Friday on campus we had a speaker, Matthew Reynders, that spoke on his journey to where he is today. He spoke about his college career, his jobs and the path he took to get to what he is doing today at Time, Inc. Mr. Reynders spoke on several different aspects in his speech, but the main ones were: to always keep asking questions, network, take a risk, and to surprise yourself and keep thinking bigger.

When he would be put into a new job he would not know much about it and forced himself to ask questions of the people around him to learn his new situation. The importance of asking questions is vital because it shows you are hard working and your ability to contribute to the company. To show someone you want to keep learning is important, and I would of never thought of that importance in selecting someone for a job. Second, he always referenced networking. Networking is important because it gets your name out there. He always talked about the situations he was given and how he networked to get to know people and what else was out there. An important thing I think he mentioned that goes along with networking is the importance of a mentor. Mentors help guide you and teach you along the way, and he mentioned the importance of mentors in his life. Third, Matthew talked about taking a risk. When he was given the opportunity to jump ship to NYC he knew it was a great opportunity and a risk he had to take to keep advancing his career. This forced him to change his goals, but he viewed them as way point to the next big thing, which is a great attitude and mindset to have about life. The last main point was to surprise yourself and to keep thinking bigger. You should never limit yourself because anything is possible for one who thinks positive and believes in themselves.

Overall, I thought the speaker was great. It was a bummer that the NASA lady could not come, but I am happy I forced myself out of bed to come as it was a great opportunity for us to learn and help us with our career path us many of us, including myself are uncertain of what we want to do. It will be interesting where life takes me, but I know that this speech has benefited me.