Work Stew Podcast

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Thanks to Facebook, I recently learned that a college classmate of mine started a program called the Doctors of Tomorrow. The program connects ninth graders from Cass Technical High School in Detroit with medical students and doctors at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The goal  of the program, which is now entering its second year, is to stimulate interest in a career in medicine among minority high school students, and to provide the type of information and mentorship that might help pave the way.

Someone who loves what he does so much that he wants to inspire the next generation? I fired off an interview request within seconds.    

About Jonathan Finks: Dr. Finks is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery and Director of the Adult Bariatric Surgery Program at the University of Michigan. His clinical interests are in the areas of minimally invasive general and bariatric surgery. Dr. Finks’ research interests focus on collaborative quality improvement with bariatric surgery. He is also the director and founder of the Doctors of Tomorrow Program, a community outreach program of the University of Michigan Medical School in partnership with Cass Technical High School of Detroit.

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When I graduated from business school in 1998, the vast majority of my classmates went into banking or consulting. Some may well have had a passion for these paths, but many were simply being practical: they had taken on enormous student loans to fund their MBAs, and the starting salaries in finance and consulting are high. Fifteen years later, almost all my classmates have changed employers several times, and many have changed industries.

So, when I read that Jessica Gelman was still working with the same organization that hired her out of business school, I knew her story had to be special. And indeed it is: she pursued her passion for sports with such gusto that she landed her dream job pretty much from the get-go—and in twelve years it’s only gotten dreamier.

About Jessica Gelman: As The Kraft Sports Group’s Vice President of Customer Marketing & Strategy, Gelman leads key business initiatives for the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, and Patriot Place. In addition, Gelman co-founded and continues to chair the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, the first and largest analytically-focused sports business conference.  

Prior to the Kraft Sports Group, Gelman worked as a strategy consultant at the Mitchell Madison Group. Gelman earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA, cum laude in psychology, from Harvard College. She was honored as Harvard Female Athlete of the Year after leading Harvard to consecutive Ivy League Basketball Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. Subsequently, she played professionally in Europe. 

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In this episode, I speak with a former corrections officer, a woman who requested anonymity because correctional facilities are sensitive about granting interviews. And even though my interview subject has now moved on to a new job, she doesn’t want any trouble.

What she does want is to share her story: the job turned out to be quite different from what she had imagined based on various TV shows, and she sees some value in adding a real-world perspective to the mix.

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In this episode, I speak with Liesl Clark (left) and Rebecca Rockefeller (right), co-founders of the Buy Nothing Project, a social movement focused on the development of hyper-local gift economies.

Clark and Rockefeller don’t make a living from their work on the Buy Nothing Project, but it does require heaps of their time. When we sat down to talk last weekend (amidst the chirping of both birds and children—sorry about that), they explained what inspired them to launch the Buy Nothing movement and why exactly it’s catching fire.

About The Buy Nothing Project: The Buy Nothing Project began as an experimental, hyper-local gift economy on Bainbridge Island, Washington. In just a few months, it has become a bona fide social movement, involving more than 4,000 members in 23 chapters around the country. Using specially-created Facebook groups, Buy Nothing members follow these simple rules: “Post anything you’d like to give away, lend, or share amongst neighbors. Ask for anything you’d like to receive for free or borrow. Keep it legal. Keep it civil. No buying or selling, no trades or bartering…we’re strictly a gift economy.”

Photos: courtesy of Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller.

Also: thank you to Chris Walton for recording this conversation. I hesitate to credit him since the sound quality is totally not his fault, but the fact is: his help was critical. With the kids milling around (a first for the podcast), I’d probably have forgotten to hit ‘record.’ 

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Described by its creators as “neither a pillow nor a cushion, nor a bed, nor a garment, but a bit of each at the same time,” the OSTRICHPILLOW® is a “micro environment in which to take a warm and comfortable power nap.” And ever since I clapped eyes on this photo of the pillow in action, I wanted to learn more about the brains behind it: who has made it their work to think of this thing? And why? And let me be clear: I say “this thing” with love in my heart. In fact, I love the OSTRICHPILLOW® so much that I’m buying one to give away to a randomly-selected Work Stew essayist. (If you want your name to be in the drawing but have not yet written an essay of your own, there’s still time: the winner will be chosen on November 15, 2013. For details on how to submit an essay to the site, check out the FAQ or find me on Facebook.)

About Ali Ganjavian: Ali Ganjavian is the co-founder, with his best friend and professional partner Key Portilla Kawamura, of Studio Banana, an award-winning, multidisciplinary creative platform that has developed a wide range of projects, including the OSTRICHPILLOW®.

Ganjavian has a Masters in Architecture from the Royal College of Art in London.

Photo credits: both images were shot by Alonso Herranz. All rights belong to Studio Banana Things.

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I wanted to interview Gordon Hempton because his job—recording the sounds of the natural world—struck me as highly unusual and fantastically interesting. What I did not expect was to end up weepy. And yet, driving away from his home, a wooded place in the northwest corner of Washington State, I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.

What was it that had moved me so? Listening to Hempton describe our vanishing soundscapes? Realizing how disconnected I’ve become from the sort of silence he’s working to save? Discovering, only as I packed up my gear, that Hempton—in the cruelest of ironies—is now losing his hearing?

It could have been any one of these things; most likely, it was all of them. What I do know is that by the time I got home, I had a craving for silence; instead of logging onto Facebook, I listened to this.

About Gordon Hempton: Known as the Sound Tracker®, Gordon Hempton has circled the globe three times over the last 30 years in pursuit of nature’s rarest sounds. His astounding recordings, many of which are collected at Quiet Planet®, have enriched numerous films, including the PBS documentary Vanishing Dawn Chorus, for which he earned an Emmy. In 2010, he was the subject of the film Soundtracker, and he co-wrote One Square Inch of Silence, a book calling on us all to preserve the quietest spot in the United States.

Photo credit: courtesy of QuietPlanet.com.

In the podcast: natural soundscapes by Gordon Hempton, courtesy of QuietPlanet.com.

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Recently I spoke to a Seattle-area man who has been searching for a job for almost two years. Hearing about his struggle to find work in the environmental sector, I got to wondering: who is hiring these days? Where is the demand?

The answer, at least according to Tom Lynch, is locksmithing. The security market is expanding, and locksmiths—who offer a far wider range of services than I realized—have the potential to get a significant piece of that growing pie.

About Tom Lynch: Based in New York, Lynch is a Certified Registered Locksmith (CRL) with more than 25 years of experience. In addition to managing his own business, he is also an active leader in the industry: he founded the Society of Professional Locksmiths; created the first locksmith podcast, Lock Radio; and has contributed to several industry publications including The National Locksmith Magazine, The Locksmith Ledger, and Keynotes Magazine. Lynch is a veteran of the U.S. Navy (Submarine Service) and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

 Photo credit: courtesy of Tom Lynch.

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In the wake of a national trauma—a terrorist attack, a school shooting, a natural disaster—many of us stop working, and the media vigil begins. Watching the coverage, I always find myself thinking about the people who can’t just stop: the first responders, the medical teams, the law enforcement personnel, the government officials, the media. Among these public servants, the role of the Medical Examiner is perhaps one of the least understood; this interview was a chance to shed some light on the job and to explore why someone might choose it.

About Dr. Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell: Dr. Melinek is a board-certified forensic pathologist practicing forensic medicine in San Francisco. She also serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pathology at the UCSF Medical Center and runs a private consulting firm, PathologyExpert.com. Her husband, T.J. Mitchell, is a writer and stay-at-home dad. He has worked as a screenwriter’s assistant and script editor since 1991. Working Stiff, the book they have written together, will be published by Scribner in 2014. For updates, visit (and like) the book’s Facebook page.

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Much has been written about the “long-term unemployed”—job seekers who have been out of work for at least 27 weeks. In this interview, I talk to Chris—a Seattle area resident with a B.A., a decade of work experience, and a graduate degree—who has been job hunting since June 2011.

Since he’s still interviewing for new roles as they crop up, and since despair doesn’t sell well, Chris asked that I use only his first name.  

About Chris: According to his blog, Chris has “a Master’s degree in the social sciences from a large, prestigious state college” and a Bachelor’s degree “in a different social science from a small and not-so-prestigious state college.” He also explains: “In between the two degrees, I worked mostly in public education, most of it in typical inner-city schools, often with severely abused and disturbed youth.” In addition to his job experience in schools, he has also volunteered as a community organizer and campaign staffer.

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Very few of us make a living doing something that we started at age four. That’s when Jennifer DeVore began playing the cello. In the interview, I learned how her path has unfolded since then and what it takes to make it as a freelance musician in New York.

About Jennifer DeVore: DeVore received a B.A. in Art History from Harvard University before earning her Masters degree from the New England Conservatory. She is half of Zentripetal Duo, a violin/cello combo that performs frequently around New York City. She is also a member of the Harrisburg Symphony and a teacher affiliated with the Packer Institute in Brooklyn.

Over the years, DeVore has appeared at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Zankel Hall, and Weill Hall, as well as concerts in Europe, Asia, Israel, and Costa Rica. A champion of contemporary music, she has worked closely with composers John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and John Zorn, and her diverse interests have led to recordings and performances with artists such as Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Josh Groban, Suzanne Vega, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

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