In the Spring of 2020, I was approaching my college graduation from DePaul University. A day that my family and I had looked forward to my entire life! But then, out of nowhere, our world came crashing down as the result of a global pandemic. 

Many of my friends saw their job offers rescinded and there was a general feeling of depression that was affecting many of my twenty-something peers. We were expecting to ride proverbial inflection points but instead were stuck in lockdowns while refreshing the Google search “covid numbers.”

I wanted to do something to help. I wanted to somehow provide guidance to my friends, and find a way to tell them that we were going to be okay. But no one wanted to hear this from a twenty-something that was also feeling a sense of loss and frustration at the time.

My solution was a new podcast called inTheir20s. I launched it before my graduation on Zoom, and each episode I spoke with an influential person about how they navigated their first decade as real adults. Back when they didn’t have things “figured out.”

I started locally by interviewing my college professors, former bosses, and leaders in Chicago.

The show quickly grew and in a matter of no time I was interviewing guests like Steve Wozniak, Ev Williams, Mayor Francis Suarez, David Sacks, Tim Draper, and Beto O’Rourke. I gave a TedTalk in August 2022 at Wrigley Field where I discussed the best advice from my favorite interviews.

A common theme from guests on the show is that, in your twenties, it's important that you don't fear failure. I thought back to this advice over and over again when I was approached by Drive to help launch the firm's new seed program in Chicago. 

I’m so excited to take lessons I learned from my podcast to help early-stage entrepreneurs in Chicago build the future. 

Now the real work begins.