Wed, Jan 18

Cheri St. John
Financial Services
Statistical Analyst, Credit Risk Manager

After graduating from Chico State, Cheri accepted a job offer from a data analysis company (FICO) to develop credit scoring models.  If you don’t know what a credit score is, then come to this session!   After 19 years with FICO, Cheri spent 10 years in Banking (Credit Management) in San Francisco.

Applied Math and Statistics majors are in big demand right now; come find out what kinds of high-paying jobs are available in financial services.  

Cheri’s favorite part was traveling internationally — working in London, and speaking at worldwide conferences in places like Paris, Barcelona, Sydney, and Beijing.

Tues, Jan 24

Dan Reidy
Advertising/Marketing/Branding/PR
Principal, Reidy Communications 

Dan is the head of a public relations firm that works with tech companies, specifically software - anything from analytics, cloud applications, and all the solutions that makes that stuff work.

Dan will talk about how he helps his clients get coverage in The New York Times, TechCrunch, Wired, and even on ESPN to help them build awareness and a reputation for innovations they create.

And Dan will explain how his career has given him the chance to work with great people, to regularly fail and succeed, to try new ideas, and to keep chasing big stories. 

Mon, Jan 30

Mohammad Diab, M.D.
Health & Medicine
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, UCSF

Mohammad is a doctor, then a surgeon, who focuses on fixing bones, joints and muscles in children.

Mohammad will tell you how awesome and how hard it is to be a surgeon, and what you need to think about and do if you want to be one. He will bring tools of the trade such as a precision saw, mallet, screws and driver. 

What Mohammad likes best about his work is that it matters.

Tues, Jan 31

Emily Kim MacMillin
Legal Services
Administrative Judge and Mediator at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The EEOC is a federal agency that enforces federal laws against employment discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age disability and other prohibited factors. Emily mediates cases between employees and employers, as well as makes decisions on their claims. 

Emily will discuss 1) what EEOC does and the different laws this agency covers, 2) what she does in her job as an administrative judge and/or a mediator, and 3) how to be an effective and persuasive lawyer, i.e., the importance of listening, careful writing, attention to details.

What Emily likes best about her work is to be able to help parties resolve a case on their own and help them avoid the stress, cost, and time of litigation. 

 February

Mon, Feb 6

Santiago Harris
Architecture/Construction
Senior Project Manager, Vanir Construction

Santiago is currently in charge of the construction of public schools in San Francisco.

He will provide an overview of a typical day in the life of construction project manager, and will show slides of projects at different stages of construction.

There are many reasons why Santiago enjoys his work: It gives you a great sense of accomplishment, every project is a new challenge, you can see the changes on a daily basis, you need creativity/management/people skills, you work with a team of professionals, and it’s in high demand and pays very well.

Wed, Feb 8

Gretchen Grani
Environment/Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility
Director of Sustainability & Social Responsibility, Nutiva

Many corporations focus primarily on maximizing profit for its shareholders and employees; Gretchen work for a food company to balance profit with its broader environmental and social impacts.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) includes sustainability metrics like zero waste and greenhouse emissions, marketing strategies such as social media campaigns, and social metrics such as volunteer hours and women in leadership.

Gretchen loves her work because she feels like she is making a difference in the world.

Tues, Feb 14

Dr. Robert Arrick
Health & Medicine
Small Animal Veterinarian and owner of Park Animal Hospital in San Francisco

As a small animal Veterinarian, Robert diagnoses and treats all illnesses, as well as performs preventative care, of dogs and cats. As a Hospital owner, he is a small business person who performs all the tasks needed to keep a business running and successful.

Robert will discuss his bio, how one gets into Veterinary School, and what a Veterinarian does.

Robert enjoys being able to interact and create relationships with all types of people and pets. Every day at his Hospital is different and he has a unique experience every day.

Wed, Feb 15

Ann Mannix
Law Enforcement
Commander, Golden Gate Division, San Francisco Police

Ann oversees the daily operations of 5 of the 10 district police stations in SF. Additionally she oversees the school resource officer and public housing police partnership for the SFPD.

Ann will discuss the application process and career of a law enforcement professional.

What Ann likes best about her work is that she has the ability to make a difference in someone's life on a daily basis. Plus the job is never boring.

Aimee Westbrook
Advertising/Marketing
Client Partner, Global Marketing Solutions – Facebook

Aimee has a front row seat at Facebook as marketing moves from mass, disruptive messaging via traditional channels to more personalized, immersive and ideally rewarding connections, often via mobile devices.

She will talk about the skills that are most valuable in marketing today – ranging from the ability to story tell to the need to be very comfortable leveraging data to both drive creative approaches as well as measure business impact.

What Aimee likes best about her work is that it is a fascinating time to be in this field!

March

Wed, Mar 1

Sean Timmons
Architecture/Engineering
President & CEO, VERVE - Sustainable Engineering Design Studio

Sean is a mechanical engineer who works within the architectural/engineering community delivering leading edge sustainable designs globally.

His talk will focus on “Integrated Sustainability in the Built Environment”.

Sean enjoys working closely with clients and architects to help them visualize his design concepts that enhance the built environment.

Mon, Mar 6

Melanie Greenberg
Health & Medicine
Clinical Psychologist and Author

Melanie is a clinical psychologist in private practice specializing in stress, trauma, and health psychology. She is also the author of The Stress-Proof Brain (New Harbinger) and a former Psychology Professor.

She will touch on each of these areas during the talk. She will discuss the PhD degree, internships and career paths in academia and clinical work.

What Melanie likes best about her work is understanding how our brains process stress and trauma and how to help patients reorient their thinking so they can free themselves of the burden of the past.

 
Tues, Mar 7

TJ and Allison Belger
Business/Entrepreneurship – Fitness Training and Psychology
Owners, TJ’s Gym

On any given day, TJ coaches fitness classes, works with personal training clients who fall along a spectrum of fitness and ability levels, writes individualized workout plans for clients, counsels people on nutrition and lifestyle choices, oversees and mentors a staff of 15 coaches, and develops business ideas to keep the TJ's Gym brand moving forward.

On any given day, Allison fields emails from clients about their experiences at the gyms, works with athletes to develop the mental aspect of their training and performance, works with coaches to develop their capacity to connect with clients and navigate the psychological components of their work, oversees all operations of the gyms, manages community outreach and a very successful fundraiser with her younger daughter, and works with young athletes to tackle the challenges of all aspects of their functioning that relate to performance.

Their talk will be geared towards encouraging students to choose a path that drives them. They know firsthand the magnitude of work and other resources that go into running a small business, and they know they wouldn't have survived this long were it not for the fact that they each are truly passionate about what they do. Being able to combine their expertise in physical fitness / health and wellness on the one hand and psychological / relational functioning on the other, has allowed their community to grow and thrive. The talk will also include a bit about the versatility and almost universal applicability of the study of Psychology.

TJ loves that he gets to have a positive and lasting impact on the lives of the individuals with whom he works – both clients and staff members.

Allison loves that she gets to make use of her education training, and experience in the field of Psychology in a wide variety of ways, and that she can contribute to a wonderful community business that has changed so many lives for the better.

Wed, Mar 8

Andrew Meadows
Technology
C++ Programmer for virtual worlds and game engines at High Fidelity (a virtual world startup)

Andrew is a C++ programmer working on physics simulations for an online virtual world at a startup in San Francisco.

He will talk about working in the computer game industry and how studying physics is a good foundation for launching a tech career.

Andrew finds working on a virtual world challenging and surprisingly rewarding: it enriches the lives of people who use it.

Wed, Mar 15

Jacqueline Harmon Butler
Hospitality & Travel
Food & Travel Writer

Jacqueline is an international award-winning travel journalist and the recipient of many press awards, including Italy’s prestigious "Golden Linchetto Prize” for best foreign journalist and the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for Internet publications.  In a variety of international publications and anthologies, her travel writing has tempted readers’ palates with mouth-watering meals and left them salivating for more.

Jacqueline will discuss what it takes to become a travel writer and how everyone can get the most out of travel adventures.

What Jacqueline enjoys most about her work is learning about new places, food, culture and local customs.

Tues, Mar 21

Kendall Fargo (Redwood Alumnus – Class of 1988)
Business/Entrepreneurship – Internet Business and Mobile Apps
Chief Revenue Officer, Tripping.com

Kendall has been the founder and/or executive of several successful Internet and Mobile App Businesses. He is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at Tripping.com, the world’s largest search engine for vacation homes and short term rentals.

Kendall will discuss "How to start an Internet or Mobile App Business, raise money and make it a huge success".

What Kendall loves about his career is that he has been able to be his own boss while working with very talented people and partnering with great companies like Google and Facebook to build businesses from the ground up.  

Wed, Mar 22

Philip Norris, M.D.
Health & Medicine
Co-Director, Blood Systems Research Institute; VP Research and Scientific Programs, Blood Systems, Inc.; Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine – University of California, San Francisco

Philip’s career is in medicine and research. He sees patients in infectious diseases at San Francisco General Hospital and runs an immunology research lab, mostly focused on viral immunology. 

He will describe his career path and his successes and failures along the way.

Philip enjoys doing both medicine and science because he gets immediate feedback by helping patients and longer term satisfaction from trying to develop new cures for diseases.

 
Mon, Mar 27

Yoshi Miki
Performing & Visual Arts
Curator of Art

Yoshi is a curator of art. He worked for Museums in Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles and Tokyo as head of Curatorial before he became an independent curator. He researches and develops art and history exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and US.

Yoshi will discuss the skills required to develop and open an exhibition, which include scholarly research, coordination and communication in multiple languages. He will also discuss other career opportunities in the museum business.

Yoshi loves his work because art is an international language and museums are for everyone, whether young or old. Museums unite people locally and worldwide. It is a place where people share joy, and sometimes sadness. 

 
Tues, Mar 28

Victoria Silverman
Non Profits
Nonprofit Executive, Cook Silverman Search

Victoria has enjoyed a 30 year career as an executive in the nonprofit world including development, marketing and communications.  She recently merged her consulting practice with Pamela Cook Development Search to form Cook Silverman Search, a retained search firm for nonprofit executives. They have successfully placed over 270 candidates in the past 16 years. 

Victoria will discuss how a career in the nonprofit sector is rewarding in more ways than most imagine; including stability, career growth, ongoing education in areas of interest, financial reward which can be great over time, and ability to support something you are passionate about and truly impact the world we live in.

Victoria loves her business because she is helping people find employment in organizations where they can make a difference in the world.