Category Extraordinary People
Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta, Is Building The Essential Piece To Scaling Renewable Energy
Listen to Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of energy storage company Malta, and you’ll understand what it means to have learned how to think. With degrees in anthropology and economics from Amherst College, Ramya is the CEO of her second renewable energy company. Her superb logic, ability to understand and weigh options and tradeoffs, and ask the right questions at the right time all have not only earned her a seat at the table in an engineering-intensive industry. They’ve empowered her to lead, motivate, and inform others, from others who have an interest in this business to White House cabinet secretaries.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Ramya developed a passion for big infrastructure projects
The skills she acquired as a member of the Amherst College debate team and how she draws upon them every day
The inspiration for her pivot from investment banking into starting and growing a hydropower company
What energy storage is and why it is necessary to scale renewable energy
The Amherst College classmate Ramya wants me to talk to next
Connect with Ramya on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramyaxswaminathan, and learn more about Malta at https://www.maltainc.com.
Andy Liu Plans To Live To 100. He Thinks We Should Plan For It, Too.
Andy Liu plans to live to be at least 100 years old and has no intention of easing into retirement.
His 30+ year career in healthcare has him feeling confident that he’ll not only live to see 100, but that he’ll remain healthy and active in his elderly years. In fact, he’s ditching the typical, first-world plan of working into his 60s and then spending the rest of his days living a life of leisure. He thinks those of us who graduated college in the ’90s should follow his lead.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Andy thinks more of us will live to see 100 years old
His ambitious plans for his second 50 years
Andy’s typical reaction to someone telling him “It can’t be done,” and how that drives him
Why he finds himself in the 34th year of a four-year plan to return to his home state of California
The members of the Amherst College Class of 1994 he wants me to interview next
Justin Neely Navigates Shift From IT And Digital To The Arts
Justin Neely may be the most liberal arts-y person you’ll ever know. A polyglot (I had to look it up, too; it means one who is fluent in speaking and/or writing many languages), Justin has achieved impressive things in both the world of business and in the arts.
As with many guests on Pre-Made, Justin is navigating a significant life pivot, in this case from a career defined mostly but not entirely by IT and digital marketing to one that’s entirely focused on his art, at least for now.
In this episode, you’ll learn about:
How a trip to the then-Soviet Union nearly derailed his college plans
The dramatic impact the film Basquiat (starring Amherst College graduate Jeffrey Wright ’87) made on Justin
How former members of Amherst rock band Rosemary Caine encouraged Justin to apply for and eventually land a side hustle he was unqualified to do at the time, and how that work propelled him into a business career in IT and digital
The one person in the Amherst Class of 1994 Justin wants me to talk to next
All about Justin’s artwork and its expression of his worldview, which you can explore on his website, justinneely.com
Photo courtesy of Gordon Eriksen (http://gordoneriksen.com/)
Hector Caraballo M.D.: From Amherst to ER Doctor to Tech Entrepreneur
The more you listen to Hector Caraballo M.D., Amherst College Class of ’94, the less you’ll believe in coincidences. In this episode, you’ll learn about:
His extraordinary single mother and the heart-to-heart conversation she had with Hector that resulted in him applying to medical school
The harrowing event that nearly prevented him from attending a med school admissions interview – and how he earned acceptance to that program
How he discovered that (in his modest words) he didn’t suck at emergency medicine, drawing upon his upbringing in the Bronx to embrace the chaos that’s prevalent in ERs
The bargain he made with his wife that resulted in moving from New York City to San Antonio
His path from practicing medicine to serving as Chief Medical Officer of MedCognition, a leader in augmented reality, ultra-portable, clinically intuitive medical simulation
The three people in the Amherst Class of ’94 Hector that wants me to talk to next
Connect with Hector on LinkedIn.
Howard Chung’s Journey from Amherst College to Main Street & YouTube
Howard Chung talks about his life as a main street entrepreneur, a streaming and digital video producer-promoter – and how Amherst College prepared him for his career. In the last 20 or so years, Howard has owned or co-owned restaurants, a construction company, and even a concert promotion outfit. These days, Howard runs a bike shop and a business built around famed maker, YouTube personality, and soon-to-be Netflix star, Jimmy DiResta.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How a personal loss on 9/11 motivated him to leave a career in finance for main street – and how the events of that day still motivate him
Advice he would give Amherst College students and alumni about going into business for themselves
Why he never puts his job title on his business cards
To learn more about Howard, visit:
The Bicycle Planet (Syosset, NY) Instagram, YouTube, and website
The Amherst College alumni database (login required)
Jimmy DiResta YouTube channel and Netflix trailer for Making Fun, coming March, 2022
Marisa Silverstein Finds Life’s Passion In Helping Kids Find Theirs
“It matters less where you go than what you do when you’re actually there.”
So says my guest, Marisa Gonzales Silverstein. She said it in the context of deciding on where to go to college. She should know. After all, she’s the founder of MGS Educational Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping prospective college students design their own path, no matter where it takes them and especially if it leads them beyond the nation’s top college and university “brands.”
MGS differs from other college counseling services because of its focus on matching prospective students to the programs that are best able to cater to their unique learning styles and interests. That’s something most high schools cannot do if only because of a lack of resources; the average high school college guidance counselor has an average case load of 400 students.
Marisa is more than just an educational consultant. She’s also an artist, mother, and wife. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone considering college or parenting someone who’s preparing to take that step. Her story also will appeal to those who are contemplating a second (or third or fourth) career act, for Marisa will be the first to admit that she finally has found her passion after several career stops along the way. She loves what she does, and it shows.
Show notes:
Books Marisa recommends: Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges, by Loren Pope. Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, by Jeffrey Selingo.
Video: “Why Did I Say “Yes” to Speak Here?” by Malcolm Gladwell, speaking at Google.
Marisa’s art: Her work drawing attention to gun violence in the United States, called “92 Americans. Every Day” and the website that showcases her work.
How Mo Said And Mojo Supermarket Build Meaningful Brands, Banish Bad Advertising
Mo Said is the co-founder and chief creative officer of Mojo Supermarket, an award-winning creative agency that has had an extraordinary run of acclaimed campaigns for the likes of Adidas, Netflix, and Savage x Fenty. That’s not a fluke. Said and Mojo Supermarket are selective. They work only with brands that are willing to go on a journey to address a few simple but potentially uncomfortable questions, the answers to which will determine how they can become distinctive.
In this episode, Mo tells us about:
Mojo’s unique approach to uncovering brand attributes that will ignite passion and attract diehard fans
Why he left a blue chip agency like Droga5 to start his own business
How his experience as a Pakistani immigrant has empowered him to question everything
Examples of the company’s best work
The top marketing trends that are likely to emerge over the next three-to-six months
Matthew Scott Goldstein (msg) On The Covid-19 Data You’re Not Getting But Should
Unless you subscribe to This May Sting, a website and daily newsletter that analyzes Covid-19 data not as a medical doctor, virologist, or epidemiologist would, but with the rigor of a seasoned analyst, chances are you’re not getting the most useful data on the pandemic.
Matthew Scott Goldstein, or msg as he’s known in the media industry, is out to change that.
Covering Covid represents a pivot for msg, who has spent most of his career as an analyst in the world of advertising technology, or ad tech for short. As Covid-19 worsened in the spring, msg found himself naturally drawn to the pandemic’s data. That attraction was fueled in part by noticing big gaps in the data, as well as wanting to work on more consequential projects than wondering where the likes of Google, Facebook, and major media companies were headed. As a result, This May Sting was born.
In this episode, msg talks about:
The pandemic data most of us don’t get but should
The five key questions he has for Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force
Why the country needs a Chief Data Officer to help improve the quality, availability, and the public’s understanding of Covid-19 data
The big questions facing the distribution and administration of Covid vaccines.
Andrew Heyward’s Playbook On How To Navigate Career Transitions Toward Happiness and Satisfaction
Andrew Heyward has had a career that I envy. The one-time president of CBS News now has two jobs in academia. He’s a Senior Research Professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. He’s also a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Media Lab’s Laboratory for Social Machines and a Senior Advisor at its non-profit spinoff Cortico, where he is working on artificial-intelligence-based tools to strengthen local journalism and civic engagement.
In this episode of the Pre-Made Podcast, Andrew reflects on his extraordinary career and offers advice on how to maximize professional happiness and satisfaction, including:
As you advance in your career, try to double down on the work you enjoy and seek to minimize if not eliminate the tasks you don’t like.
Don’t let the opinions of others impact what you do or don’t do.
Skills evolve as we age, so look for work that will reward these new skills you’re likely to acquire with experience.
Broaden your network beyond your field of work.
Consider the value of career breadth versus pure specialization.
Be prepared to let circumstances unfold and guide your path. You don’t need to have everything figured out in advance of a transition.
Find a mentor who can help you make better decisions.
Email Andrew at aheyward@asu.edu.
Meryl Draper, CEO of Quirk Creative, On Improving Creativity In A Time Of Covid
With Covid restricting so much of the way we work and relax, finding new ways to express our creativity can help make this time more bearable. In this episode of the Pre-Made Podcast, I talk to Meryl Draper, the CEO and co-founder of Quirk Creative, an award-winning agency that especially direct-to-consumer brands are hiring to help make their first big splash in TV advertising.
In this episode, Draper talks about how TV commercials get made, how Covid is reshaping that work, and what the rest of us can learn about how Quirk’s team keeps at peak creativity.
Some show notes:
We talked about a perfume brand that made a commercial starring Natalie Portman. The brand is Miss Dior.
KPIs refer to “key performance indicators,” a measure of business performance.
OTT refers to “over the top,” a term synonymous with streaming video such as Netflix.
Quirk’s website. findyourquirk.com
Meryl Draper’s email address is meryl@quirkcreative.com.
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