Have you ever thought about what happens after we graduate? The Bruin Success Podcast helps shape that narrative for you. Through the UCLA Alumni Center, the Bruin Success Podcast, hosted by Sara Mosgrove ’18 and Lily Rosenberg ’18, hosts various alumni and discusses their journeys beyond their UCLA educations. The podcast acts as a bridge between the UCLA experience and the wider world, offering students an accessible, conversational way to think about their futures beyond the confines of campus. Many students grapple with uncertainty regarding life after college, and the podcast aims to make that uncertainty less intimidating.
Launched in 2019, the podcast illuminates Bruins in different industries and careers to showcase their life paths beyond the UCLA campus. Serving as a guide, the podcast is meant to help Bruins explore their options outside of the university. For many students who feel overwhelmed by the countless opportunities available to them, this kind of resource serves as a grounding reference point. Hearing directly from alumni who once stood in the same place offers a sense of relatability and direction that cannot be understated.
The podcast features several notable alumni, including Olympic gymnast Jordyn Wieber ’17, award-winning journalist Enrique Chiabra ’09, ocean explorer Tiffany Duong ’06 and many more Bruins from a range of careers. With over 90 episodes ranging in career fields from sports, news, science and law, the podcast covers a variety of careers and interests. Each episode functions almost like a mini-masterclass, allowing listeners to step into the worldview of industry leaders, innovators, creators and professionals. The hosts guide conversations with thoughtful questions, making the stories both personal and instructional. With every episode, students discover something new, making the podcast an ever-growing archive of post-UCLA life.
Also serving as a platform for professional development tips and career advice, the Bruin Success Podcast helps to bridge the gap into the professional world. The podcasts range from 40 minutes to an hour. In-depth interviews dive into what it is to be a Bruin and where Bruins left their marks. Whether sharing resume insights, lessons learned in their careers or reflections on challenges they overcame, the guests offer tangible takeaways for students beginning to shape their own journeys. Listeners often walk away with not only inspiration but clear steps they can take to pursue similar opportunities.
But careers aren’t specific to the main ideals of what we consider a career. Beyond becoming a lawyer, doctor or engineer, the podcast showcases alumni who have pursued lesser-known careers to demystify ideas about non-traditional careers and settings. Many students come to college believing there is a small, predetermined list of “successful paths,” but the Bruin Success Podcast actively challenges this misconception. By highlighting unusual and innovative fields, the show expands the imagination and encourages students to trust their own curiosity.
In a 10-episode highlight of Bruins who have pursued lesser-known fields or “10 Careers You’ve Never Heard Of,” our hosts Mosgrove and Rosenberg interview alumni with little-known jobs. From a cyborg anthropologist and chief tea officer, to an ocean storyteller and film and television composer, the Bruin Success Podcast exposes us to lesser-known careers and widens our imaginations. These episodes are especially impactful for students who feel called toward creative or interdisciplinary fields, reminding them that it is possible to forge new paths and succeed in unconventional spaces.
In one episode about a markedly spectacular endeavor of traveling to over 80 countries and furthering international development work, Marques Anderson recounts his work and experiences as a cyborg anthropologist. As a football player who studied American literature, Anderson was later drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2002, the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos. After his football career, he founded the World Education Foundation in 2009 as a way to contribute to the world. His story demonstrates that career paths are rarely linear and that shifting passions over time can lead to fulfilling and impactful outcomes.
So what is cyborg anthropology? In Anderson’s words, it is “an interdisciplinary field that delves into the intricate relationship between humanity and technology, and the ramifications of those actions.” He explains how the various countries he traveled to showcased the many ways they would use technologies. Later selected for a Global Solutions Program hosted by NASA and Singularity University, Anderson and Dan Lichenberg created a project called “Urban Matrix 1” that utilized satellite imagery, unique data sets and machine learning to quantify the sustainability for global infrastructure projects. This is just one of his complex and intriguing projects aimed at helping find solutions for the intersections between technology and humanity. As a leading expert in cyborg anthropology, he has singled himself and his work as uniquely significant to contributions to the field and to developmental and sustainability initiatives. His trajectory highlights how the merging of passions, disciplines and experiences can lead to careers that redefine what is possible.
The episodes offer an inside look into the lives of alumni and their journeys, a valuable window of inspiration for current students. Anderson’s work and career have made him an exceptional professional in his industry and field. As just one of the many alumni on the podcast, he is a phenomenal example of true Bruin values. His conversation, like others on the podcast, encourages students to maintain curiosity and to follow their interests even when the path ahead isn’t clearly outlined.
The podcast is meant to inspire confidence in graduating students or those looking to their futures. The Bruin network holds strong. You can listen to more episodes through Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify or by following them on Instagram. The ongoing success of the podcast shows how valuable shared stories can be in shaping the hopes, ambitions and possibilities of the next generation of Bruins.
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Featured Image Photographed by Jaclyn Wang/BruinLife
