Earlier this summer I received an email about a concept that the Office of Alumni Relations at Northeastern University had come up with: an alumni podcast called #NortheasternNext. The concept was simple: interview the global Northeastern alumni community and see what their #Next is. Northeastern students don’t follow a traditional university experience. I believe it’s Northeastern’s president Joseph Aoun who said it best – our tradition is innovation. We have five year programs when other universities have four; we have students starting and running successful businesses before they graduate; we have students who are only on campus for one or two semesters and spend the rest of their college years abroad. You get the picture – non traditional. That’s why this podcast makes so much sense. It’s important to see where the alumni from such an institution end up. You know, what happened to the business major who ran two companies before graduation?
I sit on the Young Alumni Advisory Board at Northeastern University and while I openly gush about my love for my alma mater (see post here), this invitation to the podcast was truly an honor. My initial reaction however was apprehension – did I really have anything to show for my #Next? Was it enough compared to the other alumni that would be interviewed? It further weighed on me when I found out that I would be their first interviewee. So I was going to be setting the tone for the entire concept and that got me anxious! I’m not one to freak out – but this definitely gave me pause. I traded a couple more emails with Megan at OAR trying to put a finger on potential questions, venue and any other piece of information that I could pry out of her. She did a great job at trying to put me at ease. She said, ‘think of this as a conversation. We just want to see what you’re working on and how you got there’. Broad right?
Can I be honest? This did NOT help! I hadn’t been on a podcast before and I was very anxious as I felt as though I didn’t have much to share.
You know that feeling you get when you realize that you got on a roller coaster that you shouldn’t be on but are strapped in and it’s too late to chicken out? Yeah, that was me silently freaking out and accepting my fate all at once. I decided that it was time to embrace the discomfort and be honest with myself. Why was I feeling this way? What was it about this opportunity that rattled me so? After some honest self – reflection I realized that the imposter syndrome was in full effect. I was afraid that I would be ‘found out’. I suddenly had thoughts like ‘you aren’t doing enough post grad and now everyone will know it!’ My mind began to race and fear began to creep in, what will people think?
The thing is that I’m five years out of college and I am always asking myself if I’m doing enough. I work full time as a Health IT consultant, run two blogs, chair a board, sit on another, host events, moderate panels, create communities in my city and abroad. Am I doing enough? Many say I’m doing the most but when this opportunity came, I felt as though I wasn’t doing enough. This podcast came at a time when I was evaluating what my #Next was professionally and personally. The podcast actually got me to evaluate my growth and reevaluate some of my goals. What began as an anxiety inducing episode ended with some of the most reflective moments that I’ve shared with anyone in a while. I talked about my journey – something that I believe we should all share in order to fully appreciate how far we have come.
As I write this post, the podcast has been out for a day and if there is one comment that I have received over and over is that, ‘it was inspiring to hear about the journey’. People also said that, ‘it was also interesting to see how I am exploring my professional and personal passions’. These comments continue to remind me that just one story can inspire another to action. So go out there, share your story boldly!
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast here – the team has interviewed some amazing alumni! To be clear – you don’t have to be Northeastern alumni to enjoy this podcast!
Thank you Northeastern OAR for allowing me to share my journey and my #Next.
