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How I Got Here
A New Podcast by The Garage
How I Got Here traces the journeys of young professionals with interesting jobs at exciting companies like Apple, Instagram, Goldman Sachs, or their own startups. We’ll follow their paths from college to career, including the lessons they learned along the way, advice they have for others looking to follow in their footsteps, and how entrepreneurship helped them land their dream job.
Featured Guests
Meet the Host
Mike Raab has had an unusual career. After majoring in film and television in college, he started at the bottom as an executive assistant in the TV industry in Los Angeles. Even after rising up the ranks, he felt that his learning had plateaued, and after applying to and being rejected from dozens of other jobs and MBA programs, he ultimately quit his job at the age of 26 to backpack through Europe, where he gained perspective on what he wanted to do in his career – ultimately, be more involved in building things with people and flexing his creative muscles. After another short stint in the TV industry, he joined a venture capital firm in San Francisco, investing in early-stage consumer technology companies. It was during this experience that Raab recognized his enjoyment of talking to other people about their career journeys, and realized that the most interesting people had the most illogical career paths.
In his current role as the associate director of The Garage, Mike uses this perspective to advise students about their future careers and let them know that everything will work out – but that how it works out is entirely unpredictable – and that’s an exciting thing! Raab also enjoys writing about technology, startups, investing, media, and life at TheRaabithole.com, and has been published in Business Insider, OneZero, HackerNoon, and the book Finding Genius.
How I Got Here is a passion project for Mike and Melissa Kaufman, the founding executive director of The Garage. Through their own experiences and conversations with students, they realized the importance and impact of dissecting non-linear career paths and hearing first-hand from the professionals who forged them.
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About How I Got Here
The Journey
From college to career, what did the journey look like and how did The Garage shape that?
Lessons
Entrepreneurship is filled withs ups and downs. We’ll hear about the challenges and wins of some of our recent alumni.
Advice
What would our guests have done differently? What advice would they give their former selves? Learn from their experiences and hear valuable advice to help shape your own future.
Living the Dream
Whether pursuing their startup full-time, working at a startup, or landing their dream job at Apple and Instagram, we’ll hear what life is like after college.
Questions?
Email us at thegarage@northwestern.edu