Duke Graduate School

"A person’s achievement as a graduate student in the humanities can be very relevant to employers if it is presented properly. For instance, graduate students know what’s involved in teaching a college-level class, but interviewers may not! State explicitly that you have designed a course and communicated complex ideas. It’s an impressive feat, so don’t be afraid to show off a little."

"The safe shelter of school provides the perfect setting to investigate new paths. I’d suggest that you start exploring when the stakes aren’t so high so that, when the time comes, you feel more prepared. When you are prepared, you are empowered, and when you are empowered all the other things tend to fall into place."

"The skills I gained as a teacher are absolutely crucial to my success in industry. Simply put, when you are a teacher you have to communicate complex subjects to people who don’t know anything about them. Being a consultant is like being a teacher in that the people you are working with do not know your jargon, so you have to find another way to connect with them."

How often do you worry about yesterday or tomorrow? Developing a practice of mindfulness can help create a lens through which you view your life – its joys, its challenges, and everything in between – with more clarity and less judgment.

"When I first thought of starting my own company, I was worried about not having the necessary skills to be successful. That really wasn’t an issue. The thing I needed to be more concerned about was whether I had the right attitude."