Navigating My 20’s

Drew: You know, just having the courage to put yourself out there and try different things, meet new people, build new build, build relationships, you know, talking presentations, talking meetings, have conversations like this. Some courage and resilience to powerful words when you put them together, simple but powerful. And if you can adhere to that, and there are a lot of words to add here, too, but that’s a great start courage and resilience for sure. But thanks again, for allowing me

Zeke: I’d like to welcome, everyone to another episode of the Let’s Gather Podcast. I’m your host Zeke. In this episode I have my friend Drew to speak about adjusting to adulthood and post college life. You can listen to this podcast on all major platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, by clicking the link in description below. Or going to allmylinks.com/letsgatherpod. Please rate the five stars. I like to give a content warning for any strong language used in this episode. I hope you have a nice day and enjoy the show. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for coming,

Drew: What’s up man. How you feeling?

Zeke: Oh, good. Last episode for season three. Then season three starts next week.

Drew: I’m the last one to season three.

Zeke: Yeah.

Drew: And I gotta pull up. No, I’m honored, man, thank you for the opportunity for sure to just link up and chop it up.

Zeke: From not having seen each other a couple minutes in the wild a little bit.

Drew: New normal man, like, I can’t even dap you up. Virtually dab you up.

Zeke: So to get started, the first episode we like to act is what would your origin story be? And how would you represent it?

Drew: For sure, um, it’s kind of hard to, to, to, to pinpoint what age exactly, um, my story began. So I’ll say I’ll change the question a little bit if that’s okay. Yeah. Maybe we maybe we could change the rules a little bit last episode. And I’ll talk a little bit maybe about like, when I realized, you know, like, what I who I was or like what I was searching for. In this life, I would say probably about, like, sophomore year of college, is when I started to, you know, figure out who I am and really understand what my goals were. And the reason why I was sophomore year of college is because prior to that, I feel like I I was kind of just like floating around, right? Like, I’m trying to be funny in classes and not really taking school too seriously. And, you know, getting into different things that kids do, right, like being a bad kid. But it wasn’t until sophomore year of college, and even with the whole college process, I kind of just did it because my sisters were in school. And it just felt like something right to do at the time because the alternative which is not going to school felt like a very foreign idea to me at the time, and so thankfully, I got the call from Kristy Perez, you very who Kristy Perez is but for those listening on Kristy Perez is the former director of Urban Male Leadership Academy, and that’s essentially a program. It’s an opportunity program that helps to increase the retention rates of black and brown men in college, right? Financially, educationally, all things you name it, brotherhood, right, because I started with a cohort in 2013 and got the call from Kristy and even that first year, it was like, I was one foot in one foot out, right like I knew I always wanted to elevate and do better for myself, but I just wasn’t sure how that was going to be defined. Um, sophomore year of college though, I think through just like surrounding myself with like minded individuals. Um, you know, we came across what is called corporate America, and and, you know, we had a year to to kind of polish ourselves and get ourselves ready to, to get into that grind. Because reason why I say a year is because a lot of or I should say, the traditional route into corporate America is that you secure a junior internship so that at the end of the summer, you can go full time. And so that became our objective. And by our I mean, the folks that I had surrounded myself with, at the time at Baruch. Um, and so, you know, we we joined some programs. In addition to UMLA, we were also in Management Leadership for Tomorrow, which is not a Baruch specific program, but it is a professional development for sophomores across the states and do that, and just different, you know, different opportunities often on campus was able to, you know, get polished, secure an internship in tech at Google, which proved to be a really fruitful opportunity. And at the end of the summer, they asked me to, to come back. And so I graduated in 2017. And in January of 2018, I started working for, for Google. So I’ve been there for about two and two years and seven months, just about two years, and eight months, January of 2021 will be on the three year anniversary. So to answer your question, you know, more specifically, I think that’s when I kind of, you know, figured out what I wanted to do and what my grind what my hustle was going to be sophomore year of college. Funny enough, I think I’m redefining that origin. As you put it right now, though, because, you know, I’ve been in the space for about, like I said, almost three years. And the role is super technical, which, you know, me as completely opposite of who I am, right? Um, I’m very extroverted, very personable. And so, you know, I’m, I’m looking to transition into a more people oriented space, specifically doing work similar to you. And really funny enough, right. So it is, I think, it’ll be nice to see things come back full circle, right, where I’m directly helping people of color or not of color, we don’t discriminate. dislike, you know, figure out what their origin is, or figure out what their grind is. And if they know their grind, how do they Polish themselves so that they can continue to elevate and get into the spaces that make sense for them. So that’s what I’m working on. Right now, preferably still in the tech space. Because I think that’s where the world is continuing to move. So, and I enjoy being in tech, it’s just that I’m not necessarily in love with the role. But definitely still kind of in that tech space. So that was a long winded way of answering your question about, you know, where, where’s my origin? And where did things kind of start from me, I would definitely say, sophomore year of college. And by the way, yes, that’s a professional, that’s the professional side. I’m happy to also answer the origin of like, my more personal side and, you know, personal interest.

Zeke: You can connect with personal too. And then how would you for the professionals side how would you represent it, you write a book, write a screenplay?

Drew: Um, I like the idea of play. Play could be cool. Because it’s more interactive. And, you know, people have short, short attention spans nowadays, myself included. I’m, so I felt so a book or a movie might not be as interesting. Or maybe a play, you know, because it’s live. People are kind of, you know, you’re engaging with the audience outside. Yeah, I think I like the idea of a play. Also, a podcast can be cool. Right? can be cool, too. But, I mean, that’s definitely something to keep in mind. Right? Like, how do we, how do we tell our stories, because everybody has a story to tell and all stories Like worth listening to for sure.

Zeke: Is that a lot of stuff in your origin? And like something you definitely you wanted to make that corporate change and everything. And you wanting to become more serious?

Drew: Yeah, that’s when I wanted to become more serious about school. You know, I was like, I wasn’t just there to be there and understood, like, why I was there. Because all the freshman year, I was waking up, commuting from Brooklyn into the route. And it honestly just was an autopilot. To be honest, like, I knew that I had to go to class, I knew that I had to do assignments, otherwise, I would get a failing grade. But there was no like Northstar, there was no, there was nothing guiding me. Um, sophomore year, though, like I said, is when I started to, very clearly define, you know where it is, and what it is I’m personally where I’m trying to go. And then from there, I was able to kind of like create this plan. Using my own blueprint, but then blueprint of those who, you know, what, in situations similar to, to me, because there’s a lot of people who are trying to secure Junior internships as well, especially as I, when I stepped into the MLT community, because that’s like 300 plus people, across universities in the United States. And so you’re surrounded by a lot of black and brown talent. And so you can be like, okay, cool, like, this is what you’re doing. This is what I should be doing. They share a lot of resources and things like that. So that was really helpful for sure.

Zeke: Yeah. Everybody in SEEK talks about ANY, MLT and all that stuff.

Drew: Yeah, I think those programs are necessary, for sure. especially knowing you, because a lot of people seek, I can’t see why a lot of people in seek, and you come from humble beginnings, and you’re not necessarily exposed to these different career opportunities. And even if you don’t want to go into corporate America, there’s still a lot of value that programs like MLT offer, right? Which is just sharpening yourself your story who you are, like, those skills you can take to any industry you want to work in. And in fact, if you can, if you can come at it from the corporate lens, I feel like that’s even more helpful. Because there’s politics and wherever you go, if you if you want to do a podcast, if you want to be a photographer, if you want to, you know, there’s, you need those communication skills, you need to know how to navigate difficult conversations, and which is a lot of what corporate teaches you. So, yeah, and why MLT definitely, whoever’s in college, I think is a good idea to, to look into these things. And sometimes it could feel overwhelming, just know that too, right? Sometimes it can feel overwhelming, when you’re not as clear on what you want to do. And everyone’s kind of, I’m sure what they want by two things is not to compare yourself to other people. And the other thing is giving yourself credit for at least like applying and being in those spaces in those environments. Because you will, you will, without a doubt just soak up information by by just being there. A lot of times we go into spaces, and this is what I’ve experienced. And you have this, like really high expectation of what you need to get out of or what you need to be doing in those spaces, right? Well, I need to do this I need to do that I need to do, but it’s like how about we just, you know, erase all those expectations and say, I just need to be there. I just need to wake up and like actually go to class, I need to wake up and actually just be in that environment. And then once you once like that, once you write that as the expectation and everything else is a plus there’s less pressure, about you know, what it is that your objectives are, that was good to, you know, have a plan and have goals, but sometimes when you do too much of that, especially if that thing itself, like MLT or, you know, SEO and why, especially if those environments themselves are little overwhelming to you, then you’re just pretty much having to gear yourself up for failure, you know, but we could have a whole conversation. And I don’t want to harp too much on that.

Zeke: Yeah. And then guess the same causes. I have a funny story about Kristy was one time of working for the enrolment the emfoment office next door, to SEEK.

Drew: Yeah,

Zeke: And I was using a copy machine for somebody else and Kristy was like why are you using that copy machine? I got so scared? Oh, no, I just I was. I was working for them. They told me to use the copy machine. She that I was working for SEEK and using their copy machine.

Drew: Okay,

Zeke: The whole minute I was like huh, I didn’t speak.

Drew: Yeah. That’s funny. Cuz the Kristy definitely um? She definitely like, you know, she’ll go down as a household name for sure. Given the work that she was doing in the be in that space.

Zeke: What was your major? Did you change your major college?

Drew: No. So that’s another, not only majors, I hope it’s okay to kind of talk through my decision making for that. I remember coming into Baruch and everyone was on the finance grind, right? You know, I had people tell me that it didn’t make sense to come to Brooke and not major in finance. And remember, I said, first year, I didn’t even know like, why I was really in school like I was there because my sisters. Both of my sisters graduated from college. So it just felt. And I, you know, I use this term loosely, but it just felt idiotic to me to not be in college, not to say that. People who decide to not go to school, you know, you get what I’m saying? Yeah. Say for me, I

Zeke: What work whatever works for you is the best option.

Drew: Right. Right. That was the best. That seemed like the best option for me at the time. But reason why I say that is because as somebody who’s unsure of their major, or excuse me, as somebody who’s unsure of whether or not, they should even be there, declaring a major just feels like added responsibility. Going back to what I was saying about, you know, being in the MLT spaces and things like that, right? Like, that’s already overwhelming. So then now that you’re there, you’re like, Oh, I need to be doing this I need to be doing that I need to be doing. So that’s kind of how I felt like when it came to deciding my major, and then you add the layer of people saying that you need to do finance. And I was like, wait, what, like, that’s not what I want to do. Right? Um, and so it’s one of those is one of those moments where you kind of have to listen to your gut. And just, do you feel like is the right thing to do? That’s such a cliche. But I think it’s true, and it ends up, it ends up working well, every time. And I’m not suggesting that you completely dismiss suggestions that people are offering or, you know, you, I’m not suggesting that you stay closed off to perspectives that people share. But at the end of the day, our perspective is just based on that person’s like, viewpoint. Right? And it’s, like, the right answer is whatever feels correct to you. So, so, have that conversation with someone talk through, you know, why it is that they decided to make that decision, but then ultimately pick what is best for you. And that applies to majors, that applies to any big decision that you have to make, right? Like, I remember. Um, when I had to sell my car, right, like, that was a big decision that I had to make, because I’m somebody that loves driving. So I’m thinking through like, everybody’s giving me all these these perspectives, like, yes, sell it, no, keep it you already invested, you did that. And at some point, all that becomes noise, right? But it’s good noise to have. Ultimately, you have to sit down with yourself and say, Okay, cool. I heard all the noise. Let me listen to my own noise, and then pick what ultimately what is best for me. And so the harm in not doing that is if you only have your perspective, then the decisions that you can make will eventually be limited. As you know, as things start to get a little bit more complex in life so you so it’s definitely like I said, it’s definitely important to gather information from others, but at the end of the day, you have to make decisions for yourself. Back to the major though. Um, yeah, I do corporate communications and English. And that’s kind of what I wanted to do. Like since I came in corporate communications just because I felt like that was something that I would be good at, actually. And then English was a way to force myself too, I thought it paired really well with corporate communication. That’s First of all, but then second of all, I figured it would be a good way to push me to, to read literature more and like, and like, think critically, excuse me, and have a conversation and have debates, right? Because that that was something that I was looking to do. You once I became more clear on like, what, what I wanted out of the birth experience is elevating my mind. And, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t feel confident in myself at the time that I would be picking up books and just reading them. Because prior to that, to be honest, I had, I had never read a book, I don’t think like, I, whenever I got assignments, in high school, I was just like, my default was to go to sparknotes. And try to figure out, like, how to cut corners, like, that’s who I was, I just cutting corners, and trying to have fun. cutting corners being spontaneous, trying to have fun. And it was weird, because I always wanted to, like, get better and elevate in life, but how I, for when it came to education, I was like, looking back, I was definitely cutting corners, and not cutting corners to the point where I was like, I’m a C or D student. I was still like, competent, right? I was still kind of intelligent. But you know, school can get tough at times. And it’ll require discipline in, you know, late nights where you have to study and things like that. And if you’re not used to doing that, from a young age, and if you haven’t built that built that foundation, then it becomes difficult to do that, like in high school. Right? So yeah, corporate communications in English. And that ended up working really well for me, specifically, because at Google, they don’t look at majors too much. It’s more just about what you bring to the table, your intellect, how well you do in interviews. I know that’s not traditionally, what happens. And, you know, there’s generally more of a correlation between your major and where you end up, employed. But I think that’s like, like with a lot of things. I think that will change or is continuing. I should say, it started to change over the last couple of years, specifically at Google. And I would imagine that, like, a lot of other companies will do that, too. As they get insights that like, hey, unless you’re doing something very, like, technical, yeah, like you don’t, you might not actually need In fact, maybe it’s better to get somebody you know, with a history background in in a tech space, because they can just like see things from a different lens. So there will still of course, exist a very cut and dry like major difference finance. So now you’re going to work in finance. But you know, the world is changing. So when it comes to like choosing majors and stuff, I would definitely say, Don’t put too much stress on that, right. Pick something that you know, is gonna work for you try maybe try to look at like the the recommendations or the requirements for that major, and see if it’s something that you know, that you will be happy doing. And I would say, whatever your major doesn’t offer, supplement that with internship experiences, experiences on campus. You know, whether that’s like, through different clubs, you know, holding leadership positions, things like that, right? Like, you want to focus more on having that full package instead of just, you know, choosing the major that you think is going to get you the job that you need, again, unless you’re super crystal clear that this is the company that you want to work at, and this is the exact position that you want to be in. I really don’t think that the major is as important as like people think it is.

Zeke: Yeah, like I said in multiple episodes I changed my major twice, had three majors in four years.

Drew: Three majors in four years?

Zeke: Yeah.

Drew: Wow. And you you manage to finish in four? Yeah. Oh, wow. That’s very impressive. Let’s talk about how you did four years, damn, I know people that like switch their majors so they would have two majors during the time at Baruch. And it’s almost like you got you get an another degree like you got to start all over again. Basically,

Zeke: It was just how I planned like, unplanned, unplanned things. Because when I was going to high school, I was like, I don’t know what I’m doing my so my college tr my um major, so it was like accounting. And then it was like engineering stuff. Something like math or science.

Drew: Okay,

Zeke: So that was like, okay, so let me try accounting. That was boring. And my mom kept telling me to not do it to cause constantly ask me. She was like, are you sure you want the accountant? Because she went to college for accounting. Oh, then she can do it. I can do it. Then sophomore year, I may I declared on cis. Okay, no, like, I’m not I’m only improved. I’m not going to transfer to another school to do engineering let me do CIS.

Drew: Yeah.

Zeke: Because I don’t know how to code at the time. It was very new. Once I got to the major class junior year I only saw only scheduled one major class and a bunch of other Zicklin classes like the regular business classes. So when I got to the major, major class, I got zero in the midterm.

Drew: You may I listen to everybody listening. It’s okay to laugh now because he graduated. I’m not laughing that pain that you’re currently in right now this. So you got a zero on the midterm?

Zeke: Yeah. It was a five question programming thing. So we have so like programs. So you had like, each question you had a you had the input in how to get out that home, right type of the export that export output?

Drew: Yeah,

Zeke: I got everything wrong, and I’ve kind of already had like back in my mind to change my major anyway, so I was, like, am I really enjoying this, I spoke to one of my professors he was like you have you have more reaction when you talk about animation, comparied to CIS or tech, with that in mind. I was like, I was also having problems with the homework. And then the practice was harder than the homework and then the test is harder than the practices.

Drew: Yeah.

Zeke: So your mind. So my mind went to Andrew. I was like, because here’s my plan. If I do well on the test I’ll stay in CIS, if I do, okay, I switch to the other CIS so I don’t have to do more program. And if I do terrible, I just switch to marketing. And then I switched to marketing. I dropped the class, all I had to do take one summer class over, just to like, make it up.

Drew: Yeah.

Zeke: And then the next semester I took all marketing.

Drew: All marketing classes, and then you’re able to finish?

Zeke: Yeah, cuz I had, I was taking 3,000 level marketing anyway,

Drew: Hmm.

Zeke: And I was able to take the next marketing classes.

Drew: That’s dope, man. It’s very impressive. And kudos to you for kind of navigating that. Because anything that we have to do where there hasn’t been too many people that has done it before us, it could be difficult. It could be a difficult path to navigate, because you’re not really short, like what the right answer is, right? So you know, coming to college. I mean, I guess there are people who change their majors quite a couple of times. But I think for us specifically like to come in three different majors, and still finish in four years, because there are people who change their majors, but that like extends how long they’re in college. So I’m, I’m speaking specifically to the exactly what you did three majors in four years. I feel like I haven’t heard too, too, too many people that have done that. So shout out to you definitely for, um, you know, having a game plan. sticking with it and being able to finish in, in in four years. That’s definitely one thing. One thing you said that kind of stuck out to me was the professor saying, like, Hey, you seem to you seem to enjoy animation more than you do, like the more technical stuff. And that kind of I think goes back to what we were saying about majors, choosing majors and you know, doing something that you’re actually happy with. When it comes to choosing majors, I would definitely say, you know, what I should say, what you just said is an example, or is a testament to what I was saying earlier, write about doing something that you actually enjoy, because the four years that you have in college is when there’s pretty much like endless opportunities, right, you have access to like, the different everything is just like easier, accessible, right? And then whatever, like, let’s say you do end up doing animation. But then, you know, you have this goal of graduating and living XYZ lifestyle. If what you’re doing doesn’t work. Like won’t necessarily translate because you want to, you want to be mindful of that too, right? Like, for example, I did public relations, and I was looking at I did a public relations internship. Before going to Google, right, and I was looking at, like, the the PR lifestyle, right? So salary like this all things PR. And there was like a disconnect between what I wanted and like and, and, and what the lifestyle look like it was gonna be, right. So I had to kind of like shift gears a little bit, figure out our cool, like, how do I still do something that I may enjoy, but and it will provide me with the lifestyle that I want, you know, so. So when it comes to definitely when it comes to like picking majors, do something that you’re happy with doing. And then when you do your research to see like, if that lifestyle will match, if it does it, the two options are like changing majors, or what I was saying a little bit earlier, supplementing it right with, with different opportunities, that will make your package a lot stronger. So you know, he, if you have that in that, that those marketing opportunities, like any opportunity on campus, where you’re able to build skills that will make you more marketable to employers that can offer the type of lifestyle that you that you ultimately want to live. So I think that’s a good like, process to follow, right? coming in. Doing like choosing a major that makes you happy that you can kind of see yourself doing for four years, then taking a look at Okay, cool, what happens after this major, like when I graduate, what am I going to be able to do, because I feel like that’s a hurdle that people have to overcome to you graduate, you didn’t take a look at the lifestyle that you wanted and the lifestyle that whatever you’re majoring in provides. And and now you’re kind of like in this, you know, maze, where you’re trying to find your way to an employer that offers the lifestyle that you want. So that would be kind of like the three step process. But that does dope though, that you are able to, you know, still graduate in that four in that four years. And you know, make and things were like still possible for you.

Zeke: Yeah, I was lucky that I scheduled it. I could look at classes. Like I could take these and didn’t have to take those. And then boom. That’s about one to two times out as planned something very cool.

Drew: Mm hmm. Yeah, that’s cool. It’s definitely cool. When did you graduate again? 2019. Yeah, that’s what I thought. Yeah. It’s just like ebru everything everybody like the same year? I forgot. Like, what year you actually were. So you came in in 2015, then?

Zeke: Yep.

Drew: Okay, cool. That’s dope.

Zeke: Talking the most trash, freshmen year then I got tired,

Drew: You said what?

Zeke: Talking the most trash, freshmen year and then after that became tired because of school.

Drew: Thats funny. Yeah, how is the I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of the, a lot of the talking to just to flip the script. Like, how is or maybe like, what’s, what’s your origin? Unless, let’s let’s discuss that. But I mean, you can you can give them a shortened version of that, or, I don’t know if I’m flipping the script too much.

Zeke: You can ask a question this is a conversation.

Drew: Yeah. So what’s your origin?

Zeke: For me I’ll say similar to you like going to school I was going to school autopilot just like do well, cuz I’m always my mom was on my back, like, do well in school. Or like, at least you try. As long as you try and do well did your good except that one time, like I got a 75 in calculus in high school. If you got mad because teacher gave me the 75 the humble me. Cuz like he wanted to get to that I was like one of the best students. Even though I kept falling all the time. I was like pulling close to 65 like when you still fail high.

Drew: Hehe.  Yeah.

Zeke: Then she feel like this is math this is your thing. Because you’re good at it, with English I understand. I guess like my weakness. Right. And then cause a lot more like, I wasn’t academic. It wasn’t hard. It was more like a lot of stuff happened. Because like junior my great grandma died senior, my grandma died and having those two

Drew: Yeah.

Zeke: Like back to back years.

Drew: That’s tough I’m sorry to hear that. That’s tough.

Zeke: So it’s more of like, that’s why I was like now I took like a year out because I wanted to get off. They kind of quote unquote, like also working but like I was deciding to take a breather, because it’s more like autopilot like, go go go go to school. Go to work.

Drew: Yeah.

Zeke: Or volunteer I’ve been doing like all decent self reflecting.

Drew: Yeah, like there’s a recharging your mind right? Because that’s that’s the important thing like if you don’t protect the mental then everything could come crashing down definitely.

Zeke: Say like senior. Say like junior when I change majors I cool. I have a plan and I was doing graphics here and there was a conference last week, there’s a new feature like, like art director, something like that said I had talent. I’m talented. I have like the skill to do great again.

Drew: Oh, gotcha. Okay, that makes sense. And will How would you broadcast it like, book?

Zeke: I definitely be. It has to be like a series?

Drew: Oh a series damn that’s a good idea I should have thought of that.

Zeke: Nah (inaudible). That’s why it has to be like a series because a lot stop having like bullying or something. You just have to like, mentally get prepared, like mentally get stronger. And then all the time I had to learn how to make do what I have, like, give them my resources and just figure it out. Do the podcast I’ll do that person. I didn’t have a place to like, do it. So I also have my friend study room is that we’re doing a study room with the camera and my phone’s camera. And microphone stand stands and has a recorded my mom bought me.

Drew: Yeah,

Zeke: There’s more of like this. Wherever events you have to deal with like that. Yeah. So like, each episode will be like, a challenge to the character of go through and see how they figure it out.

Drew: Yeah, like just being scrappy. Yeah. Which is another important skill that people have. Yeah, that’s, that’s great. And then is I felt, I bet it’s super fulfilling after the fact to see like the progress, you know? Or, like, see the results of the hard work. Like everything that you don’t, once you get to a place where it’s like, amen, and, you know, I’m enjoying the fruits of my labor now. Or at least things are starting to shift in direction that you wanted to.

Zeke: Yes, people saw that. Like, I had, like, 600 views at this current moment. I think I’m on pace to get 1000. In total, so like, 680 views 680 downloads.

Drew: Oh, God, did you say interviews?

Zeke: No, no. Well, that was like that’s a lot, I ain’t got that kind of time.

Drew: I was like, man, give me own whatever, whatever juicy drink. He did 680 interviews. Wow, that’s good, though. That’s, that’s

Zeke: I think I’m on pace to 1000 this year. If all goes well,

Drew: Yeah, that’s a good goal to set too, gonna start somewhere. Pretty cool. Um, anything else that you want to pick my brain about?

Zeke: I guess we can go into more detail, like a personal what was the story?

Drew: Personal, personal origin. Um, so I would say that started when I was in Michigan, actually. January, so when I when I started working at Google in January of 2018. You know, the conditions of the role required me to go to Michigan and start out there. And that was a decision that I sat on for a while, mainly because I had I had, I knew nothing about Michigan, I barely heard about Detroit, because of just rappers and stuff like that, you know what I mean? So it was a very foreign territory to me, and then just going out there with no family or anything like that. So I was like, hesitant to do it. But, you know, I just accepted the challenge. Ultimately, after months and months of just like getting perspectives from other people and listening to the noise. I decided that I was going to go and you know, eventually come back. I think that’s the scary part, though, is I wasn’t sure like when I would actually come back Um, and it wasn’t until I went out there, put myself in a very uncomfortable state, almost to a fault. Because like, you know, I mean, we can go into the specifics, we can have a whole conversation about, you know, how would redo that experience, but at the time, I, you know, I was unaware of a lot, but I’ll just say that, you know, I put myself in an uncomfortable position. And from that came a lot of growth. You know, learn more about who I was interest. And I’m, like, those are still questions that I’m answering right now. But, you know, if there’s less if we look at it as a percentage, right, so how well do you know yourself or you know, yourself 50%, while you have that 50% Foundation, either through doing things as a kid and figuring out, hey, this is what I genuinely, genuinely enjoy, or just putting yourself out there and, you know, understanding, you know, how you react to certain situations. So, prior to Michigan, I would say I knew most a new man, I thought I knew myself fairly well. And then I was in an environment where it was super foreign to me. And that’s where I really started to learn about my interest. That’s why I discovered like, audiobooks podcasts, continued my interest in like fitness and nutrition. And, you know, like I said, started getting into, like, more reading and YouTube, things like that. And just like the self development, the growth, which is, which are things that like, I already knew that I wanted for myself, clearly, that’s why I moved to Michigan to start the role at Google. But, you know, development and growth, it can be defined differently every phase of your life, right. And even more different when you’re in spaces that you have no idea, or you’ve never been there, and they’re completely new to you. So do that, you know, I was I was out there for about a year and a half and do that, like I said, just learned a lot. I think the moral there is to just know, put yourself out there, try something different, similar to what you said about the podcast, like sometimes you don’t always know how something is gonna work. Make sure you have going back to what I said earlier about what I would do different, just make sure you have kind of like, the established community, community and layers of support. So you can have something to fall back on. But you know, still indeed, like put yourself out there, do something uncomfortable. And it’s gonna require sacrifices and require discipline is going to require or not require, but it’ll it’ll people will not understand why you’re doing it. And if you if you talk to them, and they’re still asking our attitude and maybe that’s, that’s like an indication that you know, the dynamic of your relationship with that person should change especially if you feel like it’s best for you at the time. Yeah, and then from from those uncomfortable experiences comes like the growth and I saw it and I’m continuing to see it when I you know, as I as I came back to New York and as I continue to kind of go down this path as an adult, right? All the learnings from being around the smartest people and just you know, like I said, being in a completely different world than then I was used to as an adult. So personally, I think it started like with it started with my fitness journey while I was at Brooke like sophomore year I went through like a pretty big fitness journey I would say cut about like 75 pounds or so. So started there on the personal side for me but it really you know, the meat and potatoes of it was when I moved to Michigan for sure. Because like I said a huge learning curve both in the role but then just being out there on my own.

Zeke: In navigating all that like so like how did you like? Did you meet people who like that you could connect with in Michigan? Or did you like connect with you back in New York, just trying to figure out like how to navigate?

Drew: Initially, it was an interesting experience because I you know, I met people at work right, but at Baruch and just my idea of corporate America in general. I had this false belief that you know, your work friends are only your work friends and they don’t. You don’t make psych work. With personal, so I went over their operating in that way. And that what that did over time was it built a lot of just, I wouldn’t say superficial, but just work relationships. Which was cool, because you know, there, yeah, sure there were people that I could like sit down and have lunch with. But once I left work because I set the tone as like a work relationship. Um, that meant that like afterwards, it wasn’t in our, in our, you know? What’s the right word? Like we didn’t really, it wasn’t part of the relationship for us to be like, constantly hanging out. And so, and I think like in the climate that I was in, so it’s important to like, understand your environment. Google promotes, like, the mix of work and personal. But I was still I was in denial at the time, because I’m like, wait, they just told me over four years, like corporate, corporate corporate suit and tie like this. And I think in some cities like New York, that might, that might be effective, because generally speaking, we’re not generally speaking, but like, let’s say you went to school in New York, like we did, you’re up already have like a community, and you don’t necessarily, like, need to hang out with all these people from work. But when, in my situation, I didn’t have a commute. I didn’t know anybody out there. So the only people that I can interact with were people from work. And so that because like I said, because of my approach to it, it led to having no community or at least like no in person, community, and my community became dislike the group chat. You know, I started this group chat with me and a couple of other friends from college from, from Beirut, and we had all graduated, and we will work in, you know, at different companies, or in corporate America for the most part. And then, you know, from there, we kind of just like supporting each other, you know, through the, through the highs and lows of corporate America. And if it wasn’t for them, I probably would have moved back sooner, because I already knew I wanted to move back. But yeah, if it wasn’t for that committee, I definitely would have moved back sooner. That’s your question, though. No, I didn’t. I don’t think I met like to too many people out there. And that, that, that had to do with why, like, I wanted to move back so soon, because I felt like it was starting to wreck my personal life. And I began asking myself, like, you know, why am I still out here? And and I was just, I think, just just homesick that point. So I wanted to come back and get reacquainted with the city and people out there. And, you know, back with what I was familiar with, in New York City, and I’ve been back for a little over a year. So I came back in May 2019. So a year in a couple months. And I’ll say the first year was still a transition because again, expectations it like you see the mean expectations versus reality? Yeah, my expectation was there’s going to be like another version of the roof. But although it was better than what I had experienced in the Michigan everybody was kind of doing their own thing. You know, people are adults now people work. So, you know, hanging out in between classes, and all the social aspects of the roof are not necessarily the same thing as an adult, and you can be social, you know, and I was social because I knew people in the city and stuff, but it just, it just looks different. Like when you graduate college, you know, you’ll have you go to like bars, whatever the case may be some kickbacks. But it’s not like just randomly, like, you know, wasting a lot of time and just hanging out and just like chillin, you know, all the time, but I feel like that’s part of the college experience, whereas as an adult, it looks a little bit different.

Zeke: Yeah, we all try to adjust to new adult stage our lives.

Drew: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So anybody who’s listening to this in college right now, like, definitely take advantage. Well, I know it’s a weird time. We can’t really be on campus. But if there are opportunities like virtual or not, definitely jump on that cause You know, it becomes a little bit tougher to navigate, or like less accessible to navigate when you once you graduate, especially if you’re still kind of like in that exploring phase where you want to try all these different things. If you know what you want, then yeah, you know, let’s say, you know, you want to box for sure, that’s all you want to do, then yeah, once you graduate, you become more financially stable, and then you can just sign up for a boxing class. But if you’re kind of exploring, you want to, like for me, I wanted to, like do a fashion show, do all these different things, and do photography do modeling? Right? Those are all things that I think would have been a little bit easier to do in college when you don’t have a job, right? Because I mean, even if you do have a job, it’s like, it’s a little bit different than like a full time offer. Just that was my experience. It can be different for other people. But yeah, that was that was kind of like the personal side. And then since I know, you said series, but but I’m gonna steal your answer anyway. And I’ll say, I would refer I definitely would represent that in a series though, I feel like series is best suited for this, just because it’s been so many different parts. From the fitness to go, I should say, like, from early stages, and not really doing well in school to, you know, going to school and not reading at the level that I should be reading at, to the fitness to the polishing so that I can secure the internship to getting the internship to move out there for the summer. And that was another that’s another story with another sub, then going out there full time and then getting adjusted to New York, like it’s a lot of different phases, and I can’t, you can’t give all that out in one episode. So I think for that, like a series would be will be most effective, for sure. To have a conversation about this is this is dope to be able to just like chop it up. Kind of get into the more, the more in depth, you know of our experiences. Professionally, and personally.

Zeke: Yeah, it’s always fun because everybody say they have fun. Like a lot of times we don’t get to talk, or when we do talk it’s in the moment.

Drew: Yeah, yeah, it’s usually in the moment and you never, you know, you’re not you never like sit down. Watch it. So you have to be more intentional about sitting down and just being like, yo, like, you know, what is your experience and a lot of times, and to be honest, in college, we wouldn’t have even been able to have this type of conversation because we were still writing the story. Like I couldn’t have told you that I was about to move out here and then come back to the city and go through all these different things. So the timing just just feels right. And it was like a very productive Convo. So again, appreciate the opportunity to just come on and chop it up. And you know, talk through what we’ve been up to for the last couple years.

Zeke: (inaudible)

Drew: Say that again,

Zeke: No how much time we got left?

Drew: On I mean, I’m good for like the next couple minutes.

Zeke: It’s funny how we have like two different college experiences. Were here, you have like more traditional college experience, like aight this is what I’m going to do. And this is how we’re going to end and it kinda ended up that way.

Drew: Yeah.

Zeke: And me, I’m  just like okay, so what’s next? And then whatever thrown at me just adapted to it.

Drew: You say that you’d say that’s what your experience was?

Zeke: Yeah.

Drew: Okay, so is that correct me if I’m wrong, but that sounds like less of like, the long term plan and is more of like, short term?

Zeke: Yeah, I do a lot of short term.

Drew: Okay, gotcha. Yeah, me, I don’t think that’s, I don’t think that’s unique to you. I feel like that’s a lot of people. You know, they just, they kind of just like, go with the flow. Um, I operate under a new philosophy of balance. sounds simple, but it helps me with a lot of decision making. That I’m faced with nowadays. And I think, you know, balance is like key to everything. So, in college, like, if I could do it over, it would have been a little bit of the planning alternative. And, and a little bit of the spontaneity, although I feel like I did have some spontaneity, but I feel like that’s probably the thing is when you have the planning, then life after college might be like an easier transition. I’m just assuming. But if you focus too much on the planning and the DPA and all that kind of stuff, then like while you’re there, the four years it’s not, maybe it’s not as fulfilling And when you graduate, you lose a lot of access to some of the things that I’m speaking about, right, like the clubs on campus, you know, like, especially at Baruch where there’s so many different languages spoken on campus and just so many different clubs, so many opportunities, you could create your own club. radio show, I was part of a radio show, which was really cool. So that was like before, before, let’s gather. But he has like a hip hop radio show, which was pretty dope.

Zeke: Tech internship in John Jay. I was in Femcode female technology club, LASO Latin American Organization, NABA National Association of Black Accountants. I was in Asedom then I did I did my internship at McCann.

Drew: Okay.

Zeke: Yeah, a lot of like working with youth.

Drew: Yeah,

Zeke: My resume is all over the place.

Drew: Yeah that dope, though. Yeah, every every my philosophy and my other philosophy operate under a lot of lots of philosophy students. Also, all knowledge is good knowledge. All connections are good connections, because you never know how it’s gonna, like, show up. So you know, you’re doing this work with lasso, which to some people might be like, why are you doing it? And maybe just maybe at the time, like, you’re thinking, how is the How will this be helpful, but it might, you never know. And I’m saying like, it’ll, it’ll show up when it’s supposed to show up.

Zeke: Like this, like this funny event? You talk to yourself just like, this makes no sense. And then you look back like, Oh,

Drew: Yeah,

Zeke: This makes sense.

Drew: I’m still waiting for those aha moments. out they come in, let’s keep up.

Zeke: With the podcast, it’s like a, it’s like a 10 year plan. The podcast is like 10 year investment. Yeah, constant work. I’m just like, because I have a little faster. I’m just like, I need money to pay bills now. Everyone’s like, people like this person got rich, like 43, like 75. I’m just like, I’m cool. I can’t wait for that money now. So I can pay that to live longer to get there.

Drew: Right? You need that you need a safety net. And which is why corporate is good. Because although there’s a lot of politics and a lot of BS, it does offer that safety net. But, you know, you just got to find that balance of going back to balance of your mental state and safety net, assuming that’s not what you want to do. But I just find that a lot of people our age may be in roles that are like, don’t necessarily excite them the most. But Similarly, there are people or I should say, conversely, there are people who are in roles and corporate that they enjoy, so shout out to them. For sure. We are Oh, any, any any final words? Before we? Before I have to? I have to head up? A little bit. Any final words?

Zeke: Naw. Thanks for being a guest in the last question. What would you name your origin story?

Drew: The personal and professional?

Zeke: Give me one for each. Give me one for both.

Drew: Um, for the personal one. I remember my manager asked, I don’t know why this came up. Why I just thought it is but I remember my manager, my first manager ever asked me like, Hey, what’s the word to describe yourself? Which seems like trivial. But I think it it really helps you understand, like, the individual that you’re about to manage or collaborate with, right? And my response to it took me a while to think about it. But my response to that was just resilience. Right? And explanations like I, I can almost guarantee I’m not gonna get it right on the first time. But to me, resilience is really important. Because it’s not about like getting it right on the first time. It’s just about like, know, how you follow through after getting it wrong. You know, in fact, there are a lot of benefits to getting it wrong the first time. You spoke a little bit about that. But you know, when you started the podcast, you were in study rooms, right? And it took the resilience to get to where you’re at right now. But if you had just kind of folded, then you wouldn’t be you know, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. So, for the personal story, I would say resilience and For, for the professional story. I’m trying to think about a word that kind of captures this idea of putting yourself out there. And not being afraid to just like learn and grow. For the time being. Yeah, let me damn normally good at these word things. But you said one word though, that’s gonna stop me off. Uh oh, courage, right? Because, you know, just having the courage to put yourself out there and try different things, meet new people, build new build, build relationships, you know, talking presentations, you know, talking meetings, have conversations like this. Lots of courage and resilience to powerful words when you put them together, simple but powerful. And if you can adhere to that, and there are a lot of words to adhere to, but that’s a great start courage and resilience for sure. But thanks again for allowing me to to speak in this offering opportunity to like I said, chop it up and talk a little bit more in depth. I wish you the best of luck moving forward with everything that you have going on all have plans, both short term and long term. And, you know, I’m hopeful that you will get rich before 43 because remember, remember us when things take off you know hopefully everybody that’s been a part of this part of this podcast can get like Neo like, point 01 percent there it is, uh, you end up obtaining But no, jokes aside, definitely appreciate being the last person or final episode of season three.

Zeke: And the year.

Drew: End of the year. Oh, wow. And I feel like we need to we need like some cake or Cheers. Snapple right now. Okay, cool. Stay hydrated. Yeah, thanks. And thanks again for your opportunity. And let me let me know when you when you air this out, so I can you know, share it with a couple people and get get get the word out there.

Zeke: No problem. Thank you for being a guest and wanting to be a guest in the first place.

Drew: Yeah, that’s a no brainer. I told you I’m extroverted. I like to just talk.

Zeke: You have to actually write something on the podcast. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, man.

Drew: Like I said, thanks again. I’m gonna I’m going to head upstairs now. And try to shove something else for the night. Getting, late on on on this side, but um have a good the rest of your night and let me know how everything goes.

Zeke: All right, you too see ya.

Drew: All right, cool.

Zeke: That brings another episode of the Let’s Gather Podcast to a close. I would like to thank Drew for being a guest on the podcast. This is the last episode for season three and the year. You can listen to my next plans in the closing episode, which is premiering today. The Let’s Gather Podcast will come back on January 27 2021. I hope you continue to have a nice day and hope to see you there.