Career Chats provide students the opportunity to speak with Princeton alumni from a range of industries and backgrounds. These conversations will offer insight into different career paths and help you start to develop your own network.
This program is open to all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at Princeton. Career Chats provide an opportunity to network in a low-pressure environment, and are a good match for students interested in learning about:
- How alumni navigated their Princeton experience
- What working in a particular job or field is really like
- Tips to prepare for and land internships and jobs
Alumni have 30-minute time slots available on a first-come, first-served basis. Alumni participating in Career Chats are listed below by industry. In order to participate, you must fill out a form indicating which alumni you would like to speak with and a member of the Center for Career Development team will follow up to connect you and the alum contact so you can begin your conversation.
Browse the list of participating alumni.
Learn about resources and tips to help you get the most out of your Career Chat.
Participating alumni
Arts (Visual, Performance & Fine)
Jason Gold '81, Senior Architect, Richard H Lewis Architect
Jason is interested in speaking to students about careers in architecture and his experience navigating underrepresented career opportunities within Princeton.
To learn more about Jason, please visit their profile on LinkedIn.
Alex Volckhausen '93, Freelance Stage Manager
Alex is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: LGBTQIA.
To learn more about Alex, read their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Tula B. Strong '15, Performing Arts Professional and Choreographer
Tula is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Black and/or first-generation students, and careers in entrepreneurship, and performing arts.
To learn more about Tula, read their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Joanna Wendel '19, Development Associate, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras
Joanna is interested in speaking with students about careers in nonprofit organizations and performing arts.
To learn more about Joanna, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
Maximillian Yeh '91, Vice President, Evonik
Maximillian is interested in speaking to students about careers in chemical engineering.
After graduating from Princeton with a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering, Maximillian Yeh worked at several companies ranging from start-ups to large specialty chemical organizations. For the past 20 years, Mr. Yeh has been focused on the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He currently lives in San Francisco and Tokyo.
Atray Dixit '
12, CEO and Co-Founder, Coral Genomics
Atray is interested in speaking with students about biotechnology, entrepreneurship, healthcare, engineering, and social impact.
To learn more about Atray, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Business/Consulting
Antonio (Tony) Rodriguez '79, Retired, former Chief Operating Officer, Warner Brothers
Tony is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: first-generation and/or international students, and careers in business, consulting, finance, media and entertainment, and nonprofit organizations. Tony is also interested in speaking about navigating international career opportunities.
To learn more about Tony, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Marisa Femenia '01, Executive Vice President, Bain Capital
Marisa is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American, Black, first-generation, international, LatinX, LGBTQIA, and/or veteran students, and consulting.
To learn more about Marisa, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Shane Blackman *14, Director of Product, Noom, Inc.
Shane is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: graduate students, careers in technology, and startups.
To learn more about Shane, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Aaron Katz '16, Product Manager, Thule
Aaron is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: international students, and careers in entrepreneurship, sustainability, engineering, and design.
To learn more about Aaron, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Lexi Quirk '18, Associate, 645 Ventures
Lexi is interested in speaking with students about careers in entrepreneurship, technology, business, consulting and communications.
To learn more about Lexi, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Education (K-12 & Higher Education)
Ann Tashi Slater '84, Self-Employed Author & Professor of American Literature
Ms. Slater is interested in speaking to students about how to develop as a writer.
Ms. Slater’s fiction, essays, and interviews have been published by the New Yorker, the Paris Review, the HuffPost, Catapult and others, and she gives talks and workshops around the world. A longtime resident of Tokyo, Anne teaches American literature at Japan Women's University. For more, see www.anntashislater.com.
Dave Escoffery '95, Director, Graduate and Professional Education, Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Dave is interested in speaking with students about careers in education and seeking alternative academic careers for graduate students.
To learn more about Dave, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
William Wong '02, Account Executive, ABM Building Solutions, LLC
William is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American students, and careers in advocacy and activism, business, consulting, education, and entrepreneurship.
To learn more about William, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Anna Kamen '15, MPP and MBA student, Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan
Anna is interested in speaking with students (with a special interest for grad students) about careers in education, healthcare, consulting, social impact and government.
To learn more about Anna, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Eduardo Lerro *17, Teacher, NYC Department of Education
Eduardo is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: LGBTQIA, and careers in education, advocacy and activism, government and public service, nonprofit organizations and social impact.
To learn more about Eduardo, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Environment/Sustainability
William Atkinson '18, Research Assistant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
William is interested in speaking with students about careers in sustainability, communications, government, public service, healthcare and science, nonprofit organizations, and research-to-policy topic areas.
To learn more about William, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Sonia Howlett '18, Agricultural Water Quality Specialist, Vermont Agency of Agriculture
Sonia is interested in speaking with students about careers in sustainability and government.
To learn more about Sonia, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Entrepreneurship
Amy Nguyen-Chyung *98, Limited Partner, Next Wave Impact
Dr. Nguyen-Chyung is interested in speaking with students about entrepreneurship, strategy, and business school academia.
Dr. Amy Nguyen-Chyung is an LP with Next Wave Impact Fund, an angel fund which aims to increase diversity and positive social or environmental impact among high-growth startups and has worked previously in management consulting, investment banking and government, helping companies grow and enter new markets. Currently, she is a Visiting Assistant Professor at UCSD Rady School of Management leading the entrepreneurship capstone.
Chris Chaney '07, Founder and Managing Partner, C4+
Chris is interested in speaking with students about entrepreneurship, gaming, esports, technology, finance, and consulting.
To learn more about Chris, please visit their profile on LinkedIn.
Sankalp Gosain '11, General Manager & COO, Moonpod
Sankalp is interested in speaking with students about careers in entrepreneurship, business, and social impact.
To learn more about Sankalp, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Finance/Investment Management
Yung Lim '87, Managing Partner, RDG Funds LLC
Yung is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Black, first-generation, international, LatinX, LGBTQIA, and/or veteran students, and careers in finance, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit organizations.
To learn more about Yung, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Kin Chung *97, Vice President of Credit Innovation, MPOWER Financing
Kin is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American, first-generation, and/or international students, and careers in finance and business.
To learn more about Kin, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
David Fritz '12 Investment Officer, The World Bank Group
David is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: international students, and careers in finance, investment banking, startups, government and public service.
To learn more about David, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Health & Human Services
Suzanne Morrison '89, Software Trainer, Massachusetts General Hospital
Suzanne is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: LGBTQIA, and careers in medicine, technology, and education.
To learn more about Suzanne, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Elena Martinez '11, Ph.D. Candidate, Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Elena is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: LatinX students, and careers in government, sustainability, nonprofit organizations, social impact, public service, healthcare, and research.
To learn more about Elena, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Rebecca Dresner '14, Orthodontist, UConn Health
Rebecca is interested in speaking with students about careers in medicine and dentistry.
To learn more about Rebecca, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Government/Public Policy/Politics
Jackie Cremos '14, Financial Institution Policy Analyst, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Jackie is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: first-generation and/or international students, and careers in finance, technology, and government.
To learn more about Jackie, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Rebecca Kahn '18, Policy Advisor, U.S. Senate
Rebecca is interested in speaking with students interested in careers in government and public service.
To learn more about Rebecca, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Keeley Walsh '19, Program Assistant, Defense Security Cooperation Agency
Keeley is interested in speaking with students interested in careers in government and public service.
To learn more about Keeley, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Law
Richard Ober, Jr. '65, Legal Analyst, Electoral Innovation Lab / Princeton Gerrymandering Project
Richard is interested in speaking with students about careers in consulting, finance, business, and nonprofit organizations.
To learn more about Richard, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
George Bustin '70, Senior Counsel, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLC
George is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Black, first-generation, and/or international students and careers in law, international law, and international relations.
To learn more about George, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Leslie Margolis '82, Managing Attorney, Disability Rights Maryland
Leslie is interested in speaking with students about careers in law, advocacy and activism, education, social impact, and nonprofit organizations.
To learn more about Leslie, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Laurie Blank '93, Clinical Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Laurie is interested in speaking with students about careers in law (international and national security), transitional justice, government, public service, and education.
To learn more about Laurie, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Dina Brewer '88, Managing Partner, Princeton Law Partners, LLC
Dina is interested in speaking with students about careers in law (corporate and criminal), finance, private equity, business, startups, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit organizations.
To learn more about Dina, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Kristin Vassallo '97, Deputy Chief, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey
Kristin is interested in speaking with students about careers in law, government, public and service.
To learn more about Kristin, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
John Duffy '05, Vice President - Associate General Counsel, Corporate and Real Estate, Tiffany & Co.
John is interested in speaking with students about careers in law, business, real estate.
To learn more about John, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Jillian Hewitt '11, Attorney, Susman Godfrey LLP
Jillian is interested in speaking with students about careers in law and working in a trial-focused litigation boutique.
To learn more about Jillian, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Shannon Togawa Mercer '11, Associate, WilmerHale LLP
Shannon is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American and/or international students, and careers in law, startups, technology, business, national security, corporate law, and cybersecurity.
To learn more about Shannon, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Media/Marketing/Communications
Barbara Eckman '76, Senior Principal Software Architect, Comcast NBCUniversal
Ms. Eckman is interested in inspiring hope during this uncertain time, and speaking to students about women in STEM fields. She is also happy to discuss technological challenges in Big Data, and share how an AB in a humanistic discipline can prepare you for success in a STEM career.
Barbara Eckman is a Senior Principal Software Architect at Comcast. She leads metadata and data discovery for an innovative, division-wide initiative comprising near-real-time ingesting, streaming, transforming, storing, and analyzing Big Data in the hybrid cloud. Her experience includes technical leadership positions at a Human Genome Project Center, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and IBM, specializing in scientific data and model integration. At Princeton she studied quantum mechanics and linear algebra before eventually majoring in Religious Studies with a bridge in Classics.
Kimberly Ho Schoelen '81, Principal Consultant, Kimberly Ho Schoelen Marketing Programs & Communications Consulting
Kimberly is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American, and/or first-generation students, and careers in manufacturing, professional services, technology, nonprofit organizations, business, entrepreneurship, communications, and consulting.
To learn more about Kimberly, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Avery Miller, ‘90, Senior Editorial Producer, CBS News Face the Nation
Avery is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American, Black, first-generation, international, Latinx, LGBTQIA, women, and/or veteran students, and careers in media and entertainment.
To learn more about Avery, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Rebecca Chatman '94, Vice President and Coordinating Producer, NBC Olympics, NBC Universal
Ms. Chatman is interested in speaking with students about their potential career paths within media and communications.
Ms. Chatman has worked in sports television for over 25 years and is now primarily focused on the long term planning for NBC's Olympic coverage.
Brian Rokus '99, Supervising Producer, CNN
Brian is interested in speaking with students about careers in communications and media.
To learn more about Brian, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Nonprofit & Social Impact
Donald Burnes '63, Founder, Burnes Institute for Poverty Research
Donald is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Black, first-generation, international, Latinx, LGBTQIA, and/or veteran students, and careers in education, advocacy and activism, social impact, nonprofit organizations, consulting, healthcare, government, and public service.
To learn more about Donald, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Jenny Korn '96, Research Affiliate and Founding Coordinator of the Race+Tech+Media Working Group, Harvard
Jenny is interested in speaking with students about careers in academic research with a focus on topics related to the intersection of race, gender, interviewing, activism, and email management.
To learn more about Jenny, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Emily Liao Master '01, Executive Director, Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority
Emily is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American, and/or international students, and careers in the nonprofit sector, social impact, consulting, media, and visual arts.
To learn more about Emily, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Hannah Rosenthal '15, Graduate Support Counselor, Loyola Academy of St. Louis
Hannah is interested in speaking with students about careers in K-12 Education, social justice, advocacy and activism, and nonprofit organizations.
To learn more about Hannah, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Andres Parrado '15, Data Associate, GiveDirectly
Andres is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: first-generation, and/or Latinx students, and careers in advocacy and activism, social impact, nonprofit organizations, consulting, government, and public service.
To learn more about Andres, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Technology & Software Engineering
Peter Woolford '83, Talent Partner and Market Manager, Kforce Inc.
Peter is interested in speaking with students about careers in business, technology, startups, and entrepreneurship.
To learn more about Peter, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Noemi de la Puente '86, Principal Engineer, Trenton Water Works
Noemi is interested in speaking with students about careers in engineering, government, public service, media, and performing arts.
To learn more about Noemi, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Santhosh Balasubramanian '13, Head of product, Notable Labs
Santhosh is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American students, and careers in business, education, engineering, entrepreneurship, government, public service, healthcare, nonprofit organizations, and technology.
To learn more about Santhosh, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Rachel Marek '17, Project Engineer, McNamara Salvia
Rachel is interested in speaking with students about careers in civil and environmental engineering.
To learn more about Rachel, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Clare Jeong '18, Talent Development - Senior Analyst, Xandr
Clare is interested in speaking with students about careers in business, communications, sustainability, and technology.
To learn more about Clare, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Pranaya Anshu '19, Product Marketing Manager, Amazon Web Services
Pranaya is interested in speaking with students on topics related to the intersections of careers and identities, including: Asian and Asian American students, and careers in business, consulting, entrepreneurship, and technology.
To learn more about Pranaya, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Nathan Mytelka '19, Software Engineer, Microsoft
Nathan is interested in speaking with students about careers in technology, education, and engineering.
To learn more about Nathan, please visit their Alumni Profile on Career Compass.
Resources and tips
Prior to conducting an informational interview, it is beneficial to review alumni biographies and prepare questions in advance. We have created some helpful resources that will help guide your conversations with alumni. Review our resource on informational interviews prior to your Zoom or phone conversation.
In order to build a lasting connection and to show appreciation for the alum’s time, we encourage you to send a thank you email within 24 hours of your Career Chat. You can find an example in our Five-Step Networking Guide. We also hope for all students to connect with their alumnus/a within 48 hours of the connection email.
Be sure to:
- Follow-up with the alum in a timely manner (48 hours) after we connect you
- Set up a time to talk over Zoom or conduct a phone call rather than exchanging emails
- Dress in professional attire
- Research the alum's background prior to the Career Chat
- Ask thoughtful questions about their work, education and skills
- Take notes about potential leads, next steps and advice
- Send a thank you note after the discussion