AmazingAlumni Podcast

In this episode of AmazingAlumni, learn how UD Alumnus Evan Washburn, created his own path, worked hard, and managed to get his foot in the door of his dream job in the world of professional broadcasting.

Dan Freeman was appointed director of the Horn Entrepreneurship Program in 2011, taking over for Scott Jones who founded the program in 2006. With funding from Charlie Horn (the program’s namesake), Dan has been able to grow the program to impressive new levels.

While it is often difficult for art majors to find a career outside of teaching, Michael Kalmbach longed for something more. During his time at UD, he had taken an interest in urban affairs and public policy, and how these concepts could be integrated with art. Kalmbach saw endless opportunities for creativity in downtown Wilmington.

If someone was to ask you, “What do you think it’s like to work at ESPN?”, what do you think you would say? University of Delaware alumni, Christina Carestia, was able to give us insight to this question when she sat with AmazingAlumni founder, Ryan Drummond, and gave us a look into the world of Sports Media, and the fast pace life of working at the world’s largest sportscontent network, ESPN. Originally from Monroe, Connecticut, Christina Carestia always loved sports. While attending the University of Delaware, she played on the women’s soccer team and was a undecided business student. By the end of her freshman year, the University of Delaware added a new major, Sports Management. With such a passion and proficiency for sports, Christina knew this is where she should focus her studies.

This week Ryan Drummond, Founder and CEO of AmazingAlumni, decided to take a moment to reflect, and give the listener a window into his life as the host of the AmazingAlumni podcasts. In this Episode, Ryan introduces you to who he is both personally and professionally. In his twenties, he did not love waking up on weekdays; he dreaded Monday morning, he was in credit card debt, and even living paycheck to paycheck. Today, Ryan embraces his job with open arms alongside his wife and daughter. While it's not all roses and laughter, Ryan admits, "it required hard decisions that at the time felt like enormous risks, Yes, I made several mistakes, and I have had some stressful nights where I couldn’t fall asleep, but ultimately visualizing and taking action has lead me to a point of achieving certain goals and milestones". So come take an audio journey with Ryan in episode 14. Who knows, maybe 23 minutes might alter someone’s life course for the better. Do what you want. Wake up happy and go to bed fulfilled.

Lori Goldberg, CEO of TraffIQ, has experienced all sides of the advertising industry. Lori graduated from the University of Delaware with a major in Fashion Merchandising. She was accepted into an executive training program at Stern’s Department Stores (which now goes by a much more familiar name, Macy’s). After the eight week training program the Senior Vice President of Marketing gave Lori an offer for a position in the corporate office. However, at the young age of 26, she decided that she wanted to get more experience and understanding of the agency. After taking a very unconventional route, Lori now has over 18 years of client and agency experience from her work overseeing clients with budgets totaling over 100 million dollars, such as Capital One, Ralph Lauren, and Microsoft.

Scott Wasserman gives meaning to the word “innovation”. Creator of Artisan Mobile.

The University of Delaware is unique in the fact that it offers a myriad of off-campus housing options. From furnished apartments, to two-story townhouses, to duplexes and more, there is something for everyone. However, navigating through the sea of brick and mortar has always been a difficult process for underclassmen looking to move off-campus. That is, until Yael Bloom and Tali Cohen came along.

Dana Noorily, successful food entrepreneur, found her passion in granola and built two successful businesses around it. A self-described foodie, she co-founded both Oats Granola and GranolaBar, a restaurant in Westport, Connecticut. However, Dana did not always plan to be in the food business; a series of unexpected events and opportunities combined with hard work landed her where she is today.

Ben Rapkin came to the University of Delaware with a love for piano and percussion. He started as a music major, but soon realized that, while music will always be his life long passion, he was meant for something else. In the spring of 2013, Rapkin decided that he wanted to form an Entrepreneurship Club on the UD campus. He set to work that summer, recruiting an executive board, creating a structure and mission, building a social media presence, and planning for the upcoming semester. His hard work paid off, and the UD Entrepreneurship Club launched in August of 2013.

Ever had an idea that you thought could turn into something great? People have great ideas all the time, but few actually take action and pursue these ideas. A recent University of Delaware graduate, Mac Nagaswami, had an idea while sitting in traffic during his junior year of college, and decided to pursue it.

Scott Beale, a University of Delaware alumnus, has worked in the White House, coordinated elections in Bosnia, fought against human trafficking in India, and founded his own non-profit organization, all before the age of forty. Beale emphasizes the fact that success does not always come from following a logical or pre-determined path, but from a series of lucky opportunities.

How do you know if you’re in the right line of work? What do you do if you decide that this just isn’t what you want to do anymore? It’s simple. Do what you love, and if you don’t love it, change it. That’s what Clinton Warren, a graduate of Fairfield University did. Clinton decided to make a change from the life behind a desk, as a financial consultant, to running his own technical workshops. Warren met Ryan Drummond, the leader of AmazingAlumni, while attending high school in Wilton, Connecticut. The two got the opportunity to sit and reconnect, and talk about Clinton’s change of heart, and how he came to his “Accidental Career in Web Design”.

UD Alumni Andy Boston leaves corporate life for Peace Corps. Boston graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Criminal Justice and Social Policy, He shares how his transition from employment at CareerBuilder to volunteering with Peace Corps started with another UD alumni's Facebook photos. Boston's advice is: “if you’re thinking about it, just do it.”

A front seat to SevOne’s massive growth. During his sophomore year at University of Delaware, Steve Mahoney received an email from Career Services about an internship with UD alumni and tech entrepreneur Vess Bakalov. Vess and his interns were soon on the road to revolutionizing peer-to-peer network monitoring, and creating one of the fastest growing companies in North America: SevOne, Inc.

Founder Ryan Drummond introduces Amazing Alumni. He shares that his goal for the student interns is to create tangible work products that they can point to as points of experience and start their careers now while they are students. Whatever it is that the student intern are interested in, Ryan likes to create tasks around their interests. What we do is go out and find alumni who are doing amazing things, interview them on the podcast, Journalism majors write blog articles on the alumni, & then we release that content on our site as well as other appropriate channels.