How I Got Here: Ming's journey from China to Florida and Tom's in the room where it happened
This week: two stories that touch on finding meaningful, important work that resonates with you
Good morning, friends.
Congrats to those of you who have started new jobs or are in your first few weeks of a new internship.
If you’re feeling unsure of your work whether it’s new or been awhile, I can relate. I’m in the middle of moving apartments this week and happened upon a scribble from the journal I kept during my very first internship in 2012:
People who work here seem to really love the work they do, but I’m unsure if it resonates with me.
This week, we’re sharing two career stories that touch on finding meaningful, important work that truly resonates with you.
Our latest episode of How I Got Here features Ming Zhao, co-founder and CEO of PROVEN Skincare. In high school, I was a big Shark Tank fan, so I was thrilled when Ming responded to Lara’s cold outreach.
Our conversation was no reality TV show, though. Ming offered an honest reflection on her entire career journey. Through challenges of discrimination and bias, Ming has persevered. You’ll first hear how Ming’s transition from living in China to Florida profoundly shaped her identity. And then, how her pursuit of prestigious job after prestigious job, led her to reach a point where she realized that she wasn’t truly happy in those type of roles.
Listen to the full episode here, on Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Our latest post in our “How I’m Getting There” series features Tom Lefevre and his story about Valentines Day 2018. I remember watching the aftermath of the Parkland shooting on the news, but Tom wasn’t just watching the news. He was holed away in a conference room with the Executive Leadership of Dick’s Sporting Goods, trying to figure how Dick’s could respond in a substantive and meaningful way to this tragedy.
“Valentine’s Day 2018 was a bit different from most. Yes, there were flowers. Yes, there were hugs. But at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, there were no boxes of chocolate. There was no flirting in the cafeteria. Seventeen students and teachers had just been killed in yet another school shooting, continuing a trend of school violence endemic only to the US.”
Check out the full story on our blog here.
Tom Lefevre recently graduated from MIT Sloan’s MBA program and will be rejoining DICK’S Sporting Goods in the fall as Senior Manager of Strategy and Corporate Development. He worked in a variety of roles there before business school, including as Special Assistant to the CEO. He spent last summer at Coltala Holdings, a Dallas/Ft. Worth-based private equity firm. He can be reached at tlefevre@hey.com and @tomlefevre on Twitter.
If you have any of your own business inspired journal entries (or a story you want to share), send it our way. We’d love to chat!
- Eric