Northwestern Intersections

What's Next Live from Chicago is back! In this episode of Northwestern Intersections recorded live from Medill Chicago, learn from a panel of recent alumni about their postgraduate journeys. Alumni from the fields of user experience research, conflict resolution, and biomedical engineering share how they navigated early career decisions. Panelists Jennifer Siedjak, Jim Alrutz, and Ameen Kishta offer insights including how they entered fields different from their areas of study, their choice to pursue an advanced degree (or not), and resources they would recommend to alumni in their shoes. Panelists share how they answered (or are still answering) what’s next in their career.

In this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Suchi Sethi Tuli—head of recruiting for Google Cloud in the Japan and Asia-Pacific region and a member of NU-Kellogg Club of Singapore and the Alumni Admissions Council—shares how she first stumbled into recruiting as a student at the Kellogg School of Management. She offers her insights on the lessons she’s learned about leadership and how the connections she made with classmates helped her build a personal board of directors. Tuli also shares tips for seeking a great mentor and what it means to be an authentic role model. Interviewing Tuli is Yunita Santoso Ong ’16, product and distribution lead for the Asia-Pacific region and senior news editor at LinkedIn News.

What do public affairs specialists and mental health practitioners have in common? The ability to listen and the desire to help someone tell their story. In this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Ranade shares the deeply personal story that inspired her career pivot into mental health and wellness with a focus in helping women navigate grief, anxiety, and depression. She also highlights the transferrable skills she developed while working in corporate PR at GE Healthcare. Ranade is now in her second year in the master’s in clinical health counseling program at The Family Institute at Northwestern. Learn from Ranade why it's never too late to pursue your passions.

In this special bonus episode of Northwestern Intersections, join us for an account from Barack Obama’s chief speechwriter, Cody Keenan ’02, of the 10 most dramatic days of the presidency, when a hate-fueled massacre and looming Supreme Court decisions put the character of the US on the line and a president’s words could bring the nation together or tear it apart. Authored by Keenan, GRACE is an intimate writing on the rhetorical tightrope America's first Black president had to walk, culminating with an unforgettable high point: Obama stunning everybody by taking a deep breath and leading the country in a chorus of “Amazing Grace.”

Ameet Mallik, the new CEO of ADC Therapeutics—a commercial-stage biotechnology company improving the lives of those affected by cancer—joins the podcast to reflect on what leadership means to him. He speaks about the foundational moments during his Northwestern and post-graduate experiences that shaped his career trajectory. He also offers his insights on building diverse teams of experts and creating positive impact, and the importance of feeling shared sense of purpose within your organization.

Since she was a student at Northwestern, University Trustee Jane S. Hoffman ’86 (’21 P) has been interested in how messages and media are constructed and consumed. And found she could help others understand complex subjects through storytelling and accessible language, and through public service. As Commissioner of Consumer Affairs in New York City, Hoffman found herself never tiring of hearing people's problems and finding solutions. During her run for Lieutenant Governor of New York she describes how she had the opportunity to tour the entire state and listen to her potential constituents and understand the issues impacting them and their communities. Hoffman tell us how she later founded the Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy to help force politicians and their policy makers to talk about the existential threat of climate change in a public forum. And subsequently introduce language around climate change into common discourse. Helping others understand complex subjects such as data, privacy, money, and

In 2018 Yari Gallegos joined the Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA) as a young alumni/Homecoming intern. Now she’s returned to the NAA as assistant director of alumni engagement for student to alumni transitions. In her new role she’s helping to organize programs like New Chapter. NU Neighbors and staple events for Homecoming. In this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Gallegos shares how her experiences as an undergraduate student inspired her to pursue a career in higher education. As a graduate student Gallegos' research—reflecting on her own college experience—focused on perceived institutional support and ethnic identity salience for Latinx undergraduate students at a predominately white institution. She highlights how through interviews she found that many Latinx undergraduate students discover university resources too late, and that many define their sense of belonging through their community and not with their school. Gallegos shares her thoughts on the importance of connecting with and creatin

The Northwestern Intersections podcast joins the Northwestern Law Alumni Fireside Chat Event Series for a live interview with Phillips, one of the most experienced Supreme Court and appellate lawyers in the country, co-director of the Northwestern University Supreme Court Clinic and an adjunct professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law as well as a partner at Sidley Austin LLP. Phillips will share how his career trajectory started with ambitious clerkships, his most memorable cases, and his thoughts about how practicing in the Supreme Court has changed over the course of his tenure. Show notes: Northwestern Law Mentorship Program Northwestern Network Mentorship Program Affinity Learners and Leaders Mentorship Program

It's empowering to tell your story, but even more so to empower others to share their own. As a student in Performance Studies at Northwestern and throughout her time at Piven Theatre Workshop, Rebecca Kling ’07 gathered the tools of performance: movement, storytelling, adaption, audience, lighting. After graduation while in Tim Miller's paradigm shifting workshop at Link's Hall, "Charged Bodies", Kling understood how those tools could be applied internally: sharing her own personal narrative of transition and how she navigates the world as a trans-woman. She describes how at the time, she was the only trans-performer she knew of publicly speaking about her experiences; trans-folks were simply not visible the same way they are today with rise of social media and online communities. Through orchestrating talk-backs with the audience—opportunities for members to ask questions about trans-folks and their experiences—Kling realized the potential of performance to also serve as a tool to educate and advocate.  Kli

Who are the alumni behind Northwestern University Pride Alumni Club’s podcast Who NU?? And what is Who NU? all about? Host Len Iaquinta ’66 and producer Marc Staros ’09, share stories about their respective Northwestern experiences and their career paths after graduation. Iaquinta details how he pursued a career in broadcast radio and eventually philanthropy that led to a seven year position at Northwestern. While Staros pursued a successful career in consulting and eventually became an independent consultant and advisor. We also learn how life on campus was very different for each of them due to society's changing perspectives on LGBTQIA+ identifying folks. Iaquinta and Staros share how they first became involved in NUPAC and how listening to an episode of Northwestern Intersections while stuck on the Kennedy Expressway sparked the inspiration for Who NU?. On this episode of Northwestern Intersections, learn from Iaquinta and Staros more about the founding and evolution of NUPAC. Including how the alumni g

In this special episode of Northwestern Intersections, learn from a panel of recent alumni about their postgraduate journeys. Alumni from the fields of international development, STEM, entrepreneurship, and consulting will share how they navigated job and career changes, and decisions around pursuing advanced degrees. As well as their advice for current Northwestern students who are thinking about the post-graduation job search and how to take advantage of on-campus resources. Moderated by 4th year student, Shreya Sriram ’22. We'll hear from Baindu Kallon ’14 who works at the intersection of migration, development and communications, with a specific focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. After graduating, Kallon spent time at various non-profits and media organizations before moving to the United Kingdom to complete her Master's degree at SOAS, University of London. She is currently based in London working at the MIDEQ Hub, the world’s largest migration research project focused on the relationships between migration, i

Anoop Jain ’09, founding director of Sanitation and Health Rights in India (SHRI), has always had a deep sense of social justice. As a Northwestern student he observed how the most vulnerable of New Orleans' population was disproportionality impacted by Hurricane Katrina. And later on a trip to Guatemala as part of Alternative Student Breaks, he found himself deeply impacted by working in fellowship and breaking bread with communities there. Later, after graduating Northwestern, he fundraised for the creation of a soup kitchen in the Himalayas. The culmination of these experiences resulted in Jain quitting his job, and traveling to India to work with organizers and community activists to provide direct support to underserved communities in India. During this time he realized that he was working at the intersection of social justice and public health, and that the issue of sanitation in the rural parts of India were not individual problems, but systems failures. The reframing of sanitation as a result of inade

Irene Kang ’11 has lived multiple lives. In her first she worked in the field of environmentalism and sustainability. In her second, she's the founder of Spark Collection—bilingual books for families to learn language in a fun and meaningful way. Throughout the course of these lives, the most important decisions she made were by trusting her intuition when something felt right: choosing Northwestern, pursuing environmentalism, and meeting her husband (and fellow alumni) Chris, and creating Spark Collection. Kang shares how she realized during the pandemic that there were very few accessible resources for teaching Asian languages to children. And that this was issue many Asian and multicultural families struggled with themselves. Kang decided to create Spark Collection, and published her first book with the incredible community support of Kickstarter: My Favorite Gift. Available in Mandarin, Hindi, and recently, Korean. She previews the second book in the collection, My Beautiful Earth coming out in September

Justin Barbin's ’11 interest in photography originated out of a desire to preserve memories. Documenting family and friends, events and milestones, even arbitrary moments allowed him to recall feelings and experiences with clarity. Photography also allowed him to connect with Northwestern community as a student. The impact his photographs had is best exemplified when the Northwestern community came together to fundraise for Barbin after his camera was stolen junior year. Whether he's documenting the Hamilton cast at the Tony Awards, photographing Dillo Day, or traveling the globe to see his 50th country; community and connection are through lines in Barbin's career path, his photos, and in the way he interacts with others. On this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Barbin shares how he first became interested in photography as child and successfully pursued it as a full-time career as an adult. Barbin also reveals how the trauma he experienced at the end of college reinforced the power of photography as a

Dr. Brian Aguado ’13 MS, ’15 PhD has always valued commitments to research, diversity, and being part of a supportive community. Those qualities are some of the main reasons why he chose Northwestern and are qualities that are clearly evidenced in his career journey. An Assistant Professor at UC San Diego, Dr. Aguado runs the Aguado iBiomaterials Research Group which focuses on the study of sex differences in cardiovascular disease using biomaterial technologies. He dedicates time to cultivating a positive and supportive lab environment for his students with the hopes they'll take those practices with them as they progress in their careers. Most recently, Dr. Aguado co-founded LatinXinBME, a social media initiative dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive community of Latinx biomedical engineers and scientists to support each other personally and professionally through their careers. On this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Dr. Aguado shares how he first became interested in sex as a biological var

Liza Katzer ’08 describes herself as a late bloomer. She applied to 21 different colleges before deciding on Northwestern; didn't quite know what she wanted to do after graduating (but thought "producer" sounded right); got laid off while working at Disney; and silently struggled with mental health and insecurity well into her 20s. An Emmy-winning producer for her work on the acclaimed comedy-drama series Ted Lasso, and recently named one of the Hollywood Reporter's 35 Under 35 Upcoming Entertainment Executives to Watch, these things about might surprise you. But that's the whole point of Ted Lasso: that regardless of your first impressions, everyone is deeply complex, layered, and capable of growth. Katzer has always wanted to be part of positive change in media and help tell more authentic stories that anyone watching can see themselves in. Sometimes art imitates life and sometimes TV shows—like Ted Lasso—reveal to us the possibilities for a kinder world. On this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Katze

Ilana Peña always wanted to write her own coming of age show featuring a tween/teenage Latina protagonist that audiences of all ages could enjoy. However, many of the shows she loved as a child celebrated boyhood, and the shows that did feature female leads were geared exclusively to young audiences. Peña is the creator, showrunner, executive producer, and director of the critically acclaimed Diary of a Future President, which tells the story of a young Latina girl whose experiences as a tween are foundational to becoming the leader of the country. On this episode of Northwestern Intersections, Peña shares her experiences being a writer on the supportive, women-led set of the renowned, musical comedy-drama Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and how she fostered that same uplifting, women-led space on her own show for cast and crew to thrive. She also underscores the importance of telling positive and joyous stories that show Latinx and LGBTQ folks as multifaceted, cultivating your community, and being loud about what you w

Tananarive Due '87, film historian, educator, producer, writer, and leading voice in Black speculative fiction, joins Northwestern Intersections in a special two-part episode. In part 2 she shares how she developed her famous course at UCLA, "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival, and the Black Horror Aesthetic," after watching Jordan Peele's Get Out. Jordan Peele's impact is immeasurable: Get Out sparked the Black Horror Renaissance and the creation of the documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (Due is an executive producer); his production company has opened doors for marginalized horror creators, particularly women; and much more for years to come. Peele's impact has extended to Due as well--he invited her and husband and collaborator Steven Barnes to write an episode of The Twilight Zone, her first television credit. We learn how Due and Barnes met at a science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference in 1997, and became partners and collaborators writing screenplays and teleplays together. Due

Tananarive Due ’87, film historian, educator, producer, writer, and leading voice in Black speculative fiction joins Northwestern Intersections in a special two part episode. Due was always writing stories, even before she got to Northwestern, but she wasn't writing about horror and the supernatural until well after graduation. In part 1 she shares how through encounters with legendary figures and influential books, she not only found the confidence to pursue writing in the genre of horror, but from the perspective of Black protagonists. Resulting in the publication of her first novel, The Between. Due shares her own reasons for being drawn to the genre, and guides us through how the renewed interest in horror is rooted in the horrific times we're living in and contemplating our own survival. Black Horror is also experiencing a renaissance in film and literature—sparked by Jordan Peele's Get Out—as more people turn to the horror genre as a means of escaping real monsters, processing trauma, expressing the in