, however, she also recognized similarities in values and inquisitiveness. She immersed herself in making deep friendships and in subjects that brought her enjoyment, namely English literature and education. She didn’t think these would necessarily be building blocks to a specific career path but pursued them out of interest.
When a fellowship to work on Capitol Hill took her to Washington, DC, she immediately felt comfortable in what she considered an approachable city. But she had so many other interests she didn’t figure she’d stay forever. The ability to work in a number of different subject areas and make many close friends ended up keeping her in the nation’s capital for her entire career. She has been careful, though, not to tie her identity too closely to the work—either when she was a staffer on the Hill or now that she is a lobbyist.
In this episode, find out from Rebecca how defining yourself not by what you do but by what you love can be a very good policy.…on today’s Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Rebecca Benn is a Mets fan, red wine drinker, music lover and ready accomplice for a winning happy hour or brunch in Washington, D.C. She’s also a partner at bipartisan lobbying firm Ballard Partners where she continues to advise both government and corporate decision makers on a wide range of policy issues.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla shared part one of her Roads Taken story, in which she talked about her early career in fashion and television and how she was always listening to her heart and feeling as though she were called to do more. At the same time, her home life became very confusing when her husband began exhibiting odd behaviors. That chapter ended as her husband Mike—who had been hospitalized numerous times for mental illness—came home and things between them seemed to repair themselves. Eventually, a psychiatric admission to the emergency room helped Nakiah recognize the symptoms of Huntington’s Disease in Mike.
With the terminal diagnosis came clarity of treatments and a new set of resources she could rely on. As it is an inherited condition, however, she knew that their son Auggie might also have an uncertain future. His juvenile Huntington’s Disease and Nakiah was committed to making the most of the time he had. They turned it into an adventure, checking items off of Auggie’s “baby bucket list.” Along the way, Nakiah has returned to school for coding, data science, and engineering to understand both Auggie’s condition and the innovations that are possible in therapeutics for people with disabilities. In diving into those new technological fields, she ended up finding an answer to the call to do more to help people.
In this episode, find out from Nakiah how listening to the call of the heart can help you help others…on today’s Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla, is a data scientist and engineer focused on the use of data and technology in making significant changes in the lives of people everyday. Her interest center on the creation and development of technology, apps, games and advanced bionics for special needs children, disabled citizens, and underserved communities. Though she has extensive work experience in public relations for fashion and media companies, she has developed hard-won expertise in neurodegenerative diseases, data analytics, assistive technology, digital media, and special education advocacy.
Part One of this Roads Taken story was posted on April 4, 2022.
Mentioned in This Episode
A study discussed in a previous Roads Taken episode with Elizabeth Manheim included the mini-documentary “Auggie’s Story,” produced in association with Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla and intended for use with the case study “Auggie’s Story: A Child with Huntington Disease” by Laura Y. Lorentzen, Kristie Reilly, Connor Baucom, and Elizabeth A. Manheim.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla felt as though she was born a generation too late, as she has always felt a call to advocate for societal change and for help people. But she also has listened to the call to go out on the town and live it up. Upon leaving college, she entered into the fashion industry in New York, taking on public relations and operations roles with big brands such as DKNY and fashion magazines such as Allure and Elle. Although it was fun to rub elbow with designers, photographers, and hip hop artists and get to go to glamorous shows and parties, at some point she started feeling as though she needed to do something with more substance. She moved to L.A. but quickly went to the Bay Area and, as a stop-gap before she found her next thing, became a pre-school teacher. The kids and school leaders loved her and told her she was great at it. But she’d heard that before. Just because she was good at something didn’t mean it was the thing she needed to be doing.
Having found the man she was going to marry, she moved back to New York to pursue a career in television. She worked at Viacom and quickly moved up and around, from Nickelodeon to MTV and even helped launch Logo, the LGBTQ network—all while getting pregnant and having her son. Around the time she began contemplating a leap from television, her home life became very confusing when her husband began exhibiting odd behaviors.
In this episode, find out from Nakiah how staying true to your heart can be a guiding force, even when life throws trial after trial your way…on today’s Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla, is a data scientist and engineer focused on the use of data and technology in making significant changes in the lives of people everyday. Her interest center on the creation and development of technology, apps, games and advanced bionics for special needs children, disabled citizens, and underserved communities. Though she has extensive work experience in public relations for fashion and media companies, she has developed hard-won expertise in neurodegenerative diseases, data analytics, assistive technology, digital media, and special education advocacy.
Part Two of this Roads Taken story will be available wherever you get your podcasts on April 11, 2022.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Aliza Pressman went to college wanting to develop a side of herself beyond her natural artistic side. Although she did have a range of experiences while there, she ended up combining her interests in art history, English literature, and drama and exploring the human condition throughout it all. Not wanting the experience to end with graduation, she and some friends started a theater company in New York. After a few years, when she saw that other people had deeper drive and talent than she was mustering, she found other ways to make connection, namely working with kids in theater arts. But when someone mentioned a psychology program to her, things changed.
She eventually found another route to answering the question of what makes us who we are: Developmental psychology. Initially drawn to teens and adolescence, she made a turn to infants and ultimately realized that so much of the environment of a child’s development has to do with parenting. She then made it her mission to translate the academic research on parenting and human development to the people who need it the most: Parents.
In this episode, find out from Aliza how taking on a role and having the tools to embody it can be two different things…on today’s Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Aliza Pressman, known nationally as Dr. Aliza, is a developmental psychologist with decades’ experience working with families. She received a masters in Risk, Resilience and Prevention from the Department of Human Development at Teacher’s College and her PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia and is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Behavioral Health Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. After co-founding SeedlingsGroup and the Mount Sinai Parenting Center (the former with fellow classmate Blair Seidler Hammond) she began the Raising Good Humans Podcast. Featuring other psychologists and national parenting authorities, as well as such notable parents as Drew Barrymore, Jessica Alba, and Jennifer Garner, her podcast conversations sprinkle in the latest academic research on child development and deliver it directly to parents.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Even when guest Andrew Friedman didn't have much experience with something, but thought it would be a fun challenge to try, he would go after it. For example, having never played football in his life, he walked onto the college team. Having taken only a couple computer science classes, he started building websites for area business while still in college. In hindsight, trying to get a job in a growing internet company such as Amazon or Yahoo would have fit his self-taught skills and passions. Instead, he found himself at what he considered a traditional job consulting for PriceWaterhouse.
After a couple of years, though, he learned of an opportunity to make games for the internet. Lack of actual qualifications didn't deter him and it seemed like it could lead to something fun. Starting in the industry by building the games and doing the actual engineering, he later evolved with the evolution of the industry, working in product development and product management, as well as business strategy and operations. He's worked inside small start-ups, bigger start-ups and even established his own small company—twice.
In this episode, find out from Andrew how looking for the challenge and being willing to figure things out can sometimes help you level up...on today's Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Andrew Friedman Andrew Friedman, who has spent over two decades in the online gaming industry, having had a hand in every aspect from engineering, product development, and product management to business strategy and operations. He has worked for many start-ups, pivoted to being an entrepreneur and starting and running his own companies, and currently works for Osmo, a children's educational gaming company. He lives with his family in Las Vegas. (290)
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Sarah Lugaric was drawn to the study of religion and the myths and narratives that all cultures have to help us understand ourselves and our place in the world. Leaving college without the clearest sense of who she was, but with a job on Wall Street, she learned the culture of business and found that she was still interested in what that said about being human. She didn’t love banking, though, and when she finally quit, she took a 30-day sea kayaking trip, rekindling her relationship with nature and herself. She found a consulting company that applied the leadership lessons that had served her so well in the wilderness to organizations and their employees, marrying two important aspects of herself.
When she had the chance to work with the captains of industry and the environmental world to bridge cultures and make positive environmental change, the glacial pace of that change and the missed opportunities caused her to take a break, spending time with her growing family, and unlock different paths to help others live with more grounding, authenticity, and security.
In his episode, find out from Sarah how navigating the world sometimes takes looking inward and protecting space, time, and that which you love…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Sarah Lugaric provides the tools to build resilient organizations, families, and individuals through her work as a founder of Seven Streams Group, a transformational coaching and consulting firm and also as the founder of Equipt, the groundbreaking personal emergency preparedness consultancy. Shenow lives in North Carolina with her husband and three kids, dogs, cats, chickens and goats.
Mentioned on this episode: Joseph Campbell
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Dan Gonzalez left college most concerned with keeping his options open. In the pursuit of breadth, he dabbled in everything from health care consulting and after-school drama programs for kids, and even considered med school. But then he heeded the oft-proffered advice to "follow your passion," realized music-making had been a source of earlier joy, and enrolled in a song-writing program at Berklee College of Music.
To make ends meet, he had been tutoring at a test prep company and got hooked into an industry he'd never considered through the power of one uniquely-run company. It ended up changing the way he thought about passion, purpose, and the value of finding work that feeds you.
In this episode, find out from Dan the difference between "following your passion" and "following your purpose…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Dan Gonzalez is co-founder (with his wife Anne Jones, Dartmouth '97) of District C, a not-for-profit that empowers schools and teachers to teach high school students how to collaborate with diverse peers to solve real-world business problems. Find out more about their process at https://www.districtc.co.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Welcome to Roads Taken, the show that reminds us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits.
Each Monday we release another episode in which a classmate from Dartmouth’s Class of ’96 sits down with host Leslie Jennings Rowley to share their stories about who they were in college, who they thought they’d be, and how they’ve meandered down various roads to get where they are today.
We invite you to be open to the many ways you can connect with the people whose stories we feature on the podcast. First, you can of course listen to the episodes wherever you get your podcasts or at RoadsTakenShow.Com and follow along with the posted transcript and the links in the episode notes. While on the website, you can also click the contact us link and send a message to us or a guest and we’ll forward it on.
And for more opportunities—particularly for the members of Class of ’96—you can find a series of online and in-person events at Dartmouth1996.org. Coming up Wednesday, March 23 is the event “Tips for Healthy Joints and Bones” – a Q&A with some of our class’s orthopedic experts, who will give us tips on what do to when we start hearing those middle-aged creaks and pops. Then on Thursday, April 21, in “Why is my Teenager Doing That?” we will be joined by classmates who study and work with adolescents and are ready to share some parenting strategies. Be sure to register for these sessions on the class website. And of course be sure to save the date for our postponed 25th Reunion, happening July 22 through 24 in Hanover. We hope to connect soon about your ROADS TAKEN.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Audio Engineer Extraordinaire: Clancy Rowley
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Guest Shuhei Sekiguchi had moved halfway around the world to attend college in the Northeast U.S., having been raised in Japan. Though he came from a family steeped in the health professions, he took an interest through internships in advertising and found his first job in that field upon graduation. Not fulfilled by having clients inexplicably shooting down ideas, he found work in sales at an educational start-up to be aligned with a field that felt more fulfilling. What he realized, though is that these early jobs centered on two especially domestic pursuits—advertising and education—and was looking for something that provide a global outlook.
Pharmaceuticals and health care seemed to fit the bill and he started working for Johnson & Johnson in the U.S., beginning a career that would span nearly twenty years and nearly as many time zones—first making a fairly blind jump to Australia, then returning to live in Japan for the first time in more than two decades, and jumping back and forth across the globe for more assignments, creating breadth all the while. Along the way, his family grew and the new generation intertwined with the old.
In this episode, find out from Shuhei how seeing intrigue in the unknown and being ready to say yes can lead to a series of adventures…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Shuhei Sekiguchi has spent nearly two decades in various roles at Johnson & Johnson, where his is now President of the Jansen Pharmaceutical Companies of J&J in Tokyo, Japan. He lives there with his wife and two children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Doug Asano had always had a fascination with Wall Street and could envision himself there. In the middle of sophomore year, the impetus to get a job there became less theoretical and more practical when his father said that Doug would need to pay the rest of his way through college. With an upperclass mentor already working in investment banking, he was able to get internships at prestigious banks and land a job at JP Morgan at the end of the summer before senior year.
That summer, however, was also the time when Sarah Devens, a classmate of his at both Dartmouth and high school, took her life by suicide. The experience shook him and, without mental health resources to access, he had a hard time processing the happiness of starting a new life and the pain of his loss.
His time on Wall Street was successful in terms of his ability to get the work done, but he realized that it wasn’t fulfilling him. He went home to Boston for a stint in private equity but found that he kept wondering what the companies that he worked with would actually get their products to market. He realized he needed to learn more about the business of business so off to Tuck he went. When he found out what would be fulfilling—jumping into operations—he worked his network to find a role and industry he never would have considered a path to success. When even that road got rocky, he needed to tap into both his internal compass and lean on his friends to get through.
In this episode, find out from Doug how, while fending for yourself is sometimes necessary, reaching out to others can be even more vital …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Doug Asano, who is currently Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at Roseburg Forest Products, has spent the last two decades in the engineered wood industry after an early career in investment banking and private equity. After attending Dartmouth for his undergrad degree, he returned to Tuck School of Business for his MBA. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and two daughters.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Elizabeth Manheim Ades had known medical school was in her future but decided to take advantage of a liberal arts education and major in history. A senior year course on topics and ethics in assisted reproduction and a related research project solidified that a life in medicine—specifically IVF—would be hers. So when a first attempt at med school admission didn’t work in her favor, she sought out post-bac medical programs that would qualify her. Instead she found herself in a PhD program in microbiology and molecular genetics, with no intention to teach or do research or even see it through a diploma. Nevertheless, she found a great fruit fly lab and mentor to teach her skills that ultimately she would use daily. A few more tries at med school—including a last minute admission—and an ill-fitting post-doc made her realize that she needed to stick on a different path.
To get a foot in the door, she took a desk job at the IVF lab that had first inspired her to get into reproductive medicine. She got the training that she needed and became a full-time embryologist. After years, however, that took its toll and a repetitive use injury ended her dream job. Finding a new path after that loss was preparation she needed for a few more shake-ups in life.
In this episode, find out from Elizabeth how sticking with things and working through the losses can reveal where you're meant to be…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Elizabeth Manheim Ades has had a long and varied career in molecular genetics and reproductive medicine. She has had a research career at Sloan Kettering, Rutgers, and Kean Universities. She also spent nearly a decade as a clinical embryologist and assistant professor of reproductive medicine at Cornell-Weill Medical. She now specializes in creating continuing education courses for medical professionals.
Mentioned in This Episode
The mini-documentary “Auggie’s Story,” produced in association with Nakiah Cherry Chinchilla and intended for use with the case study “Auggie’s Story: A Child with Huntington Disease” by Laura Y. Lorentzen, Kristie Reilly, Connor Baucom, and Elizabeth A. Manheim.
The video was originally filmed and edited (with consent) by the case study authors. The entire case study can be found on the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science website.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Holly Parker went to college knowing she’d be an English major and a squash player and stumbled upon a passion for the environment and sustainability. She graduated with the thought of being a journalist and tried her hand at it at a boating publication. Though she didn’t want to turn into her mother—a teacher—she did have a small itch to try teaching. What she thought would be a short stint at a private school near her Massachusetts hometown became a 12-year career in which she led the English department.
But after having spent summers in Maine as a kid and working with boats her whole life, she felt it was spiritual home and one she was destined to return to. When deciding whether to stay in teaching, she decided to buy her first home in Portland and realized she wanted to stay in Maine but not really in teaching. In her mid thirties, she took some time dabble and take on a number of side hustles—including working at a historical schooner company, writing educational curricula, and running a non-profit boat shop that taught life skills to at-risk youth. It wasn’t until she “took another flyer,” as she calls it, in higher education and started asking some questions about how the new appearance of Icelandic ships in the harbor might be good for Maine that she brought all of her interests and experience together.
In this episode, find out from Holly how listening to your gut and taking a few chances can help you find your place …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Holly Parker, is currently the director of UNE NORTH—the Institute for North Atlantic Studies of the University of New England—where she connects researchers, educators, policy makers and industry leaders from across Maine and the North Atlantic region to implement collaborative approaches to building resilient communities, healthy environments and thriving economies. Find out more at une.edu/UNE-north.
Mentioned in This Episode
A series published in partnership between the Portland Press Herald and The Boston Globe entitled “The Lobster Trap”: https://apps.bostonglobe.com/metro/2021/12/the-lobster-trap/
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Kishan Putta—who boldly introduced himself to everyone the first week of college as Kishan, like fishin’—always knew a life of public service would suit him. His parents both immigrants from small villages in India, worked for the state of New York, his mother in biology and his father as an engineer in environmental issues. To Kishan it just made sense to want to give back. But he was unsure the type of service that he would want to do and on what scale.
His first step to figuring that out was through graduate school at Harvard’s Kennedy School and, though getting the broad survey he knew would be helpful he took another path to international service. After getting the opportunity to travel abroad to both India and Chile to write travel guidebooks, he turned to political journalism for a number of global publications. Eventually he landed in Washington, DC. When he started covering health care policy, he knew he’d found his niche.
After a number of years working on the outside looking into a policy issue, he decided he wanted to work on the issue itself and took a few routes to do that before working on the policy side. In the meantime, he realized that his life in D.C. also afforded him the opportunity to take part in local service and found himself on local ballots more than once.
In this episode, find out from Kishan how putting yourself out there and figuring out what your neighbors need is at the core of being useful…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Kishan Putta has worked for over a decade in healthcare policy in Washington D.C., where he also has served in elected office, representing two different neighborhood wards as commissioner. He currently lives in the Burleith/Georgetown neighborhood of D.C. with his wife and young son. You can find him on Twitter @KishanForDC. (319)
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Christy Hansel Lohof grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, attendant with all the feed and milking duties. Her parents were sure to leave time for other activities such as competitive sports, which Christy continued in college. With a biology major and geology minor, she left college without a clear picture of what was to come next, assuming that she would go to veterinary school. After a year of living at home and working for a veterinarian, she realized she wasn’t committed to that work. So she headed west, where she had visited during a break trip with the geology department in college.
She initially worked at a dude ranch, leading groups of leisure travelers on the ranch, before moving into the world of wilderness trip leading. Though given the opportunity to take over that business, she wasn’t sure how many more years she could stand sleeping on the ground. Instead, she moved with her cowboy boyfriend, marrying into a fourth-generation ranch family in southeastern Montana. She raised her growing family and raised her cattle and, in going back to school for a masters in kinesiology, that the type of ranching their family did was actual more healthful than the typical commercial meat business so developed a direct-to-consumer business for the ranch. Successes were balanced, however, by hardship, all put in perspective by the agricultural lifestyle.
In this episode, find out from Christy how stewarding and being grounded by the land can help you see the continuum of life…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Christy Hansel Lohof is now part of the fifth-generation family that runs LOHOF All Natural Grass-Finished Beef with cows that are bred, born, and slow grown on her family's Montana range-land for over 2 years. If you're near Billings, Montana, Sheridan, Wyoming or even Denver, Colorado and you want a cow share, or if you have three months to spend on a ranch internship, you are in luck. Find out more at LohofGrassFinishedBeef.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Jorge Motoshige felt as though college surrounded him with an interesting, diverse group of people that helped him land in a number of different places with some comfort, because he didn't have any concerns about being able to get out there and meeting new people of all kinds of different backgrounds. Get out there, he did, becoming employee number 113 at Yahoo upon graduation. After a number of years in producing there, he timed his departure right before the first dotcom bust and left the company in 2000. Figuring out where to go and who to be next proved more difficult and so he took the opportunity to travel. Frequent visits to New York made him realize that this California boy could spend two or three years there. Before he knew it, he’d been there for at least 15.
Though he joked in college that he doubt he’d live past 40, fate proved otherwise, though his bachelor days were numbered. Through mutual friends, he met Elisabeth, an opera singer from Greece, and ended up married in 2019. The couple lives an international lifestyle with Elisabeth basing her career out of Berlin and Jorge doing likewise from New York.
In this episode, find out from Jorge how never staying still lets you consistently amass new experiences …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest//Jorge Motoshige, international man of mystery, splits his time between New York and Berlin and the many destinations of his professional and personal travels. Who knows where he will turn up next?
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Jennie Tranter decided to try on a new persona in college and be more outgoing and social than she’d been previously. Academically, having desired to be a doctor, she loaded on the science classes. She took a religion course to fill a distributive requirement and was completely taken by the idea that, unlike in science, there may not be just one right answer and she may have to become more comfortable with uncertainty. She became a religion major and, after a study abroad program in Europe, doubled down on her German studies with her eye on getting back to Europe after graduation. Despite a heap of uncertainty, she ultimately found a way to do that, but kept coming back to the U.S. and trying new things.
Eventually, she leaned into the international lifestyle and worked at the intersection of finance and international relations—where she thought she’d be happy. While elements of her life were fulfilling, she sought something different and ultimately worked with a coach to bring more clarity to things. She uncovered that the values that she prized were beauty—particularly being out and about in nature—and excellence. When she took some time to figure out what that meant, she took on a volunteer opportunity that made her remember her early desires to help people. Combining the elements she knew were vital to her transformation, she began coaching others in liminal circumstances and pursued a career in psychotherapy.
In this episode, find out from Jennie how uncovering the many elements of who you are and grounding decisions in values can lead you to where you need to be…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Jennie Tranter has an established private practice, supporting individuals’ journeys of transition and transformation after having navigated many of her own. She is a registered associate marriage and family therapist, a registered associate professional clinical counselor in the state of California, and an accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy therapist, as well as an internationally certified Integral coach. You can find out more at jennietranter.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Mary Romano was sure she wanted to be a doctor. But she really loved Latin and Greek and didn’t want to give up everything for her medical dreams too soon. So she majored in the classics and stayed on the pre-Med track. When others were getting into medical schools—or letting their med school dreams go, Mary did neither. Without a place to land, she went back home and regrouped.
She ultimately went to medical school in the Caribbean, an experience in itself. And returned to the U.S. for her clinicals and hospital placements in the U.S. Having known she wanted to go into pediatrics, she honed in on adolescent medicine as the place she would be most happy, seeing patients but also educating them daily. As her career advanced, the teaching roles became more diverse for a wider set of audiences—from med students to young doctors to policy makers. This is all the more true now that she has built a practice and center for transgender and gender diverse adolescents and children. From educating the patients and their parents to making sure legislators understand the science and lives behind their bills, she is always busy.
In this episode, find out from Mary how finding a way around barriers and removing them for others plays on the same skills and personality…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Mary Romano, MD, MPH, is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she helped to cofound a center serving transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents. In addition to seeing patients through clinical service, she also provides education and training to gender diverse youth, their parents, and the providers that serve them. She lives in Nashville with her husband and their two children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Erika Meitner was raised in a household where reformed Judaism revolved around justice and social action. As a first-generation American, her immigrant parents expected her to go into a medical career or something established. Raised with an eye toward social justice and a voice to say something about it, though, she was drawn to both the arts—particularly creative writing—and religious studies in college and spoke up for women's rights and other issues. Upon receiving a fellowship to study in Jerusalem after graduation, she studied Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, and biblical and literary translation and considered rabbinical school.
To pay off her undergraduate loans, however, she worked as a consultant during the run-up to Y2K. When she realized she was spending all of her spare time reading, she knew that wasn't the life for her and went briefly into teaching middle school. The call to both religious studies and creative writing were strong, though, and she applied for master’s programs in each. Just as she was readying herself to return to Israel, she got off the wait list at UVa’s creative writing MFA program.
Knowing the road to established poet and academic would take some time, she kept a strong of Plan Bs going—from writing residencies and another master’s degree in Jewish studies to summer teaching stints and management consulting projects. These and other experiences that relied on her ability to solve problems through her interpersonal communication skills only made her writing richer.
In this episode, find out from Erika how answering the really big questions of our time requires interpersonal skills developed over a lifetime.…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Erika Meitner is a poet, a parent, and a teaching artist in the academy, currently at Virginia Tech where she is Professor of English in the creative writing programs. Her latest collection of poetry, Holy Moly Carry Me, is the winner of the 2018 National Jewish Book Award in poetry, and a finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle award in poetry. In addition to her poetry, she also creates large-scale documentary photo/text projects on urban environments and conducts ethnographic research with coastal communities dealing with the impacts of both development and climate change. Her sixth book of poems, Useful Junk, is forthcoming in Spring 2022. You can find her work at ErikaMeitner.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Ken Lee had not really thought he would be a lawyer; he went to law school as a means for kicking life’s decision-making down the road. After a summer job at the Attorney General’s office in Boston and a course of study that pointed him to litigation, he had a couple of views of paths he could take. He started in litigation at a number of firms but found, over time, that he didn’t find much joy in it. He figured that if a partner position came, he would continue the toil. The partner job did not materialize and, instead, he was let go. He took that as an opportunity to try out the public side and took a job back in the Attorney General’s office, where he felt much more connected to the work.
As he found his footing again professionally, his family of four got news that they would soon be five. Their surprise addition made Ken rethink how he wanted to be spending his time and what the optimal job-household divide was for their family. He made the decision to quit his job after the baby came so that his wife could spend more time pursuing her medical career.//The challenges of stay-at-home parenting loomed large but an even greater challenge loomed silently. A chance visit to the optometrist led to the discovery of a brain tumor.
In this episode, find out from Ken how handling what comes at you is sometimes all there is to do…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Ken Lee is former Assistant Attorney General in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and worked previsouly at both Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott and Goodwin Procter LLP. He is now a stay-at-home dad in the the Boston area, where he lives with his wife and three children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Morgan Flatley had a job in non-profit consulting after college, but felt motivated more by seeing the female owner run her own small business than the content itself. After traveling a bit and taking personality inventories from her parents’ home, she realized that she loves being around people and ideating creative solutions. This led her to the advertising world, business school, and a career in marketing.
Over the years she has had opportunities to work on some of the world’s most iconic brands. After a decade in product management for Gatorade, she was tapped to head up marketing for McDonald’s USA and, more recently, to become CMO for the global organization, all while being a mom to three small children. Brand after brand, she continued to surround herself with good people, try to do hard things, and have fun doing it. But things get a little crazy when the brand you serve is known by nearly everyone on the planet.
In this episode, find out from Morgan how listening deeply and knowing who you are are key for people as well as brands…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Morgan Flatley has had a career in brand management and marketing that has included some of the world’s most iconic brands. After more than a decade spent at PepsiCo, working for ten years on Gatorade, she was named chief marketing and digital customer experience officer for McDonald’s USA and just recently promoted to global chief marketing officer. Morgan was named by Forbes to its World’s Most Influential CMOs list for two consecutive years, rising to #6 worldwide in 2021, and has also been recognized with Adweek’s most prestigious "Brand Genius" honor. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Shawn Snipes Gasparini loved science and thought she would be a pediatrian so that she could be a role model for other kids with diabetes or kids of color. But when she started taking electives in English and film studies, she knew she was pursuing medicine for people other than herself. She changed her major at the end of junior year and left college bound for NYU film school.
She deferred for a year to make money and get a little experience so she could launch herself fully into film and storytelling. Along the way, she got the opportunity to become an assistant to Martha Stewart in the heyday of her Omnimedia empire. Shawn knew that in staying she would get exposed to lots of aspects of media and learn more about marketing, which she was starting to get interested in. She let go of the film school dream and started working in advertising and then as in-house marketing profession for some world-class brands. Though not every job provided her what she needed in the life and home department. So every so often, she’d have to call out to the universe and believe that the change she needed would happen.
In this episode, find out from Shawn how saying what you want and acting when it comes can sometimes manifest what you need…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Shawn Snipes Gasparini started her career in the media world as an assistant to Martha Stewart. She has spent time on both the agency side of media as well as the client side, predominantly for consumer packaged goods. She is currently at healthcare giant Sanofi, where she is senior manager of business intelligence and media analytics.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Karen M. Smith DeBolt always rocked a put-together look—an important expression of her cultural and individual motto “Dress well, test well.” As her Colombian mother had made clear, in looking the part you could eventually feel the part. This was key for Karen who didn’t really feel as though Dartmouth was the right choice for her until she met her tribe of women friends sophomore year who she knew had her back.
After graduation, she understandably expected to live a fabulous life in New York City, working for Chanel. When that didn’t materialize, she found her way into McKinsey and Company, first in recruiting and later—after a stint in organizational consulting at another firm—executive development. Despite the hectic always-on-call pace, it was a kind of high style and high flying that she loved. When she found her husband, they were happy as the couple that traveled everywhere with no strings tying them down. But even though motherhood was never something to which she aspired, it came for her. And despite her best early efforts to make sure it would change nothing of her fabulous, hard-charging existence, a forced leave made her reassess.
In this episode, find out from Karen how uncovering new aspects of yourself can lead to both growth and fulfillment…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Karen M. Smith Debolt (not to be confused with our classmate Karen E. Smith) has found many ways to reinvent herself after years in organizational design consulting and executive development. She lives in Chicago with her husband and only-child son. She continues to make herself greater each year.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Mariya Rosberg felt as though she had lived a somewhat sheltered beginning of life. At college, she leaned into everything that could expand her world, from languages to travel and found herself particularly drawn to ideas around gender equity. She married classwork in gender studies with real-world applications both on campus and abroad. She always felt the pull to adventure and believed she would just follow her free spirit into the life of a wanderer.
After a little independent travel, she landed in the only spot that made sense to that free spirit: Manhattan’s West Village. She steeped herself in the city’s history and the romantic notions of having a shared lived experience with countless other free spirits. Yet she also felt she needed to “get serious.” She answered an ad in the newspaper and began a life in management consulting. Interestingly, she was able to feed her wanderlust through her international clients and started putting some sort of structure to her life. Adding motherhood to the mix allowed her to confront the gender issues that had long interested her. Eventually she was able to marry this with her business life and mentor others who were trying to do it all.
In this episode, find out from Mariya how sometimes listening to that which calls you to venture out and applying it closer to home can do a world of good…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Mariya Rosberg has over 20 years of experience serving leading investment and universal banks in the US, Europe, and Latin America. She is currently a partner at Oliver Wyman, where she is head of Americas Corporate and Institutional Banking and also helps drive crucial decisions for the future of the firm, particularly mentoring colleagues navigating parenthood and consulting. For these and other Herculean efforts she was named a Working Mother of the Year by Working Mother magazine. She lives in Westchester County with her husband and their twins.
Mentioned in This Episode
"Research Shows People Become Increasingly Unhappy Until Age 47.2. Here's How to Minimize the Negative Effect of the 'Happiness Curve'" by Jeff Haden in Inc.com based on research by Dartmouth's David Blanchflower, published by National Bureau of Economic Research as a working paper entitled "Is Happiness U-Shaped Everywhere? Age and Subjective Happiness in 132 Countries."
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Adam Wollowick figured he would go to medical school but also brought a love of art history with him from high school. He took on an art history major along with his pre-med classes and bounced from fraternity basement to library, living the “work hard, play hard” ethos. With a father in orthopedics, he followed in that practice when he realized he liked working with his hands and selected spine surgery because it was the hardest thing he could try. At every turn, though, he wondered if medicine was really for him. Colleagues kept telling him just had to get through med school or residency or internship and it would be fine. But it never did feel fine. Despite being good at his job, he was miserable.
When he noticed that his hospital system was acquiring other orthopedic practices and no one was running it as a business, he thought he could do it. He asked his hospital to pay for an MBA. And a few weeks in he realized this is what he really wanted to do. The hospital started getting cold feet and didn’t want him to leave surgery. So he took a risk and quit without a new job. Ultimately, he landed with a company doing mergers and acquisitions in the spine space and felt he’d found more meaning and fulfillment.
In this episode, find out from Adam how listening to your own “should” can have healthier outcomes than someone else’s…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Adam Wollowick is Senior Director of Business Development at Stryker Spine, working in mergers and acquisitions in the spine and orthopedic space. He is also a mentor at NYU's Endless Frontier Labs, an accelerator for early-stage science and technology-based startups. Previously, he worked as a spine surgeon at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY and held the title of Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine also in the Bronx.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Had Dartmouth offered a course of study in architecture, guest Julie Kline Dixon may have taken it. At an early age, she would cover her school notes with sketches of floor plans and seemed drawn to the field. She had sat through one day of the sole architecture course she saw offered, but dropped the course when she realized it was mostly focused on the structure of bridges and that didn’t appeal to her. When, as a history major, she approached graduation, she didn’t have an idea of what she was going to do. Still, she couldn’t shake the idea of architecture. She found a pre-professional program in architecture and design the summer after graduation and finally felt at home. She worked at a small firm in Cambridge and decided to apply to architecture school, which she did at UVa with an emphasis on historic preservation.
At the same time, she met her husband and committed to a life with him on a farm in rural Virginia. As such, she needed to figure out how to make a life in architecture fit into that reality. She realized, in time, that she could marry the two and build a successful practice focused on rural residential projects while raising her own growing family from her farmhouse. Taking the time to listen to the rhythms of farm life, she began incorporating that into her approach to making spaces for others.
In this episode, find out from Julie how making space for people is often about much more than the structural components…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Julie Kline Dixon is founder and partner of Rosney Company Architects in Charlottesville, Virginia, specializing in beautiful rural residential work. She lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere Virginia with her husband and their three feral (but now well grown) children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Soraya O’Brien Jollon started her career in management consulting but realized that there were elements of corporate life that didn’t suit her. She also realized that she wanted to do something that made people happy and she was also a bit of a control freak. Enter event planning.
She found she liked all the things that make most people panic, dealing with other people's emotions and with the stress around planning stemming from such uncomfortable topics as family, religion or money (or all three). She started her own company in New York City where she planned cross-cultural and interfaith weddings, same-sex weddings, and more—all events for people with interesting stories and challenges figuring out how to navigate who they are as individuals and in partnership and with families. Yes, she was picking out napkin colors, but it was really all about building connection and negotiating inter-personal dynamics in service of celebrating life's highlights. At a certain point, she took a look at her own family situation and asked out loud how she wanted to be celebrating life with the one's she loved most deeply. The answer led her to an unexpected place.
In this episode, find out from Soraya how listening to what people need can create connection and lead to new adventures…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Soraya O'Brien Jollon is currently Chief Strategy Officer for Wedsly, a digital wedding planning start-up, where she can use her industry experience and not have to attend an event every weekend. For more than a decade, she ran the New York-based SORAYA weddings, gatherings and destinations. You can stiil find her work on her beautiful website. She now lives in Stockholm, Sweden with her husband and four children.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Kate Kelly had grown up thinking about herself as an athlete. But she also was someone who sought out joy in all aspects of her life. She liked being around kids, so figured she would be an educator. But something whispered to her that educating kids wasn’t all about being in the classroom. She started working in admissions and coaching at an independent school in Massachusetts but wished she could make a longer relationship with the students.
Working in residential life, she was on the academic calendar, so her summers were free and she reached out to some summer camps. She first landed at Camp Danbee, where she was in charge of 250 girls, ages six to 12. Undaunted, she realized this was what she was looking for: the intersection of experiential learning and community building and relationships. She was in love.
At the same time, her co-worker and Dartmouth classmate Briarly Kessler kept hounding her to meet Cole Kelly, a friend who lived in Georgia but just seemed perfect for Kate. Like the immediate sense of “this is it” when she got to camp, connecting with Cole had the same certainty. He brought the perfect combination of fun and care for the same things that Kate loved. Shortly after meeting, summer camp came up and Cole, who was just finishing his MBA and looking for something to go run, was all in. Along the couple’s nearly twenty year camp journey, they’ve developed and refined the values that make everything work, in both their personal life and camp life.
In this episode, find out from Kate how operationalizing your values can lead to optimized joy…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
For almost twenty years, Kate Kelly, with husband Cole, has run Camp Weequahic, a three- or six-week sleep-away camp for girls and boys located in northeastern Pennsylvania. When not on site each summer, the couple lives with their three boys in Athens, Georgia.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Tim Chow took a long time to make peace with who he was. As a closeted gay man in the mid-nineties—not a particularly open time—his college rah-rah spirit masked a feeling of not living authentically in his skin. He found pockets of interest, tucking himself away in the small Italian department, often working one-on-one with his professors, and studying abroad. But when he left college he still didn’t have a clear sense of who he was. In going to law school, he was following someone else’s expectations and eventually realized he needed to come out. The experience, however, was somewhat clouded by his father’s health issues.
When he had the chance to work abroad after law school, he jumped at it and lived a hard-charging international lifestyle for more than a decade. But that ultimately caught up with him and it took an “Eat Pray Love” moment for him to put things into perspective again. When he realized there were lots of reasons to embrace who he was and celebrate what was at the core, he flourished. That compounded when he let that translate to his work, expanding what integrity looks like on both a personal and professional level.
In this episode, find out from Tim how living with integrity can pay off in many ways…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley. //
About This Episode's Guest
Tim Chow is Chief Business Integrity Officer and General Counsel Commercial at Diageo, the multinational beverage company behind some of the biggest alcohol brands in the beverage industry. He helps the company be world class in its ethical decision-making in everything from environmental sustainability and supply chain issues to employee diversity and inclusion. You can read more about Tim and his role in the Vanguard Law Magazine.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest K.C. Danzansky could barely believe that one could make a major by reading classic literature, analyzing it, and writing about it. She considered her English major not only fun but a good grounding in the liberal arts that would prove useful in a career. But because she loved the literary world, she figured she would remain in it, working at a publishing house or something similar. The famously low salaries and the prospect of living in the publishing mecca of New York City did not appeal, however. So she took a look at the companies that defended on campus for corporate recruiting. Consumer packaged goods giant General Mills seemed open to her liberal arts background and she thought she could put up with sales trips in pant suits for a few years. What she came to realize was that the scope and size of the organization allowed for her to try on a number of roles.
While she has remained at the company for 25 years, her husband was the casualty of a round of layoffs. But even that had a silver lining, as both of their time in CPG helped them launch a beverage company that provides the spice in her life. In this episode, find out from KC how taking one path doesn't always mean doing the same thing. In this episode, find out from K.C. how taking one path doesn't always mean doing the same thing…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
K.C. Danzansky, currently Director of Sales Communications, Analytics, Trade and Ecommerce within Convenience and Foodservice at General Mills, has held a variety of roles within the consumer packaged goods giant during her 25-year career there. She also plays CMO and general support staff to her husband Scott's beverage company that features apple-cider-vinegar-based cocktail mixers and health shots. Find out more and see K.C. playing the role of harried bartender in their brand video at TheTwistedShrub.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Kate Shanahan, Dartmouth ’96, had grown up in Hanover in her elementary years and searched for colleges elsewhere. But nothing compared to the College on the Hill and so returned to rediscover the campus she knew so well. It took her time to find her groove but English literature lit a spark for her. Later, she found the Education department and the encounters she had there with professors and the material was life-changing. Upon graduation, she spent six more months in Hanover in the teacher preparation program, student teaching in a classroom that she’d been in as a nine-year-old.
While she loved teaching and knew she was good at it, she did wonder whether she wanted to make it her life-long profession. A wise adviser suggested that her focus should be not so long term but rather about what to do right now. That laid her on the expected path to teaching. But in taking spending time on the west coast during the six months before taking on her first full-time classroom, she took a by-road would set an unexpected course for a geographic switch.
In this episode, find out from Kate how focusing on the first step can take the pressure of off forever, but lead you there anyway…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Kate Shanahan taught at several private schools on the East Coast before moving to California and joining the Harker faculty of the Harker School in San Jose, California, in 1998. During her long tenure at Harker, she has led the English department and has taught both upper elementary grades, chiefly grade 5 English and writing. She lives with her husband and two sons in sunny San Jose.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Ryan Donovan, Dartmouth ’96, felt as though his priorities were running, drinking, and studying in that order. But a guest speaker in a course on Sport and Society opened his eyes to how a government major might be able to marry his love of sport and a career. Dick Dunham ’53 talked about his career working with the U.S. Olympic Committee and Ryan reached out for some mentoring and a recommendation letter to an Olympic Committee internship. He didn’t get that internship but did land something in sport, which kicked off a career in the sport world that he loved. After his MBA and an experiencing at a creative agency that helped him realize he was a marketer of heart, he has had a string of interesting jobs in the industry, culminating in his dream of being a senior executive at a sport company.
A pivotal moment in his journey came in the last two years when he decided to stop drinking. In this episode, find out from Ryan realizing what you love becomes healthier when differentiating that which is good for you from that which isn’t…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Ryan Donovan is a life-long sports marketer who has served in leadership positions at NBC Sports and other organizations and is currently Senior Vice President of Marketing at Fanatics, Inc. After a few years' hiatus, he is running again.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Carrie Kuss, Dartmouth ’96, was at first sure that she was a future veterinarian. But after a few chemistry classes and more government classes, she was equally sure she was a future attorney, if not Supreme Court justice. Being waitlisted for law schools, she decided to make sure the law would be the right path and so served as a paralegal for a few years.
While in a large firm in Boston, the law partner for whom she worked decided he wanted to run a charity golf tournament. The opportunity to organize and run the tournament for charity felt much more meaningful to Carrie than the on-the-job legal education she had been getting. And it introduced her to the world of non-profit fundraising, a field she knew nothing about previously. When she ran a marathon for another charity and ended up being a key organizer along the way, she got enough experience to know this is something that felt right for her.
In this episode, find out from Carrie how walking down a path is sometimes the only way to figure out the fit…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Carrie Kuss is senior director of field fitness programs with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she has spent over two decades working in various programmatic and fundraising capacities. She lives in Colorado and travels when she can. Find out more about her organization at StJude.org.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Wendi Potter McKenna, Dartmouth ’96, has always been one to look for what others found impossible and pursue it. In college, she found her passion and home among the women’s rowing team and considered it a big part of her identity. When she got a diagnosis of an athletic career-ending injury, she wasn't willing to accept it. Instead, she found a physical therapist who asked “What do you want?” and helped get her to do the impossible and get where she wanted to go. In the process, she realized she wanted to do that for others.
After changing majors senior year to get her closer to the PT dream, she finished her prerequisite courses at Boston University and got a job working as a part time aide to a teen with cerebral palsy. That experience changed her focus from sports therapy to pediatric therapy, where she has spent her career ever since. She built her own clinic and helped countless families through the journey of their babies' and children's motor and sensory development. Along the way, she developed a deep understanding of the psychology behind the work and has shifted her practice to spend more time with parents on their own transformational journeys.
In this episode, find out from Wendi how knowing what you want and not taking no for an answer is as much about listening as it is about determination…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Wendi McKenna is a pediatric physical therapist and transformation parenting coach who is passionate about helping parents understand, marvel at, and support their babies' and children's motor and sensory development. She is the owner/founder of Strides Physical Therapy, Inc., in the San Diego area where she lives with her husband and their three kids. But she coaches parents everywhere through her Success Parenting program. You can find out more about Wendi’s world at MovePlayGrow.com.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Bill Tovell, Dartmouth ’96, left for college shortly after Hurricane Andrew ripped through Miami and destroyed his boyhood home and everything in it. He went as far as he could, to the wilds of New Hampshire, and looked for something new. He tried new things, such as rugby, and even set aside some preconceptions he had about a life in medicine. Economics and corporate recruiting took him into banking in New York despite a tantalizing set of discussions with the CIA. His work within financial services seemed fairly typical. But again, he was looking for something new and took an opportunity in Bermuda. A bounce back to his old organization in San Francisco seemed like a good move, but became less fun a little while later when the dotcom bubble burst and his entire team—except him—was let go. He was asked to move back to Manhattan, which he did on September 7, 2001.
The morning of September 11, Bill found himself on the 50th floor of 60 Wall Street, from where he saw the second plane hit the World Trade towers. The immediate aftermath of that event stayed with him and ultimately led him to take a year to travel around the world. When he came back, he was fired up to take some action.
In this episode, find out from Bill how looking for meaning after disaster strikes requires forging one’s own path.…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Bill Tovell has been working in global corporate and investment banking with a variety of clients across a diverse set of industries with the same financial services firm—off and on—for the last quarter century. For the last twenty years, he has been involved with the organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. As a civilian board member, he champions the efforts of post-9-11 veterans, specifically around mental health and PTSD. He lives in Dallas with his wife and two sons.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Sarah Howald Hughes, Dartmouth ’96, started playing hockey at age seven, at least a year after she wanted to. She was told girls couldn’t play in the league that young. When she was eligible she kept playing—with the boys—until going off to high school for junior and senior year, setting her sights on playing at the college level. Hockey got her to Dartmouth, which she ended up loving, despite the long hard hours of training, practicing and competing as a two-sport athlete. Though a formidable javelin thrower, she shone on the ice. As a college sporting career studded with Ivy League championships and All-Ivy recognition came to a close, she didn’t want her time in a rink to end. Instead of pursuing continued playing opportunities, however, she wanted to be a coach.
The problem was, a starting coaching job was going to pay little more than a volunteer role. So she opted to go back to school for an education degree, which would put her on a more secure path toward a teaching job with a coaching assignment. When she finished the degree, though, and was offered the teaching job in a small town in Saskatchewan, she was also offered—on the same day—another chance at a University coaching position. Having turned the dream down once, she wasn’t about to turn it down twice, even with the salary disparity. More than two decades later, she has built her program and lived the dream.
In this episode, find out from Sarah how seeing things from both sides can make you appreciate where you are…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Sarah Howald Hodges has been the head coach for the University of Regina Cougars women's hockey program in Saskatchewan for more than two decades. She has also coached for the Canadian National's U18 and U22 teams in addition to leading other development efforts for the sport. In her playing days at Dartmouth, she was on two Ivy League Championship teams, was named first team All-Ivy, and was one of the co-captains our senior year. She led her team in points for two of the four seasons, and is still among the top-ten leaders in career goals in the program's history. She also threw a mean javelin. She lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, with her husband and two hockey-playing daughters.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Carrington Bradley, Dartmouth ’96, feels as though a number of happenstances, “twists of fate” as he calls them, have really helped shape the trajectory of his life. One of the earliest was when his mother stumbled across the ROTC scholarship application the day before it was due and—because it didn’t require an essay component—Carrington completed it. Getting that scholarship and joining the ROTC program at Dartmouth handed him the educational opportunity to study engineering and also took the pressure off during senior year when everyone else worried about what would come next. Without any decision-making on his part, he knew that he would be in the Army for four years. His first assignment took him to Korea where he was leading a group of over 30 servicemen just a few months after graduation. Leadership is at the core of everything an army officer does and while some of his engineering and problem-solving skills were put to the test, it was his soft skills—persuading people to do things on time, on budget, and well—were developed most of all.
When his team did not get deployed to Bosnia as they thought they would (another twist of fate), he ended his military career when his four year commitment was over and visited friends in the Bay Area. Fate found a way to set him up in Silicon Valley to begin a second career in project management in the semiconductor industry. He enjoyed working with other former military officers with a boss who asked them to do whatever it took took to solve the problem. Once the problem was solved, he decided to head back east to business school.
Meeting his wife in business school (ah, sweet fate) and compromising on geography by moving back to the Bay Area, he returned to the semiconductor industry. This time, he joined a startup and had the classic Silicon Valley crash-and-burn experience after the financial downturn. Fate smiled again, however, and introduced him to the electric vehicle industry where he continues to use his project management and leadership skills in building out charging stations and making EVs usable for a wider market.
In this episode, find out from Carrrrington how recognizing the signs and following twists of fate can sometimes provide chances to take an active leadership role …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Carrington Bradley is an expert in charging station technologies within the electronic vehicle industry who is on a mission to make you into an electric car driver and to connect you to the power you need. A project manager at heart, Carrington also has a background in the semiconductor industry as well as military leadership.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Adam Medros, Dartmouth ’96, was had taken a gap year in Germany before college, reading and thinking and trying to figure out who he was. An economics major who worked in the library at Tuck School of Business, he was introduced to the world of strategy consulting and ending up being one of the rare few who sought out that career path intentionally. A job interview during a basement pong game sealed the deal and set him off on the consulting route.
When he finally got into industry, early at Amazon, he realized that the way consultants leveraged power to get things done wasn’t how it worked internally. People skills were the coin of the realm. He also learned what he liked about making impact in a company that was ultimately trying to change an industry. That theme of industry disruption led him next to Trip Advisor where he helped create a new way to think about travel. Next, he approached the education sector by working as COO at EdX, the academic non-profit that considers how online course delivery and credentialing could change the way people are educated around the world. Upon the organization’s sale to a for-profit company, he took his next leap to a start-up that is creating a niche in pet genomics and shaking up the pet healthcare industry. In this episode, find out from Adam how having opinions and holding them lightly, all while wanting to change the world, can be a path to success …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Adam Medros is a driver of world change through businesses in a variety of sectors. Having worked in management positions at Amazon, Trip Advisor, and EdX, he is currently COO of Embark, the world leader in dog genetics. He lives outside of Boston with his wife and two kids.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Sansea Kaphan Jacobson, Dartmouth ’96, was assured of herself when she arrived at college, pre-med bound. But then she found Sanborn Library and let her love of literature guide her studies and put the pre-med dreams to bed. She took advantage of the corporate recruiting process to find her first job after college in the IT consulting world. She found, however, that she was more interested in impacting the people she served than the project outcomes. She decided to get back on track to the helping professions.
After completing the post-bac courses necessary for med school, she had the opportunity to work in a hematology lab at the NIH. An astute mentor told extrovert Sansea that she would likely prefer clinical oncology than the pathology in the lab. So, she pursued this line of work in medical school and found herself bedside with dying patients. The psychiatry rotation showed her that it was really the psychology that had drawn her to that work.
Her career now encompasses clinical work with teen experiencing anxiety and suicidal thoughts, but she also advises residents and fellows and mentors them through the psychiatric program. When one student asked about her medical center’s wellness education efforts for her fellow practitioners, Sansea realized that it was up to her to lead the program and model what wellness looks like. In this episode, find out from Sansea how listening to the narrative and reacting with empathy can create meaningful linkages on ROADS TAKEN with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Sansea Jacobson is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Co-Chair of the UPMC Graduate Medical Education Wellness, Environment, Learning, and Living Committee and program director of child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic of UPMC, where her clinical and advocacy efforts are focused on the prevention of suicide in youth through her work at the Services for Teens at Risk (STAR) Center. Through her multi-faceted work, she has become one of the pioneers in a field devoted to reforming our relationship with media in order to promote positive mental health messaging for our nation’s youth.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Kevin McGowan, Dartmouth ’96, says he was popular on campus because he drove Keg One. But it was more than the deliveries for Stinson’s that made him well-known and well-liked. Whether with his football teammates, classmates, or even his family, he has always prioritized the things that matter—nurturing relationships and doing the things you love. When he left college he hoped he would be happy with a good career and family.
The career came in the form of multiple opportunities in the world of foreign exchange, first in New York and then in London. The adventure of going to London was made all the sweeter by a close-knit community of colleagues who have remained friends to this day The adventure of moving westward to Seattle, however, to try a different type of FX work, hasn’t yet seemed to take shape into the same type of community.
In this episode, find out from Kevin how mellowing out and taking yourself less seriously, whether as an individual or a whole city, can help open you to more connections …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Kevin McGowan has spent his career in foreign exchange, with time spent in banks in New York and London. Wanting to try something new, this native son of the New Jersey-New York metroplex moved with his wife and two daughters to Seattle, where he is currently Head Of Business Operations at Amazon Currency Converter.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Micheal Zigmont, Dartmouth ’96, characterizes his college self as having been lost without even really knowing it. Graduating without a job was the manifestation of that. After six months living in his parents’ house, temping, he decided to try to land an analyst position on Wall Street, which he did. A quick test of the dot com world to make sure the grass wasn’t greener on the other side showed it wasn’t and he went right back to finance as though nothing happened. As he never burned his bridges on the way out, he found he was able to go back to familiar surroundings frequently.
What wasn’t familiar was the feeling one Saturday morning when his muscles on one side of his body started cramping unexpectedly and he felt extremely drunk. At 38, as a person in good health with zero risk factors, he suffered a sudden and rather inexplicable stroke. And even quicker than a financial boom and bust cycle, the stroke symptoms went away almost as quickly as they had occurred, again almost as though nothing happened.
In this episode, find out from Ziggy how sometimes being accepting of what is and moving on is the best and only option …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Michael “Ziggy” Zigmont, has over two decades of Wall Street experience with multiple companies, some even multiple times. He is currently with Harvest Volativity Management, where he is Partner and Head of Trading and Research. At 38, as a person in good health with zero risk factors, he suffered a sudden and rather inexplicable stroke. He wanted to share the details of his story with our listeners so that we all have some point of reference should we or our loved ones experience the same symptoms. For more information on Stroke Symptoms—including the FAST acronym for Face Drooping, Arm Weakness, Speech Difficulty, and Time to Call 911—visit the American Stroke Association.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Rose Lee, Dartmouth ’96, was psychology major, active in lots of extracurriculars. She didn't have a particular path in mind upon graduation, but she decided to leap into the unknown of consulting expressly because she didn't know anything about consulting and thought it would be a good challenge. After four years at a small firm followed by business school, that same pattern repeated itself.
A female recruiter suggested that she take a look at the financial industry, seeing transferable skills and experience that Rose hadn’t even considered transfrerable. Being called out (or called in) made a big impression and set Rose on the path not only to personal success in the financial services industry but to being an advocate, mentor, and sponsor for others to help diversify the field as a whole.
In this episode, find out from Rose how recognizing where someone else could shine and reaching out benefits not only that person but the collective …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Rose Lee has been in the financial industry for two decades and currently serves as Managing Director and head of structured products, sales and development for Credit Suisse. She has three kids and still has the time to rally our classmates for a baking challenge (preferably with lots of green food coloring) on Facebook.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Drew Natenshon, Dartmouth ’96, was a chemistry major but considered himself lazy and didn’t see the immediate path to a career after college. He interviewed with a small technology consulting company and became employee #32. After peaking at over 1,000 employees, the IPO in the boom years allowed him to get a really nice sports car. When his company—along with the industry—tanked, he had to sell the car (and more), but said he learned a very good lesson about how businesses should and shouldn’t run.
A friend from high school told him about a master’s program at Johns Hopkins in international development that would let him spend a year in Italy. It was all he needed to switch gears and try that. While hiking on the island of Elbe in the middle of the program, he realized that delivering preventative medicine would be a good way to marry his chemistry background and international development interests. He started finding ways to learn more and gain experience in the world of vaccine development and approval and hopped from interesting assignment to interesting assignment on multiple continents.
In this episode, find out from Drew how focusing on the impact you want to have and letting interests collide can point to the path to making the world better…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Drew Natenshon is Vice President, Program Executive in Infectious Diseases at Moderna Therapeutics, where he has led clinical developments of their Zika vaccine as well as Cytomegalovirus or CMV. Prior to his current role, he has been in vaccine research and development and program leadership roles for other companies. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and twin sons.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Sara Paisner, Dartmouth ’96, had a teacher who brought the sciences alive for her early in life. She was drawn to chemistry in particular, with its explosions and crystals and what seemed like magic. It seemed a logical path to study chemistry in college and go directly into a PhD program. But along the way, she learned that academic research wasn’t what she thought it would be. She chose her postdoc someplace that would put her close to industry—specifically the Research Triangle of North Carolina. She began her industry work creating the materials that would go into microhips. And every job seemed to get her closer and closer to the customer, which she loved. But she discovered the irony of educational attainment: Nobody thinks a PhD is well suited for the business world.
Despite having three small children at the time, she decided to pursue an MBA. She found that marketing and product strategy—particularly for scientific companies—let her meld her skills perfectly and a number of companies thought so, too. But at some point, as much as she enjoyed being part of another company’s team, an offer to buy a business that she had long declined resurfaced one more time and she seized the opportunity to run her own thing.
In this episode, find out from Sara how changing other people’s minds about you can be is as important as changing your own mind about where opportunity lives.…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Dr. Sara Paisner is owner and president of Synoptic Products, a medical products distribution company based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. She is also an avid sailor, martial arts enthusiast, and mother.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Jeff Botelho, Dartmouth ’96, had always been interested in languages. In college, he studied history and Spanish. When he studied abroad and realized that his interest and skill in learning languages could open the world to him, he knew he wanted a career that would allow him to use those skills. He began working in consumer goods in Gillette’s Latin American group, first making his Spanish-speaking colleagues in Boston look good and then working for the company in Mexico. For as much as he was happy living in another culture and as fluent as he’d become, he found the Mexico City too big and so went back to his home town in Massachusetts.
He wanted to use his Spanish fluency, so he taught the language in Massachusetts schools. In time, he found he wasn’t actually speaking Spanish all that much and wanted to use his language skills in a more functional way. He went to law school and decided that he could use his languages practicing immigration law. He worked at a firm for a year but quickly realized that he could do much better at a more reasonable cost for his removal and deportation defense work. He started his own firm in 2009.
Just as language provides a connection to his clients day to day, learning Portuguese provided him with a deeper connection with generations of Botelhos (who had come from the Azores). There also came a time when his faith—which he hadn’t been very aware of for quite a while—became another way to forge a deeper connection to others, to himself, and to the greater world around him.
In this episode, find out from Jeff how listening to the language of the heart and having a little faith can help guide you…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Jeff Botelho is an immigration attorney who has been practicing in his own firm in Hollywood, Florida, since 2009. He's fluent in Spanish and English and is also accomplished in his family's own Portuguese.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Maryam Kia-Keating, Dartmouth ’96, was keen to help students find their voice and build supportive communities as an undergraduate advisor and area coordinator in the residence halls. And she could see a life full of this sort of work with broader populations. But with a psychology major and volunteer activities such as sexual assault peer counselor, the honor code committee, and psychiatric care work, she kept having to confront the reactive end of the spectrum of care, where things had already gone bad and helpers were having to try to make things better. She found her natural inclination, however, was to start from a place of strength and instead think about building stronger communities so that the bad stuff doesn’t happen in the first place. She found a graduate program that helped foster this idea and then held tight to it (if quietly) through her clinical psychology training.
She began to focus her career on the idea of resilience and concentrated on a group she understood deeply from her own lived experience: refugee communities. Again, she found that giving voice to others yields stronger policy outcomes and heathier communities, thus she committed to using a community-based participatory research methodology in her work with both refugee groups and young people. Through the work, she has found vulnerabilities and strengths that she knew, from experience, were there all along.
In this episode, find out from Maryam how giving people voice and understanding their resilience can be the key to strengthening community…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Bonus: Maryam also gives us thoughts for tapping our own resilience for the good of the young people around us.
About This Episode's Guest
Maryam Kia-Keating is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in its school of Education’s Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. Her scholarship and activism centers around resilience and empowers individuals, families, schools, and communities through participatory action and human centered design. She is also a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a mom of two.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Rob Hamilton, Dartmouth ’96, was already a musician before entering college and knew he wanted to major in music. But he also wanted to go deeper, understanding how and why sound affects us as humans. So double-majored with cognitive science. He also found his way to the Bregman Electronic Music Studio—not widely known outside of the electronic music scene, but considered a powerhouse by students of the genre due to its development of the Synclavier the first commercially available portable digital synthesizer.
Even though Rob loved writing and playing electronic music it didn’t seem that there was much of a commercial future in that, so he turned to consulting and eventually leaped into the dot-com start-up world, where he was able to pick up coding by doing (despite being a bad computer science student in school). When the boom became a bust, he was actually happy to leave the corporate world and turned back to music.
He jumped into the world of academia to pursue electronic music but it wasn’t the easiest of roads. And in the middle, he got pulled back to the start-up world just as smart phones came on the market and the app scene was blowing up. Developing sound-based apps, he was tapping into the creativity of both his technical and musical sides, but the market-driven lifestyle just didn’t seem to fit.//In this episode, find out from Rob how interweaving interests and playing by your own rules often leads to the sweetest music…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Bonus from Rob: "Also, thought it would be fun to mention, in the Magic Piano app by Smule, one thing I got to do as the Project Manager/Music Director was to sneak "Dear Old Dartmouth" into the app; you can still go download and play it."
About This Episode's Guest
Rob Hamilton is Associate Professor of Music and Media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he’s been since 2015, composing, performing, researching, and designing software for interactive soundscapes. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer-based Music Theory and Acoustics and an M.A. in Music, Science and Technology from Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) in the Department of Music, as well as a M.M. in Computer Music Composition from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Josh Marks about how his life has been full of happenstances that finally led him to meaningful work within independent schools. What we didn't talk about was his role as college bagpiper. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Josh about how he got into the bagpipes, how it's kept him connected to the college, and what evolution he's seen going back to campus twice a year for the last quarter century. Then, stick around for a special treat to musical tribute to our class and anyone who has called Dartmouth home on this special Bagpiping Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.
Executive Producer/Host:Leslie Jennings Rowley
Opening Music: Clancy Rowley on a theme by Worth Rowley
Closing Music: Dear Old Dartmouth, Harry Wellman 1907, performed on bagpipe by Josh Marks ’96
Guest Josh Marks, Dartmouth ’96, remembers his college days as being marked by a self-unawareness and a happenstance that exposed him to interesting people, interesting extra-curriculars, and interesting academic pursuits. While it made for an enriching college experience, it didn’t set him up for an obvious path after graduation.
After a handful of jobs that were good enough, and one that paid that for an MBA, he was helping a friend look for a teaching job when serendipity struck again. Looking at jobs for his friend at his alma mater, the Hackley School, he saw an advertisement for a financial officer. He realized what he hadn’t loved about consulting was that he couldn’t see the outcomes of the process improvement suggestions. Within a school environment, he could make strides to improve processes and see the benefits. He also found a sense of community and a greater purpose in helping to transform the lives of young people.
On this episode, find out from Josh how the unexpected, and seeing things with new perspective, can provide unforeseen bonuses…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Josh Marks has spent over 15 years in business operations roles within the independent schools sector. He now serves as the Chief Financial Officer of LREI, The Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York City's Greenwich Village. He also still plays the bagpipes, serving as Dartmouth’s official piper, presiding over commencements and homecomings since our college days. Tune in for a special Roads Taken episode on June 9—25 years to the day of our graduation—to hear more about that and for a special treat from Piper Josh.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Guest Tracy Canard Goodluck, Dartmouth ’96, is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and also of Mvskoke Creek heritage and was raised as a strong Native woman in her urban communities of Utah and New Mexico. Freshman year of college illuminated how socio-economic disparities were affecting her beloved Native American communities, and the activist in her got fired up and, after a few terms away to process it all, came back to campus committed to do something about it. After a job in the Hanover After-School Program she knew education would be one route to impact and received a fellowship for graduate study in education.
She made sure to be near Native communities to learn about the systems that empowered and challenged success. Wanting to test a style of education that championed culture instead of removing it, she helped start the Native American Community Academy (NACA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When she realized, however, that in telling the students to follow their dreams she was actually saying what she needed to hear herself, she applied to law school to pave her road to public service in the federal government, where the majority of tribal policy decisions are made.
In this episode, find out from Tracy how heeding the fire in the soul sometimes leads to the place where you can do the most good.....on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Tracy Canard Goodluck is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and also of Mvskoke Creek heritage. Beginning her career as an educator, she was one of the co-founders of the Native American Community Academy (NACA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She now is an advocate for Native American communities throughout the United States in her roles within the federal government. She recently joined the White House as a Policy Advisor for Native Affairs in the Domestic Policy Council, staffed there on a detail from the Department of Interior where she is the Deputy Director of the Secretary’s Indian Water Rights Office.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
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Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Woojin Kim, Dartmouth ’96, didn’t have a clear idea of how he wanted to approach college so he briefly considered being pre-med or pre-law. But after taking a broad range of courses, he realized history spoke to him and enjoyed it so much that he was considering a master’s degree in the discipline after college with an eye toward the professorate.
Back at home preparing applications for the following year, he consulted the list of Dartmouth alumni in his area and planned to reach out to a few for informational interviews to make sure he’d considered a range of options. He reached out first to a doctor who ultimately changed the path of his life.
In this episode, find out from Woojin how even though life’s not a race, sometimes you need help finding the starting line.....on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Woojin Kim is a triple-Ivy educated gastroenterologist and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Medicine and the director of interventional endoscopy at City of Hope, the comprehensive cancer center in southern California. He is passionate about the prevention and treatment of gastro-intestinal cancers, including both research and therapeutic procedural interventions.
Guest Taran Lent, Dartmouth '96, knew he wanted to study engineering, even if he didn't see himself becoming an engineering. Learning how to scope a problem, build a toolkit of tactics and encyclopedia of methodologies, and solve real-world problems appealed to him. As he juggled the coursework and his role as captain of the varsity football team, he found a way to put the engineering mindset to action: He approached a slew of Hanover-area eateries—including the old favorites EBA's, Panda House, Lou's—and built a system that allowed college students to use pre-paid cards in college town eateries, something absolutely new in the late 90s. When corporate recruiting found him with a number of offers at the big consulting firms, he decided to turn them down and to go all in on his business.
In time, the business grew beyond Hanover to other campuses and Taran's company also took over Dartmouth College’s on-campus card system. When he realized he could solve problems at scale, he ended up building enterprise-wide payment processing systems that were ahead of their time and that ultimately paid off.
In this episode, find out from Taran how somtimes you just need to pay attention to see how you can make things better and more efficient...on today's ROADS TAKEN with met....on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Taran Lent has been building and operating payment technology companies his entire professional career from the Hanover Green Card back in the day to his current role as Vice President of Product Development at Transact Campus. When he's not processing your tuition payments, he enjoys windsurfing and spending time with his wife and two kids and extended family in Texas.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Beth (Jordan) Mattingly, Dartmouth ’96, had thought she wanted to be a neurosurgeon so that she could investigate how and why people ended up being different before and after some unexpected event. But when she stumbled upon the field of human geography and how one’s location can have outsized impacts on opportunities, motivations and behaviors she was hooked. Ever more interested in the more expansive questions and implications of sociology, she pursued graduate work in that field and found new ways to investigate the before and after questions that had always piqued her interest. She focused her research and policy-informing work on poverty alleviation and improving family outcomes and continues this work today in her current role with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Of course, this all happened after she met classmate David Mattingly ’96 and they married, both intent on centering their lives on their partnership and parenthood. With five children, there has been a lot of compromise and flexibility.
In this episode, find out from Beth how using longitudinal inquiry can tell us a lot about how things change and need to change for the better...on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Beth Mattinglyhas had a research career that has focused on families, poverty, inequality and how to make things better. She currently serves as Assistant Vice President for Research & Communications, Regional and Community Outreach at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. NB: The views expressed in this episode are those of Beth and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Federal Reserve system, or its board of governors.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Liz Rawson was biologically-minded, but wasn't pre-med in college. The idea of doctoring to people just didn't appeal. Once she realized what was keeping her away wasn't the medicine part but the people part, she set her sights on veterinary school, even if she had to play catch-up a little. She got the work experience and extra training she needed in Boston to be able to apply and enrolled at Tufts. In school, she found what she didn't love (farm animals) and what she did (surgery), but had to stay scrappy to realize the dream.
Her surgical residence ultimately led her to Florida, where she has practiced for nearly two decades. Her tendency to keep her head down and her eye on her career played out in two interesting and different ways over the years—once to get her through things and another against all odds. Though her career has concentrated her surgery work on cats and dogs, she most resembles the Energizer bunny, just going and going, no matter the circumstances.
In this episode, find out from Liz how sometimes just getting through is the way ahead...on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Liz Rawson is a board-certified small animal surgeon who spent nearly two decades in the hospital setting and now works in private practice in South Florida. She’s going to call us the next time she cares for a gator.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Host Leslie Jennings Rowley wanted to take a moment to say thank you to our ROADS TAKEN listeners. "I know you are out there –Dublin to Abu Dhabi, Sao Paulo to Singapore to Vancouver to Rome, and all over the U.S. And I really appreciate that you keep coming back.
"When I started this podcast, I wanted to share the stories of my classmates and how they’ve navigated their sometimes winding roads since college. I knew the stories would be as varied as the individuals telling them. I love that these stories and I love how they have resonated with listeners on all phases of their journeys—from newly-minted alumni who are thinking about their first steps, to those farther on who are thinking about what their next chapter might hold. It’s been great to receive your feedback about our interviews and how hearing these stories have affected you.
"Because I’m now greedy for more, I invite you to fill out our survey at RoadsTakenShow.com by clicking the Contact Us page. Let us know what you want to hear more of as we wind down this first full year of episodes and contemplate a potential Season Two.
"Of course, as much as I want to hear from you directly, it would be so helpful if you could leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It makes the platforms like us and helps others find the show. Of course, we’re also gaining listeners by word of mouth through your own personal networks and we appreciate that, too.//
"But again, I’m so glad you’ve been listening and enjoying the show. Next week, I will bring you another great story and I look forward to bringing you more stories in the coming weeks and months on ROADS TAKEN."
Guest John Barros journeyed to college from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston and tried to become the best version of himself by participating in numerous activities and leadership roles. He went into the business world at an insurance company right after graduation, thinking that law school could help him further hone his worldview and the best way to be of service. Service came looking for him, though, in the form of a call from home.
The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a community development organization for which John had volunteered since before school, was in need of an interim executive director and he was asked to apply. They asked him to stay and, in his thirteen years at the helm, organization built affordable housing and small business space, designed new schools to reengage the community around them, and ended up creating the largest urban land trust in America. When the city’s mayor decided not to run again, he heard another call: this time to run. Though that campaign did not lead to the position he sought, he was asked to be the city’s chief of economic development and now seeks the mayoral position once more.
In this episode, find out from John how returning to what you know and being comfortable with playing the long game can set you up to make true impact, just when home seems ready for you…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
John Barros, a lifelong resident of Boston’s Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods, previously served as the Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative for more than a dozen years and the Chief of Economic Development for the city until recently when he made the announcement that he is running to be the next mayor of Boston in November 2021.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Dave Kramer stayed in Hanover after graduation to complete the teacher preparatory program and answered a classified ad to teach in Colombia. He headed to Cali with a mind to reinvent himself but anticipated honing his Spanish and having an adventure. Finding both his life mate and an appreciation for the environment there, he became a passionate advocate for not only the environment but also Colombia as a place and people. But continued unrest at the turn of the century made his wife anxious to get her gringo back home, thus beginning a recurring theme of “back to Boston.”
Dave found his way at a number of environmental organizations, building networks and connections as he went, including through his cohort at Harvard’s Kennedy School. A move to Austin allowed him to branch out on his own, consulting for a variety of organizations, but always keeping an eye to projects that support the people and environment of Colombia.
In this episode, find out from Dave how being an idealist who's a match-maker for ideas can sometimes spark what you need for your next adventures…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley,
About This Episode's Guest
Dave Kramer is an environmental generalist who has skills in grassroots organizing, experiential education, and supporting the next generation of global change makers to reimagine our world. He is currently the program director for Planet Texas 2050, coordinating interdisciplinary climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives at UT Austin. But if you're heading to Colombia for a visit and need a guide, Dave's your man. He is also the founder of the Colombia Rising Project. Follow them on Twitter @RisingColombia.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Lisana Gabriel Brown started her career as a graphic designer but felt to constrained by how someone else thought things should look. An astute supervisor saw her technical skills and moved her into the world of IT. Though she had considered the corporate path “too buttoned up” in earlier days, she found that the corporate world—particularly banking—was the right fit and a progression of more and more technical roles led her into business continuity risk planning and disaster response.
She did similar work in the health education industry, but the pace wasn’t fast enough to let her make the impact she wanted. But when she returned to the banking world, she also got the surprise of a baby on the way. Interestingly, it took a pandemic—which she was all too ready for her in job—to give her the work life balance she and her family were looking for.
In this episode, find out from Lisana how sometimes making plans for the future isn’t foolproof and waiting it out is the thing to do …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Lisana Gabriel Brown has had a long career in business continuity risk management, predominantly in banking IT and cybersecurity, most recently with MUFG Union Bank. She and her family now live in Charlotte, North Carolina.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Amy Peller, Dartmouth '96, could always be counted on to find the fun in a moment, whether meeting people on the way to the snowboarding lessons or performing magic in the campus pub. Throughout her career in consumer marketing and brand management, she tried to always keep that sense of fun and joy.
Some employers, such as Mattel (where she worked on products from water guns to Matchbox cars), made it easy. Others, who wanted her to move too far from family or deal with layoffs, not so much. Luckily, the skills she built at all of them allowed her to envision her own path, an entrepreneurial venture that some may say is for the dogs—a mobile dog grooming company.
In this episode, find out from Amy how sometimes teaching dogs new tricks doesn’t require forgetting old ones…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Amy Peller is founder and president of Wag & Shine, a mobile dog grooming company in the greater New York metropolitan area. Find Amy and her grooming friends (including her Labradoodle and Chief Happiness Officer Benny Hana) at WagAndShine.com.
You can follow Benny Hana on his official Instagram @bennyhanadoodle.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Edited by Worth Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Helene Sisti has always wanted to take in every experience life offers, whether in the classroom, on a field or on stage at an Aerosmith concert. Combining her love of sport with her interest in psychology, she found her way to sports psychology. But while pursuing a masters in kinesiology, an early class in neuroscience during opened her eyes to the world of research. She continued on for a PhD in neuroscience, looking specifically at the mind-body connection and how we learn.
As all-season track athlete in college, she was unable to study abroad; so she made sure her postdoctoral experience included a stint in Europe. Along with the memories and souvenirs, though, she returned home with a case of burn-out and wasn’t sure that academia was for her. She tried adjunct teaching and then spent a couple years in consulting, but ultimately found her way back to neuroscience research with new perspective.// In this episode, find out from Helene how sometimes putting something on ice and then returning can be the healthiest thing on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Helene Sisti is a neuroscience researcher. Being a lifelong athlete, she is most passionate about understanding the nature of the mind-body connection. She has examined the brain from multiple perspectives, ranging from cellular models to human brain imaging studies. While currently an assistant professor at Norwich University, she still tries to do it all, skiing, running, biking and keeping her eyes out for the next thing to try.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Edited by Worth Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Mark Griffin, Dartmouth '96, had two parents in the state department so had been used to lots of moves before boarding school in Austria. The promise of mountains and persuasive literature sealed the deal for Dartmouth. He loved the intellectual freedom the college afforded and he stumbled into philosophy to round out his genetic propensity toward government. Although he knew that public service was in his blood, he worried that the typical law career might pigeon-hole him. He read about applied policy and public administration and continued on for his masters before law school.
After a couple of shorter lived experiences in the law, including in a public defender’s office, Mark stumbled again, this time into an area he’d known nothing about—campaign finance—and has made a career out of it.
In this episode, find out from Mark how keeping your thinking broad and following connections ultimately helps you find your way on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Mark Griffin is Associate Counsel at the New York City Campaign Finance Board, where he has worked in a number of capacities for almost two decades. His career focus has been on political and administrative law, regulatory compliance and policy implementation. Mark keeps stumbling into good things.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Monica Oberkofler Gorman, Dartmouth '96, had been accepted at Yale Law School and had earned a scholarship to study in Oxford, but her heart lay in public service work in DC so after graduation she took the opportunity of a White House internship—ill-timed, perhaps, given her shared name with another intern at that moment. And although she loved DC, she felt that she needed to see more of how the world worked before she would feel comfortable helping to shape policy. She went to Oxford and get both a masters in politics and stayed for a PhD (turning down Yale in the process).
Knowing she still needed to learn more about the work of work, she hit the pavement looking for a job in industry and ultimately landed a communications role at Gap Inc, just as the clothing giant was under fire for labor practices. She was on the team to write the report that became the model for the entire apparel industry and introduced her to global supply chain, international commerce, and corporate social responsibility. She remained in that world, next at American Eagle and then for New Balance, her entire career. That is, until a new opportunity arose to meld her years of experience and a life-long dream.
In this episode, find out from Monica how how doing what’s right is ultimately good for others and good for yourself on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Monica Gorman is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the manufacturing portfolio in the Biden Administration. Previously, she was the Vice President of Responsible Leadership and Compliance at New Balance and held roles in corporate social responsibility at American Eagle and Gap, Inc. She is a former Clinton-era White House intern.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Editor: Worth Rowley Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Shakari Cameron Byerly, Dartmouth '96, recognized that at her core she is someone who brings communities together, shines a light the diversity within them, and amplifies the voices so all viewpoints are heard. She did that in her youth and in college through student assembly work and with the cultural communities that she was a part. She figured that she would have a future in public interest law or public service. But a straight path to law school didn’t feel right and she served the communities that nurtured her by returning to teach high school in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Realizing she still had a yearning to work at a more macro level, she worked on the social services side of educationa and mentorship. But she still had the political bug, so pursued a master's in public policy, worked with the state legislature and think tanks on education policy and economic development, ultimately getting pulled into the world of public opinion polling that she never knew existed. The perfect fit for her community-building values, she now runs one of the only African American-owned polling firms in the country with husband Rodrego Bylery, Dartmouth ’98. // In this episode, find out from Shakari how amplifying and elevating the voices of everyday people can be its own kind of public serviceon ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Shakari Byerly is partner and principal researcher at EVITARUS, the Los Angeles-based public opinion research and public policy consulting firm that she runs with her husband Rodrego Byerly, Dartmouth '98. The firm is one of the only African American owned and operated polling firms in the U.S. You can find out more at evitarus.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Will Uppington, Dartmouth '96, had a desire to do good in the world, so naturally thought he would follow in his father’s footsteps into medicine. But after a few too many hospital experiences he thought there might be another way to be of service and pursued a double major in economics and government. Worried this might not give him quite enough hard skills, he spent senior year dabbling in Chinese and math and coding. Despite these new skills and yet without any role models in the business world, he still sought a surer footing and so began is career in management consulting.
Consulting experiences in the technology sector and newly-deregulated energy industry led him to a stint in venture capital, just as the dot-com bubble was bursting. Even so, he knew he wanted to pursue a life in technology entrepreneurship after business school. A few start-up experiences later, he was ready to launch his own venture, this time looking more deeply at the models in front of him, namely in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In this episode, find out from Will how important models can be and how knowing what is inside them is what gives them power on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Will Uppington is CEO and co-founder of Truera, which helps enterprises analyze machine learning, improve model quality and build trust. Find out more at truera.com. Though his first founder role, this certainly isn't his first rodeo in the technology start-up world. He has a started and grown a number of successful companies and products and always tries to do something that is both of personal interest to him and of use to the greater world. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Lauren Currie Uppington ’96 and their family.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Shannon Smith-Bernardin, Dartmouth '96, knew she needed to get out of Maine, as the only prospects she saw for herself there were nursing and teaching. With two duffle bags and $400 in her pocket, she landed in Los Angeles and then landed a string of jobs that didn’t feed her soul. In supporting a friend through rehab, she learned more about her own past with alcohol and co-dependent relationships that helped her reflect on how her skills and interests in helping others could be realized in a career in nursing.
Ultimately, she found her place within the community nursing space, helping other people find places to land, if only temporarily. In both professional and volunteer roles, she has developed expertise around the care of homeless populations, the social determinants of health, and alternatives to emergency medicine, particularly the management of sobriety centers. // In this episode, find out from Shannon how finding the community you’re drawn to help can provide you with as much as you give on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Shannon Smith-Bernardin, PhD, MSN, RN, is an expert in the safe and efficient utilization of sobering centers for caring for acute alcohol intoxication. She is an assistant adjunct professor at UC San Francisco, primarily teaching a course on "street nursing" and currently provides consultation to communities who are seeking help with their homeless populations or are looking to establish or manage sobering centers. She also directs the efforts of the non-profit National Sobering Collective. Find out more at nationalsobering.org
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Shervyn von Hoerl, Dartmouth '96, is Iranian-American and had thought as a child touched by the fallout from foreign policy decisions that he would hitch his wagon to a politician’s star and be Secretary of State one day. Participating as an operative in campaigns during high school seemed to pave the way. But after college, he felt burned out on politics in general and even questioned the point of it all.
Deciding to “sell out” as he called it and make a living in New York in the world of finance, he ultimately landed a job in structured capital. He was surprised to find the work interesting and something that he was good at and so has remained in the industry for two decades. While not completely passionate about the work itself, it has afforded him the opportunity to pour his soul into other thing, namely local politics. After changing parties and honing a new collaborative style, he is part of something political that fills him up after all.
In this episode, find out from Shervyn how listening to others can lead you to pick the side that feels more authentic for you on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Shervyn von Hoerl has more than 20 years of experience in the structured finance industry, having developed innovative capital solutions for many types of clients. He is co-chair of the Fair Haven Democratic Municipal Committee near the Jersey Shore, where he proudly lives in a brightly colored Victorian with his family.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Gregory Papajohn, Dartmouth '96, had thought that Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service would be the way to live out the service ethos that he’d grown up with. But, even for a kid who lived in the shadow of Manhattan, he realized during a visit to D.C. that urban life didn’t seem to fit his idea of college. Dartmouth’s setting provided him with a groundedness that he still relies on to help him make big decisions.
A government major, Gregory interned at a law firm during a leave term and went back to law after graduation. Even as he was taking the LSATs, he knew the round-the-clock grindstone was not something he relished. But it was only after law school and a moonlighting gig that introduced him to investor relations did he realize there were other ways to exercise the advocacy muscle. He pounded the pavements for a way into a new career in public relations.
He made a name for himself promoting his large, established financial services clients. But the financial crisis of 2007 made him reexamine the type of companies that were deserving of his efforts. He was pulled more toward fintech and social entrepreneurship. And when he found that his agency wasn’t giving their clients agency at all, he realized he had a better model and pursued it.
In this episode, find out from Gregory how the disruptors to the establishment can sometimes be the ones to follow and then to emulate on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Gregory Papajohn is a public relations expert with a history of serving big established financial players. After pivoting, he founded the Archie Group, a public relations, marketing and advisory-services firm that helps fintech and other emerging business position themselves in the market, acquire customers and partners, and develop reputational capital. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Matt Wiltshire, Dartmouth '96, grew up in Nashville in a family that was active in politics and in serving the community around them in a variety of ways. Ever the fiery, argumentative one, Matt went to college to study government and thought law school was in his future. Thinking he’d save a little money before law school, he followed in the shoes of senior year roommate and went into investment banking. He hadn’t intended to make it into a fifteen-year career but the idea of sticking with smart people working on interesting problems led to opportunity after opportunity, city to city.
Finally, he found a banking opportunity that brought him home to Nashville. He loved the work, but he found himself being pulled into community development work with local not-for-profits boards and community committees and found a desire to do more of that. When an opening appeared within the mayor’s office of economic development, he knew he would be an unlikely candidate. But luckily they recognized that the skills he had gained while he was gone, married with the love he had for the city, would make Matt the perfect person to try to expand opportunities for Nashville and his fellow citizens.
In this episode, find out from Matt how making things better is all the sweeter in a place that you love…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Matt Wiltshire is a proud son of Nashville, Tennessee, doing all he can to build and strengthen the city he loves. After a fifteen year career in investment banking, he finally turned to public service, becoming the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development under multiple mayors. He is currently Chief Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs Officer at Nashville’s Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Matt Little, Dartmouth '96, had a bit of a free-range childhood, allowed as he was to paddle out to his own little island fiefdom near his parent’s lake cabin in Central Minnesota. Finding frogs and other friends and feeling one with that special place, he knew then—as a young child—that he wanted to do all he could to protect special places like this.
With an eye to one day becoming head of the Environmental Protection Agency, he pursued his high school studies to get him to the right college and the right experiences to make it happen. It paid off as he soon found himself in Washington, D.C., doing environmental policy work—yes, even with the Environmental Protection and also the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.
But with an eye on doing more for the Environment, capital E, he also knew that his own environment was also important for his psychic good. So he found a way to plunge himself back in nature and started making impact in a different way.
In this episode, find out from Matt how continuing to make the impact that fills your soul sometimes requires a change in environment…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Matt Little is a conservationist, environmental policy wonk, and currently the director of investor partnerships at Social Venture Partners Portland. He lives in Washington State with his wife and their two daughters, whom he tries to get into the great outdoors as much as possible.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Jennifer Wullf, Dartmouth '96, never thought she was college bound, let alone Ivy League material. But with encouragement that she was a strong writer who had the goods, she entered Dartmouth as a transfer student at the age of 23, making her time at college seem somewhat out of sync. Perhaps that is one reason the memoir she tried to write during her last year’s fellowship—though packed with a roller-coaster plot—ended up missing the mark.
She continued her journey as a writer with a quick stint at Sports Illustrated and then a ten-year career at People Magazine, where she honed her skills profiling some of the most accomplished and creative celebrities. To better suit life with a family, she turned to freelance work and now writes frequently for the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, where she still profiles some pretty amazing people. But, while she does that work well and enjoys it, it still doesn't fill her need to tell her own story.
In this episode, find out from Jen how listening to others can ultimately bring out the story from within …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Jennifer Wullf is a freelance writer, most recognizable to Dartmouth folks through her many cover stories and profiles of alumni from Mindy Kaling to Shonda Rimes to our own Marsha Stephanie Blake in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, where she is a contributing editor. Before hitting it out on her own, she was a long-time staff writer at People Magazine. She is currently working on her memoir.
Also Mentioned in this Episode
Jen’s Dartmouth Alumni Magazine coverstories on actor classmate Marsha Stephanie Blake ’96 and Hollywood showrunner extraordinaire Shonda Rimes ’91.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Audio Engineer: Clancy Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Darryl Knudsen, Dartmouth '96, was technically a comparative literature major in college, but one could be forgiven for thinking he was a paddling major given the amount of time he spent on the water. Unsuprisingly, he began adult life as a river guide. But when he stood on the banks at one point and realized he didn’t have the tools needed to make the impact he wanted, he took a different course.
He embarked on a career in human rights and business—one he needed to forge for himself as there was little in the way of corporate social responsibility in either grad school or businesses. Starting first with socially responsible investment funds, he then found his way into Gap, Inc. where he honed his skills over the next decade and then found himself working globally on everything from improving working conditions to curtailing child exploitation. And once he had the tools of negotiation in the human and environmental rights context, the rivers called him back.
In this episode, find out from Darryl how picking the right path in the current—sometimes going with the flow and sometimes against it—while hard, can be transformative …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Darryl Knudsen is Executive Director of International Rivers, an organization devoted to protecting rivers and defending the rights of the communities that depend on them. The tailor-made role allows him to meld his love of rivers with two decades of experience in human rights and global corporate responsibility honed during his time at Gap Inc. and other experiences representing the interests of workers, communities, and environments.
Also Mentioned in this Episode
Established in 1920, Ledyard Canoe Club is a student-run organization at Dartmouth College that supports flatwater and whitewater canoeing and kayaking.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Suzie Brown Sax, Dartmouth '96, was part of lots of communities in college, from sports to Greek life. But she found her “people” for the first time, senior year, when she joined the female a cappella group the Rockapellas. While the group provided the creative outlet she didn’t know she needed, it also made her question her long-standing dreams to join her science skills with her interest in helping people in a life of medicine. Sage words from a summer music teacher right before she went off to medical school convinced her that she was lucky that she had more than one talent and that somehow there would be a way to keep music in her life.
Little did she know that she would find a way to touch lives through both a vibrant cardiology practice and a career as a singer-songwriter—both of which are about vulnerability in very different ways. She feels a clear sense of purpose with cardiology and puts all of her energy and thought into her patients when she is with them. But she also could never see herself stopping creating music.
In this episode, find out from Suzie different ways to touch people’s hearts and how to be strong for others, you sometimes need to find another outlet for emotions you can’t express elsewhere …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Suzie Brown is an advanced heart failure/heart transplant cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a singer-song writer with multiple albums to her name, including her latest Under the Surface. She lives in Nashville with musician husband Scot Sax and their two daughters. Find Suzie and her music at suziebrownsongs.com.
Bhttps://roadstakenshow.com/episodes/touching-hearts-suzie-brown-025/TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Rebecca Oettinger Feder, Dartmouth '96, knew enough about business after leaving college to know that she didn’t know enough. After a rotational program and an executive MBA, she realized she was drawn most to Human Resources, which she came to regard as more than just an enabling function to the businesses of which she was a part. Her roles supporting senior managers across the entirety of a business gave her an intimate look at all sides of the business and a courtside seat to how senior executives make decisions.
But with the growth of her career—serving many business units within giant global companies that required more and more days on the road and away from family—she realized she needed to make a change. Luckily a decade before, when she was just contemplated motherhood, she had drawn up a business plan for her own HR consultancy. At the time, trusted advisors told her she needed more experience and connections, but when she brushed off the plan all those years later, she was on her way.
In this episode, find out from Rebecca how sometimes it’s the combination of experience, connections, and timing that leads to the impact you are after…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Rebecca Oettinger Feder is principal consultant at Princeton HR Insight, LLC. With extensive experience in HR management roles with global organizations, including as McMaster-Carr, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Tyco/Johnson Controls, she now advises clients in a range of industries through her own firm. Find Rebecca at PrincetonHRinsight.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Marc McDonald, Dartmouth '96 and self-proclaimed film lover, had been combining his love of media and communications and sports through writing and broadcasting during college. After sticking around campus for a year after graduation as an assistant track coach, he also took advantage of the opportunity to run the Dartmouth Film Society and a chance to connect with the Telluride Film Festival kicked off a passion that he was able to stoke for over two decades. Although he immediately knew he wanted to run a film festival for a living, Telluride had only a small full-time team.
His skill in marketing and storytelling and innate managerial skills led him to arts management elsewhere—with a Shakespeare theater company. He realized that he needed to hone his management skills further, so pursued an MBA. The career he made for himself after that has centered on managing teams and communications work within social impact organizations. But he’s never given up the dream to run a film festival. He just figured out how to have his cake and eat it, too.
In this episode, find out from Marc how keeping a passion project alive takes work but pays dividends...on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Marc McDonald has a history of managing organizations and teams—and their storytelling efforts—in the social service, arts and media fields. He is currently with the AARP Foundation where he has held a number of Communications, Marketing and strategy integration roles. His previous experience includes stints at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, among other. But his love of film and community accounts for his love affair with the Telluride Film Festival, where he has been Manager of Theatre Operations, seasonally, for the last 20-plus years.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Scott Anthony, Dartmouth '96, was never really thinking about a life in journalism. But he found the time spent working on America’s oldest college newspaper, The Dartmouth, enjoyable because of his ability to pose questions and do research and tell a story. Years later, those skills would come back together in the work he does as an author on business innovation topics.
Though he credits growing up in a family that valued tinkering, trying things, and finding new connections as one inspiration, it was a chance encounter in business school with Clayton Christensen, father of disruptive innovation, that set him on path to consulting, researching, and writing on innovation. Scott ended up being a research assistant for Clay, co-writing a book with him, and joining his start-up consulting firm. Nearly twenty years later, working in the firm’s Singapore office, he’s learned—and written—volumes on what it really means to be innovative and what it takes to be innovative in personal and professional realms.
In this episode, find out from Scott how innovation in business and innovation in life often feel very similar…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Scott Anthony is an author and senior partner at growth strategy consulting firm Innosight. He has written extensively about a number of innovation topics including disruptive innovation and business transformation, with such titles as his first work with Clay Christensen Seeing What’s Next and his recent 2020 release, Eat Sleep Innovate. His latest research is on "both/and" behaviors (as opposed to "either/or" strategies) that predict stellar leadership. Find Scott at innosight.com.
Mentioned in this episode is the book The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Chesley Homan Flotten, Dartmouth '96, entered college thinking she would be an advocate in the legal sense—one who is professionally qualified to plead the cause of another in a court of law. But a love of history soon blossomed and she found herself in graduate school with the idea of researching and teaching. Ultimately, that path didn’t resonate with her either and, as a new mother, she sought to exercise her professional side in a role where she could make more direct impact on people. She worked in college fundraising until unexpected news set her life in a different direction.
A breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 28—which she did not expect but also needed to push doctors to rightly identify—opened her eyes to how important it is to advocate for yourself. Thankfully able, in time, to manage that personal health challenge, she next found the same self-advocacy skills were required to navigate the social and educational services landscape surrounding her son’s autism journey. A seemingly impulsive decision to open a knitting store actually emerged as a holding space for a community-building movement that helped her connect one-on-one with others going through similar challenges. Ultimately, it led her to add professionalized skills of social work to the personal advocacy network she was creating.
In this episode, find out from Chesley how navigating the abyss on your own can sometimes make you the best advocate and guide for others...on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Chesley Flotten the former owner of The Knitting Experience Café, is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in oncology social work, focused on addressing the psychosocial needs of individuals and families coping with the impact of illness and disability. She is currently the manager of psychosocial oncology services at Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta, Maine.
Mentioned in this Episode
Young Survival Coalition: The organization addressing the unique needs and improving the quality of life of young adults under the age of 40 affected by breast cancer.
Knitted Knockers: Two main organizations have sprung from that which Chesley created to help provide soft, comfortable knit prosthetics for free to breast cancer survivors. https://www.knittedknockers.org/ and http://www.knittedknockersusa.org.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Jonathon “Stew” Stewart, Dartmouth '96, set off to Hollywood immediately after graduation to become a writer and director in Hollywood. Without ready-made connections or a pre-determined path, he had to stumbled around in the beginning until a few observations of the sublime and the ridiculous within his own family made him take stock anew and recommit to the path he’d chosen. Embarking on a collaboration with fellow Dartmouth writer Eyal Podell ’97, he worked on a biopic script about a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright’s before taking the plunge into a similar project on Theordore Geisel. The Dr. Seuss script, though not without its barriers to an easy road to the box office, became the duo’s calling card around Hollywood and ultimately opened doors to animated film projects and other creative initiatives that require just the tricky balance of humanity the pair have continued to perfect.
In this episode, find out from Stew how finding the human story--whether in a non-human animated character or the protagonist of a period biopic--is all about simultaneously seeing both the whimsy and drama of life…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Jonathan Stewart is a screenwriter, director, and author, who—with writing partner Eyal Podell, Dartmouth ’97—has straddled big budget animation and period biopic projects, pulling both the humanity and whimsy out of such characters as Lightning McQueen, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, and our own Dr. Seuess. Find out about his creative projects (as well as a very cool coffee endeavor called Java Stew) at jstew.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Justin Boyd about his journey through being a student-athlete in college, managing his time well enough to get into dental school, and emerging as the fourth generation of his family to practice dentistry. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, he had to help his family shut down the practice and then use the time to rethink dental care in this modern age. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Justin about this for a special covid-19 Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Clancy Rowley on a theme by Worth Rowley
Guest Justin Boyd, Dartmouth '96, may have been destined to practice dentistry with three generations of dentists on his father’s side preceding him. But as captain of the men’s lacrosse team, Justin realized his first job was to learn to juggle his role as a student-athlete (and fraternity member) with his pre-med studies.
Knowing dentistry wasn’t the only game in town, he found himself seeking advice from a teammate’s father who was a prescient physician: He told him that it appeared that general medicine of the future was going to be in the hands of big insurance and that dentistry would remain rather insulated from that trend. At the same time, Justin looked around at the lifestyle that dentistry afforded his father—who could stop seeing patients in Manhattan at noon and still make a mid-week lacrosse game in Hanover to see him—and the path seemed clear.
In this episode, find out from Justin how sometimes observing those closest to you can give you useful information about the life you should be living …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Justin Boyd is among the fourth generation of Boyds to practice dentistry in the family business, a mainstay of dentistry in mid-town Manhattan since 1930. Though he may be on the sidelines or among the coaching staff at one of his five kids' games when you look for him, you can try to find him at drsboyd.com.
BONUS EPISODE NOTE: Listen to the Roads Diverged bonus episode with Justin published on November 6** in which he discusses how his practice was shut down at the start of the Coronavirus, how he and his family used the time to rethink dental care in this modern age, and what the practice has felt like since reopening.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Michelle Erickson Waters, Dartmouth '96, had originally thought she’d be a lawyer, but after she spent a fellowship term with a legal aid organization at the border doing more grant-writing and bureaucratic stuff and less helping people, she listened more carefully to the call to the ministry. A path to divinity school took a slightly different turn than expected when she chose to attend the same school as non-Christian-boyfriend-turned-Christian-fiancé. They have now served together as a pastoral couple for over twenty years.
When their family expanded to four children—later six—she took an early retirement from the church and devoted her time to homeschool the flock. With one now out of the house at college and others in public school now, Michelle has found many other ways to exercise all of the skills required by a pastor—public speaking, counseling, celebrating, and business management. She writes a blog and co-hosts a podcast and continues to work side-by-side with her husband in various ways at the church. In this episode, find out from Michelle how faith and flexibility are often the best guideposts…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Michelle Erickson Waters is a retired pastor who continues to do pastoral work in a number of ways, including through her writing and the podcast Pastors Confidential, which she co-hosts with husband Eric Waters, Dartmouth ’95. Find her writing and the podcast at Michellejoywaters.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Joey Hood, Dartmouth '96, had originally thought he’d spend a life in government service or maybe in politics, but after he realized government majors were mostly really passionate, argumentative lawyers in training, he concentrated in his beloved French. Taking opportunities that presented themselves and ones he concocted on his own, he did every foreign study program in France availle, taught English and studied west African literature in Senegal, and pursued a Fulbright Fellowship in Burkino Faso, investigating the colonial roots of the current educational system and policies there.
So when he landed a spot in the U.S. foreign service, it might sense that his language and cultural skills would send him back to West Africa. Instead, this generalist diplomat has spent more than two decades chiefly in the middle east. Every new assignment has been a graduate seminar on a new culture and geopolitical chess game and he considers the best job out there, the hardship posts and difficulties in leaving somewhere just when it’s starting to grow on you, notwithstanding.
In this episode, find out from Joey taking things as they come, but making the most of every moment once you’ve reached your destination, is a winning strategy when your career bounces you all over the world…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Joey Hood, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, has spent over two decades in the foreign service. A generalist diplomat who has been assigned chiefly in the middle east, he has served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq and Kuwait and Consul General in Dharan, Saudi Arabia. His current role keeps him in Washington, D.C. but who knows where the next assignment will take him.
Mentioned in this episode is the book Our Kids by Robert Putnam.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
"My main objective of starting the ROADS TAKEN podcast was to highlight the stories of my classmates as we travel the road this year to our 25th college reunion – to reflect on who we were when we graduated, who we thought we’d be, and how we’ve traveled down various roads to get where we are today. I wanted to hit home the idea that, regardless of the paths we’ve taken, we’ve still lived into these full lives.
"But at this time when so many young adults out there are wondering what their future will hold, I’m hoping that ROADS TAKEN will also help others interested in living a full life and reflecting on what that means.
"Many of us remember thinking that the direction we would choose at the beginning of adulthood was so crucial because it would lock us into our future path leading either to success or not.
"Already in the first couple dozen or so episodes—featuring guests with drastically different stories about their time in business or the military or education or domestic life—some very clear themes are emerging. I thought today I’d pull out a bit of the wisdom that my guests up to now have shared when reflecting on their own journeys, particularly what they wish they’d known when they were younger or what they might tell to someone just starting out on their life’s journey."
Thanks for Listening! - Leslie Jennings Rowley
HIghlighted in this episdode:
Gabe Schlumberger from Episode 4
Zack Stein from Episode 14
Dan Gonzalez from Episode 1
Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham from Episode 7
Michelle Villalobos from Episode 5
Pace Duckenfield from Episode 6
Fiona Danks from Episode 12
Chris Newell from Episode 8
Sarah McAlister Woelfle from Episode 3
Betsy Miller from Episode 10
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Host Leslie Jennings Rowley wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the ROADS TAKEN listeners.
"I know you are out there – From Seattle to Austin, Aspen to Cranford, Brasilia to Nairobi. And I really appreciate that you keep coming back.
"When I started this podcast, I wanted to share the stories of my classmates and how they’ve navigated their sometimes winding roads since college. I knew the stories would be as varied as the individuals telling them.
"What I didn’t anticipate was that you – our listeners – would share such wonderful feedback about our interviews and how hearing these stories have helped you reflect on your own life journeys.
"Because I’m now greedy for more, I invite you to fill out our survey at RoadsTakenShow.com by clicking the Contact Us page. All entries submitted by October 1 will have the chance to win a ROADS TAKEN journal that includes thoughtful quotes from some of our previous guests.
"Of course, as much as I want to hear from you directly, it would be so helpful if you could leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. It makes the platforms like us and helps others find the show.
"But again, I’m so glad you’ve been listening and enjoying the show.
"Next week we will look back at some of the words of wisdom from our guest so far and then I look forward to bringing you more stories in the coming weeks and months on ROADS TAKEN."
Guest Aleph Henestrosa, Dartmouth '96, knew that he needed good grades and an Ivy League degree in order not to disappoint his father, who had staked out a “central plan” for young Aleph from an early age. This dutiful son did what was expected. Though a personal wake-up call came during his junior year, making him realize he’d always relied on that central plan, he heard the call but didn’t quite have an alternative to the path to the top. Onward to McKinsey and then Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and then the hottest industry in the early days of the new millennium – venture capital. But when the bubble burst and he found himself far from home, it was time to realize he needed to make decisions based on something other than the biggest name and what everyone else was talking about. He needed to find his inner compass.
Years in international development and other globetrotting pursuits ultimately let him embrace his entrepreneurial spirit. Returning home to Mexico, he founded a rapidly expanding hair removal chain, and now lives a rich life with his wife and daughter.
In this episode, find out from Aleph how reflecting on the way we make our choices is sometimes just as important as the choices we ultimately make…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Aleph Henestrosa is the founder and CEO of Wax Revolution, a rapidly expanding (but we don't think we can say growing) hair removal chain headquartered in Mexico City. Find his company at WaxRevolution.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Brandon del Pozo about his journey from philosopher in the academy to the police academy and back again. Having spent nearly two decades as both an on-the-ground patrol officer and a leader in precincts and districts. In a moment when current events have led society to question the role of policing in America, we sat down with the guy who wrote the book on it—his dissertation on police and the state—to hear what he thinks of the defunding movement and his ideas on how policing can become more effective if it works collaboratively with other social support systems around them. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Brandon about this for a special "Policing in America" Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Clancy Rowley on a theme by Worth Rowley
Guest Brandon del Pozo, Dartmouth '96, stood on a folding chair on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the first tower fell on 9/11, tasked with shutting down the exchange and getting people to safety. Some people weren’t listening until a patrician old banker said “This officer’s talking, and we’re going to listen and do what he says.” In time, a lot more people would echo that sentiment: This officer’s talking, and we’re going to listen and do what he says.
A public health, drug policy, and policing expert, Brandon helps others formulate policy by drawing on lessons learned at the intersection of on-the-street practice and his academic investigations of political philosophy over a career spent in both policing and research. He looks to both theory and evidence-based behavioral science to boil things down to systems that a person can use to improve a life on a given day.
In this episode, find out from Brandon how the philosophical and the practical can come together in ways that can be of real and deep consequence for the well-being of others…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Brandon del Pozo spent nearly two decades in the New York City Police Department and served as the chief of police in Burlington, Vermont, where he tackled a number of pressing societal issues, including the opioid addiction crisis. He is currently a postdoctoral public health researcher at Brown University and continues to think deeply on the systems-level reforms necessary to optimize public health and policing in America. Find him at brandondelpozo.com.
BONUS EPISODE NOTE: Listen to the Roads Diverged bonus episode with Brandon published on September 18 in which he discusses his vision for how policing in America can become a truly positive affirming force for our society provided we view it through a collaborative, systems-based lens.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Zack Stein, Dartmouth '96, found that his early stint as a consultant seemed a less (ful)filling, cheap imitation of the romantic life in the craft beer he had imagined for himself. When he finally made it into the beer biz, though, he realized that the lifestyle wasn’t quite as romantic as he’d made it out. What he loved, however, was telling a story about the brands.
On the road to his marketing future, though, he was given the opportunity to take control of the operations and buying side of his products. And a world of just beer turned into cheese, turned into produce, turned into everything under the sun.
In this episode, find out from Zack how following your taste buds, and a penchant for acquiring a broad field of knowledge, can open up a whole new buffet of options…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Zack Stein is a purchasing consultant who—while no longer our direct line to the best beer deals— is still the one to go to for recommendations of the best craft brews around. He loves cooking and spending time with his family, including his partner, Margaret Chang, Dartmouth ’96.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Brad Parks, Dartmouth '96, figured out in high school that he loved the world of sports journalism and honed his craft in college by founding The Sports Weekly. After graduation, he was on the road—literally—to a career in sportwriting, covering just about every Tiger Woods match in the golfer’s heyday and a host of other top sporting contests.
Eventually stories featuring high-paid athletes became harder to write when he was seeing so many other lives worth highlighting—like those in post 9/11 New York, or Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, or everyday inner Trenton. But when he saw the impacts the internet was having on print journalism, he started thinking about plan B.
In this episode, find out from Brad how reading the writing the wall and writing what you know can be the best advice when your world is in flux…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Brad Parks is the acclaimed thriller author of the award winning Faces of the Gone, Say Nothing, and the new Interference. He lives in Virginia with his wife, Melissa Taylor ’96, and their two children. Find him at BradParksBooks.com
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Fiona Danks, Dartmouth '96, thought she was going to be a doctor or veterinarian and has almost all of the pre-med credits to prove it. But she didn’t love the competitive nature of those courses and was drawn instead to geography. A happy chance of a lack of summer funding led her to Arctic science, which just happened to meld her love of biology and the physical and human sides of geography.
Not wanting to be pigeonholed into one narrow field, though, she stayed away from doctoral programs—until she didn’t—and kept finding ways to expand her knowledge and experience base, both inside the classroom and in the field.
After years of adventuring, running an Arctic research center in Svalbard—think polar bears, reindeer, and lots and lots of snow—she is now in an office job in Cambridge. But the impact that she’s having on a variety of the world’s conservation issues is just as breathtaking as when she was in snowshoes.
In this episode, find out from Fiona how sometimes environment is a complex thing and you might just find adventure where you look for it…on ROADS TAKEN…with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Fiona Danks is Head of the Science Programme at the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), where she helps to develop tools and processes to aid decision makers understand how to account for the value of biodiversity in policy-making for development and the environment. She also teaches and advises students at Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge. And if there is ever a future medical doctor or vet in the making, our money would be on Fiona.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Aassia Haroon Haq, Dartmouth '96, always considered herself a writer and had the opportunity right after college to return home to Pakistan and begin writing international news stories that it may have taken her years to have the chance to cover in other markets. But a chance encounter with a childhood friend blossomed into romance and required a move back to the States and an investigation of how to parlay her communications experience into business opportunities. Eventually, having moved through the ranks of major consumer goods companies, a wake-up call inspired a leap into the entrepreneurial world.
Aassia used her experience in corporate communications and brand management to launch her own company in the #futureofwork space before self-employment and the rise of the independent worker was the mega-trend it is today. She now helps to lead an organization focused on elevating and supporting the independent consulting sector and thinking more strategically about how to serve talent outside the full-time workforce. And somehow, she still finds time to keep her entrepreneurial spirit alive on the side.
In this episode, find out from Aassia how recognizing you can be something other than what you are today takes both looking forward and looking back…on ROADS TAKEN…with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode’s Guest
Aassia Haq is an entrepreneur and an expert in the mega-trend of self-employment and the rise of the independent worker. She currently works at MBO Partners, a leading name in enabling both organizations and talent to thrive in the independent economy, and still owns Guidrr, a content marketing platform connecting travel influencers and brands through building mobile-first travel guides.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Betsy Miller, Dartmouth '96, left college directly for law school but had this sinking feeling she probably should have been a therapist. What she found, though, was that it just meant that she was drawn always to the human elements of the law. After years of varied work in the legal field—from accomplished litigator to law school instructor—she started asking where others in the legal profession were going to get the leadership lessons they needed to succeed and not just the “vocational training common to the field.
Having returned to school herself to delve into organizational development, change management, and leadership development, she now is on a mission to make an impact on the law both in practice and in the educational setting so that a new crop of lawyers—including women and other underrepresented groups—have the skills that they and their organizations need to excel in a field that relies solely on human talent and team-based work.
In this episode, find out from Betsy how sometimes you need to step up an answer your own questions in order to make a real impact …on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Betsy Miller is Partner at Cohen Milstein and is co-chair of the firm’s public client practice group. In her work, she represents state Attorneys General in civil investigations and litigation in areas that protect government interests and vulnerable communities, mainly from corporate abuse. When she’s not using her voice for your rights, she can be found using her voice to get you pumped as a fitness instructor.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Kelcey Grimm, Dartmouth '96, planned a one-year sabbatical from her VC job with three months in southeast Asia, three months in India, and three months in Africa. But after meeting a loveable group of lion dens and bonding with them immediately, she scrapped her itinerary and stayed with her new brood. No long after, though, she realized all was not as it seemed. Thus started nearly two decades of struggles against the canned farming industry, the South African government, and local actors as she has attempted to conserve wildlands and the species that make them their home.
Kelcey co-founded the Enkosini Wildlife Reserve (now Lapolosa Wilderness) in South Africa and 2001. She has since rescued a variety of wildlife, and now dedicates all her time to the education, management and social change needed to protect wildlife and wild lands in Africa. The vast majority of the operating budget for the conservancy is derived from the Enkosini Eco Experience, a collection of voluntourism projects that Kelcey curates and helps to bring to life.
In this episode, find out from Kelcey about the balance between doing what’s right and finding what works and how a need for connection and something greater than yourself can be fulfilled in more than one way.
About This Episode's Guest
Kelcey Grimm is the co-founder of the Enkosini Wildlife Reserve (now Lapolosa Wilderness) and Director of Philanthropy and the driving force behind the Enkosini Eco Experience. After well over a decade living deep in the bush and off the grid in Africa, she is running her organization’s operation from Seattle, where she lives with her two children.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Having grown up with traditional Passamaquoddy traditional music in his home community of Motahkmikuhk in Maine, guest Chris Newell, Dartmouth '96, got into pow wow singing in college and helped found an intertribal drum group on campus. But it was an elective in world music that really awakened the performing spirit from this once-engineering major. Playing at more pow wows and circles, he made connections around the drum and ultimately was asked to join the professional touring group Mystic River and ultimately unenrolled from the College.
His years getting to know a variety of native communities and their traditions led him to the public education world, specifically in the museum arena. An expert not only in the cultures and stories of his own community and that of his children, he is a sought-after expert in navigating public history and incorporating the voices of communities in projects.
In this episode, find out from Chris how sometimes cutting one journey short can uncover the road to both your past and your future…on ROADS TAKEN…with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Bonus from Chris: In June 2021, Yo Yo Ma joined Chris in a tube to pay tribute to the Wabanaki Nations in this unannounced concert at Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park
About This Episode's Guest
Chris Newell is Executive Director and Senior Partner to Wabanaki Nations at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he works to center the voices of the Wabanaki people in telling their stories and sharing their traditions. He also co-founded the Akomawt Educational Initiative in response to observations of the public school system and the lack of representation of Native history and social studies and served for six years as the Education Supervisor for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Though a long-time member of the Mystic River singers, an internationally acclaimed and award-winning intertribal pow wow drum group based in Connecticut, he was drawn to pow wow singing as an undergraduate and helped found the intertribal Occom Pond Singers. As mentioned in this ROADS TAKEN interview, along with his work in education, Chris has also appeared in feature films and was the Senior Advisor on the Emmy winning documentary Dawnland , chronicling the historic first-ever government-sanctioned Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the State of Maine.
And did you know…? According to the Alumni Association constitution, membership includes “every person who has ever matriculated as a full-time student in pursuit of a Dartmouth degree” at the undergraduate College, even if that individual never graduates from the institution. Dartmouth still claims the beloved Fred Rogers as an alum, and he attended the College for only his freshman year. In our book, our beloved Chris is still a member of the great class of 1996.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham about her journey that included a quick jump to independent schools after graduation, a pause for early motherhood, and a return leading a school of her own. Entrusted with the safety and well-being of a school full of students and educators when the coronavirus pandemic hit, she had to send everyone home and work with her colleagues to make plans for delivering meaningful online education—all in about 72 hours. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Jeneen about this for a special covid-19 Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.
Guest Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham, Dartmouth '96, had been intrigued by the world of Independent Schools after college and so thought she was on the right path consulting and recruiting for independent schools.
But after starting to question things and wondering who she was, she left her job and moved across country as a new wife and a new mother—both earlier than she’d envisioned. Feeling a loss of her own identity, she thought of where she most felt herself. She had to look no farther than her own backyard—literally—to find the University of California, Irvine and enrolled immediately. Though the road to her doctorate in education was longer than she thought, she emerged not only with a degree but a new sense of how and who she wanted to be in the world. And, wouldn’t you know, that had something to do with Independent Schools?
In this episode, find out from Jeneen how sometimes doing something for yourself can actually put you on the path to serving others……on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Dr. Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham is Upper School Principal at St. Margaret's Episcopal School, an independent school in San Juan Capistrano, California. Previously, she was the Assistant Director of the Center for Research on Cognition and Learning at the University of California, Irvine. Her dissertation in educational psychology was entitled, “Elements of Human Effectiveness: Intelligences, Traits and Abilities that Lead to Success and Fulfillment in Life.
Mentioned in this episode is the book The Defining Decade by Meg Jay.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Pace Duckenfield, Dartmouth '96, had been pursuing a legal career in the telecom policy and regulation area—just as planned. But he also knew that he would need to make good on his commitment to the military. Instead of continuing to process security clearances—same process, different day—he decided that going active duty would help him develop more skills.
Finding himself in the Middle East just after the U.S. invaded Iraq, his days were definitely anything but mundane. His work as an intelligence officer (and paratrooper) put him in contact with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and gave him the chance to learn volumes more than books would have provided, then his lust for lifelong learning pushed him into cyber operations and training.
In this episode, find out from Pace how intelligence is one thing, but lifelong learning is another…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Pace Duckenfield is a Cyber and intelligence leader for the U.S. military, whose focus has been on guiding teams to provide critical data collection and analysis for tactical, operational, and strategic uses. Set to retire from the military in 2021, his interests in cyber law may bring him full circle. Or perhaps another he’ll get a little intel about another opportunity and seize it.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Michelle Villalobos, Dartmouth '96, was hanging with Shakira, taking the Latin lifestyle publication biz by storm, and then launching her own consulting firm. But the vida ended up being a little too loca. When she felt she hit bottom she realized she’d been listening to all the wrong voices and what looked cool and shiny on the outside didn’t really reflect the deeper truth somewhere under the surface.
Uncovering her own truth, she found a path toward helping others align their own purpose and values with the lives they are meant to lead. In this episode,find out from Michelle how sometimes you need to quiet the outside noise and listen more carefully inside…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Michelle Villalobos is founder of Superstar Activator, a consultancy that empowers creative professionals to align their business with their purpose, desired lifestyle, and values. She is also the host of the “Awaken Your Inner Superstar” podcast. Find her at superstaractivator.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Recently, ROADS TAKEN sat down to talk with Gabe Schlumberger about his journey from perennial college major-changer to Pixar animator to his new role as CEO of a startup eyewear company, Fitz Frames. Recognizing that they had something to contribute during the coronavirus pandemic, he and the company pivoted. Join Leslie Jennings Rowley as she talks to Gabe about this for a special covid-19 Bonus Episode of ROADS TAKEN.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Clancy Rowley on a theme by Worth Rowley
Guest Gabe Schlumberger, Dartmouth '96, began his post-college life without a job, but with a nagging feeling that he needed to be creating.
He set his sights on animation and worked hard to land at Pixar, adding his hand to some of the company's most iconic animated features. The advent of the iPhone led him to dabble in app development and ultimately in charge of digital efforts for Disney.
So how does someone leave not one but two of the most recognizable names in the the entertainment industry ultimately to help launch and run a retail eyewear startup? By continuing to pursue the things that intrigued him.
In this episode, find out from Gabe how looking at things through the right lens often leads you to your own perfect fit.…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Gabe Schlumberger is CEO of Fitz Frames, a 3D-printed eyewear company. Find their full line of prescription, blue-light filtering, and sunglasses at Fitzframes.com and on social @FitzFrames.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Sarah McAlister Woelfle, Dartmouth '96, began her post-college life as the first female team manager for the global pediatric health non-profit Operation Smile. Entrusted with the health and safety of scores of people at the age of 21 and seemingly living and breathing the work 'round the clock, she realized that—while she had gotten so much from the experience—she had given a lot, too.
Recalibrating, she thought the corporate world would give her the international lifestyle she craved. But after business school, she found that the mountains in her native Colorado held an unexpected career in real estate and the lifestyle that fit with who she’d been all along.
As they say in real estate: It’s all about location, location, location. In this episode, find out from Sarah how the winding path just might bring you home…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About this Episode's Guest
Sarah McAlister Woelfle has been a realtor in Aspen and its surrounding mountain communities for over 17 years. With accolades to her name and a rich knowledge of her beloved Colorado, she is the natural choice for anyone interested in the housing market there. Find out more at sarahwoelfle.realscout.me
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Guest Drew Brady, Dartmouth '96, had always been interested in science but learned in college that research didn't feel as immediate as medicine and, in medicine learned that surgery provided the quickest route to results.
While a surprise addition to his family didn't derail his straight path through med school to practicing orthopaedics, it did add another layer of complexity. It also added another route to reconnection with his college days.
In this episode, find out from Drew how a straight path to your calling can sometimes bring you full circle.…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Drew Brady, MD is an orthopaedic surgeon in Newark, Delaware, serving the local trig-state area. You can find him for all your general orthopaedics, orthopaedic trauma, and hip and knee needs at First State Orthopaedics.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Music: Brian Burrows
Guest Dan Gonzalez, Dartmouth '96, left college most concerned with keeping his options open. In the pursuit of breadth, he dabbled in everything from health care consulting and after-school drama programs for kids, and even considered med school. But then he heeded the oft-proffered advice to "follow your passion," realized music-making had been a source of earlier joy, and enrolled in a song-writing program at Berklee College of Music.
To make ends meet, he had been tutoring at a test prep company and got hooked into an industry he'd never considered through the power of one uniquely-run company. It ended up changing the way he thought about passion, purpose, and the value of finding work that feeds you.
In this episode, find out from Dan the difference between "following your passion" and "following your purpose…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Dan Gonzalez is co-founder (with his wife Anne Jones, Dartmouth '97) of District C, a not-for-profit that empowers schools and teachers to teach high school students how to collaborate with diverse peers to solve real-world business problems. Find out more about their process at https://www.districtc.co.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
They say “Hindsight is 20/20” and don’t we all wish we could have graduated college knowing what we know now? In this year 2020 and into 2021, members of Dartmouth’s Class of ’96 are looking back at the roads they’ve traveled on their way to their 25th Reunion. And we are kicking off a podcast series to share our stories of all the twists and turns and lessons learned.
Host Leslie Jennings Rowley '96 will sit down with many different classmates and hear their stories about who they were at Dartmouth, who they thought they’d be, and how they’ve meandered down various roads to get where they are today. Almost never will the now be what they imagined. And we hope that that fact helps our classmates (or anyone hoping to live a full life) as they reflect on their own successes : You don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits.
We are excited to bring you: Roads Taken, starting June 15, 2020.
Subscribe now or find out more at roadstakenshow.com.
Welcome to Roads Taken, the show that reminds us that you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going, you just need to be open to the adventure that awaits.
In each weekly episode for the next year, Leslie Jennings Rowley will sit down with a new guest—all classmates of hers headed down the road to their 25th college reunion—about who they were as they graduated, who they thought they’d be, and how they’ve meandered down various roads to get where they are today.
Will they have loved all their jobs?
Or all their choices?
Did they have it all together?
Maybe not, but will they have great stories about their lessons learned?
Of course they will. Because the guests on Roads Taken will show us that it doesn’t really matter which way we turn….somehow we all end up where we’re supposed to be regardless of the ROADS TAKEN.
Won’t you go down this road with us this year?
Starting June 15, 2020, a new show will be published each Monday, with occasional Friday bonus content.
Subscribe wherever you access your podcasts. Or check us out at roadstakenshow.com