September 10, 2024 • 37 mins
Jemima Atanasio is Senior Director of Development at Fordham College at Rose Hill. Jemima takes us through her transformative journey from the hustle of special events fundraising to the more balanced realm of major gifts work. Discover how pivotal moments in 2016, amidst significant political changes, led her to reassess her career and the value she brings to her role. She shares the importance of cross-collaboration, her love for Pink's music, and the powerful community she has cultivated on LinkedIn.
Learn how Jemima has harnessed the power of LinkedIn to create a vibrant, supportive community, especially in the context of philanthropy and large-donor fundraising. By blending personal interests like music and photography with professional insights, she has engaged her network in authentic, meaningful ways. Jemima emphasizes the crucial role of authenticity and clear intentions in building the know, like, and trust factor that strengthens professional relationships.
Discover practical strategies to incorporate more of your authentic self into your career and online presence to build a successful and engaged network on LinkedIn. Jemima shares actionable tips on how to show up genuinely in your professional life and community-building efforts. Find out how consistent, genuine participation on social media can craft a compelling narrative over time.
Connect with Jemima on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John Neral (00:00):
Imagine working a full-time job, raising your
family, all while diligentlytrying to find the balance
between your home life andgrowing your career.
Sound familiar?
Where do you find the energyand motivation to keep you and
your career moving forward?
Well, my guest today is someonewho's found that secret and
(00:22):
she'll share her experienceswith you today.
In a few moments, you will meetJemima Attanasio.
Jemima is the Senior Directorof Development at Fordham
College at Rose Hill.
She's here to talk to you aboutwhy she values
cross-collaboration, the powerof Pink's music, and how she
found a wonderfully supportiveand engaging community in her
(00:45):
LinkedIn network and you can too.
So let's get started.
Hello, my friends, this is theMid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm
your John Neral.
(01:05):
I help mid-career professionalslike you find a job they love,
or love the job they have, usingmy proven four-step formula.
I've known Jemima Atanasio fora few years now, and she is one
of those people whose posts Isee on LinkedIn and I have to
stop and look whenever I see it.
Her posts are thoughtful,unique and personal, all while
(01:29):
being professional and engaging.
It's one of the lessons you'llhear from her about how she
found success posting contentlike this on LinkedIn and how it
has helped her build hercommunity and network, all while
building her mid-career GPS.
This is a practical and funconversation, and one which I am
(01:50):
sure you will absolutely findrelatable, so it is my pleasure
to introduce you to JemimaAttanasio.
Hey there, Jemima, welcome tothe podcast.
I'm excited for ourconversation today.
Jemima Attanasio (02:05):
Thank you so much, John, for having me.
I'm really excited to be here.
John Neral (02:09):
Same.
So we've set an intention todaythat you and I are going to
have a lot of fun in thisconversation.
There's so many things I'mexcited to talk to you about
today but, to help the listenersout, you've got some
interesting perspectives on thiswhole mid-career moment and
mid-career journey and I'mwondering if you can share with
(02:31):
us a particular event that youhave just found really shaped
and defined a big part of yourmid-career GPS.
Jemima Attanasio (02:40):
Thanks so much , john.
I've listened to your work fora long time and I've been really
interested and fascinated bythis moment.
I think it happens in stagesand for me, I'm a mom, a mom of
three.
I've been working for my wholeadult life and my career, with
all three of those children aspart of it.
(03:00):
But at each stage I've come tomoments that have that
mid-career sort of feel to itand I wanted to choose one that
kind of shifted me.
So I'll give you a littlebackground, your listeners a
little background.
As you might tell from most ofmy accent, I grew up in the UK
and I have been in the UnitedStates for nearly 20 years now,
(03:25):
and when I moved here initiallyI moved here with my husband,
who is American, and we movedhere to New York City and took
my first job, was just newlymarried and we were a young
couple here in New York.
We had our first child and Istarted to sort of say what is
my career going to look like?
How are we going to do thatwith a little one?
(03:46):
We had some shifts.
At that moment that happened.
I took a change of career.
I work in fundraising and Istarted my career in the first
10 years in special events,which involves a lot of late
nights and a lot of event work,long hours and so on.
You can imagine, john, it's adifferent kind of life.
So as I moved into being aparent, I shifted more in
(04:07):
fundraising to what we callmajor gifts work, which is much
more nine to five, a lot morework one-on-one with donors and
supporters of our organization.
And I had moved into that andstarted my progression through
career moments into a differentsort of level of middle
management kind of moment and Istarted to think, you know, I
(04:28):
wanted to progress up, to haveteams under me and be more of a
manager.
I looked at the differentcareer projection here in the
States and I also, with myBritish background, was working
actually with a Britishinstitution at the time, and so
I started to look across theocean back to London to see what
(04:49):
things were there.
Now this was actually in 2016,which has a very similar kind of
feel now to 2024.
Election season, a lot of changeand a lot of sort of pendulum
swings happening, and I was in asituation I'll just tell you a
very quick little storyhappening, and I was in a
situation.
I'll just tell you a very quicklittle story with some donors
here in the States, but with thepresident of my institution,
(05:16):
and we were there in thismeeting and each of them were
asking each other kind of whatwas going on in their own
countries and nobody had anyanswers.
It was the strangest momentwhere I was sort of sitting as a
thing on the wall in thismeeting and had like no idea of
these senior people who had, youknow, they were at that
management level, that seniorlevel, and had like really no
sense of what was going on and Iactually was thinking very
(05:38):
seriously interviewing for jobsback in London.
In the end those didn't workout, but I had similar
conversations with them inLondon when Brexit happened,
which was just again give yourlisteners a little background on
this.
Brexit was the vote in 2016,summer of 2016, where the UK
voted to leave the EuropeanUnion.
(06:00):
Obviously, this is a longhistorical issue and lots of
politics behind that, but for meit was a big moment where I
said, if I'm going to move myfamily back to the UK and to be
in a position there where I'mworking there and building my
career at this mid-career momentthere, if the institution that
(06:20):
I'm working for doesn't havesome answers or some plans or
some thoughts about how this isgoing to affect what they do and
what their sort of mission isand so on, then it's going to be
really hard for me to kind ofbring my value to that place.
So I made a decision there.
I had other opportunitiesopened up here in New York and I
(06:41):
stayed here in New York and youknow, sitting at this point in
my career so mid-career now, 21years through my career, I have
this sort of moment now, whichis nearly, you know, eight years
ago, where I can see that therewas a shift, a change that
mentally I had to make adecision one way or the other,
but it was also totally out ofmy control.
(07:03):
It was one of those situationswhere and I actually realized
that you were talking about thisvery recently on your podcast
like how little control youreally have over what you do,
over your career and how.
But those things that you docontrol are smaller decisions
sometimes, those little stepsthat you can make, and for me it
(07:23):
was a moment where I had to sayI think this is where I need to
stay right now.
John Neral (07:28):
So Jemima, let me just jump in here for a second,
because what you're hitting onis such a big part of this whole
mid-career moment, which iswhere do I fit?
And when we think about fit interms of not just our
professional life but ourpersonal life as well, you and
(07:48):
your husband have three smallchildren.
You're raising them.
There's fit in terms of wheredo you live and where do you
work, and when mid-careerprofessionals are struggling to
wonder what that fitspecifically looks like for them
(08:09):
, how did you get clarity aroundknowing?
For right now, this is thedecision I want to make, because
this fit seems right.
Jemima Attanasio (08:21):
I think it's a really good question.
I think it has been a littlebit of step by step, as I said,
also kind of crawling, sometimestaking those things one day at
a time.
I think what often happens whenwe're not sure where we're
going or we're not sure what'shappening around us, like I said
(08:41):
, we kind of feel thispowerlessness around some of
those things.
So what I tried to do more wasground myself and try to say so
who am I and where, where do Icome from and how do I feel
really centered in what I do?
That is on two sides, bothprofessional and a personal
(09:03):
level, and I think one of thethings that has really grounded
me throughout my life, actuallyright from the start, is music.
It was something that I did alot of.
I play the piano and I sing mytwo instruments, my two passions
, and as a teenager I played thepiano constantly.
(09:24):
I would sing along to the musicthat I was playing.
But then I sang a lot incollege and I did a lot of work
with other people, and those twothings have kind of come
together in my life at lots ofdifferent moments.
But I think what you're helpingme also remember is that each
time I've really struggled withsomething that kind of didn't
(09:45):
make sense or organizationallysomething that wasn't fitting,
I've often looked for music orthe arts particularly.
But even just that musicelement, like what does this
institution have that speaks tome there?
I've worked in the ballet, atthe New York City Ballet.
I've worked for institutionsthat have very important music
departments.
(10:06):
The universities I've worked athave really strong arts and
liberal arts kind ofperspectives in them too.
But that music every time Iwould sort of lose a sense of
where I was going.
I remember to put my headphonesback on and I remember to put
my music back in my ears andthat would actually help me
(10:26):
ground myself and feel myself.
And I remember this vividly ata couple of points where you
know I might have very simplylost an iPod or forgot where you
know I put the CD like yearsand years ago.
Or now you know, you know had anew phone and forgotten to
download the music that I reallywanted onto my phone and I've
(10:48):
had weeks or months without thatmusic and it kind of takes away
something from what I am.
So I think something of that,the organ piece of that, comes
in there too.
John Neral (11:01):
Where's the most interesting or coolest place
you've ever sung?
Jemima Attanasio (11:09):
I've sung in some beautiful cathedrals in
europe, um florence and uh.
We went to venice and the gaudicathedral in barcelona was
amazing.
We didn't get to sing in thecathedral, upstairs okay sang
because they're still working onthat it's a hundred and
something year project.
Well, we sang downstairs in thebasement and it was just
(11:30):
incredible, oh my gosh.
But there's something alsoabout that sorry, just on the
kind of the level of when yousing in a group and I think this
comes back to thatorganizational fit and where you
you come from there um is thatyou're listening to other people
.
You're listening to the peoplearound you.
You're hearing that feedback inthe sort of just pure sound
(11:54):
sense of that.
But you're also hearing how youcome together differently and
in different lines, but then youstart and end at the same point
.
There's a lot of synergy, Ithink, to how organizational
cultures come together throughmusic as well.
John Neral (12:12):
Without question.
The parallels are so profoundin that regard because for you
as an artist, as a musician,those things are absolutely
important, right?
It's where that synergy andthat harmony come into play in
terms of where you get to doyour best work.
So if you were showing up inthese situations where this is a
(12:37):
particular value of yours,right Harmonious collaboration,
very direct leadership, clearrules and expectations If you're
actively job seeking and youhave those values, what advice
(12:58):
can you share with the listenersin terms of how you would
assess organizational fit in thejob search and, specifically,
what questions you might askduring a job interview that may
help you determine whether ornot that organization's values
align with yours?
Jemima Attanasio (13:19):
That's great.
That's a really great umquestion to to even consider um.
I often ask questions aboutcross-collaboration who else do
you work with at the institutionum, which departments you know
pop up again and again, or wherewould you like to see this role
(13:40):
have more impact?
Um, um.
So you know a lot of theinstitutions.
I've come to um as a um, as aprofessional.
I've actually often been thethe first person taking this job
or a new, revitalized versionof this role, um, and so there's
often a lot of expectationaround that Um, but there's also
(14:02):
a lot of unknowns.
There are a lot of people whomay want or see things forward,
but they don't necessarily knowhow to get there, and I think on
that when you're in aninterview.
So I think you want to ask goodquestions and ask them for
specific examples, if they cangive a specific example of a
(14:24):
department or an event thatthey've worked on, or some kind
of team that they had, aspecific project that needed
collaboration across differentdepartments.
I think a lot of work, you know, tends to be very straight down
the line, but if you can be asan individual both an individual
and a team player thinking morebroadly, that can help find
(14:50):
more collaboration opportunitiesas well.
John Neral (14:54):
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Now let's get back to theepisode.
You and I've had an opportunityto get to know each other over
the last few years.
We were connected.
I believe it was Robin Merrill.
(16:03):
She was a guest of ours as well,a guest of mine several years
ago, and so one of the things Ihave come to know about you,
both from our conversations butalso in looking at what you post
and share about on LinkedIn, isthis sense of community.
(16:23):
And in your work inphilanthropy and doing this
large donor fundraising typework, the idea of building those
kinds of connections andbuilding that sense of community
is undeniably important for thework that you do, that's right.
(16:43):
You and I both know there are alot of people who are.
They have a LinkedIn profile.
They kind of have it becausethey feel like they should have
it and they're really anxiousabout what they could post, or
even what to start posting about.
(17:03):
Talk to us a little bit abouthow this sense of community
drives, how you've built yournetwork on LinkedIn.
Jemima Attanasio (17:15):
So I think that there are two parts, or two
or three different parts to howI approach LinkedIn.
But I think one of the thingsis that I see it as a place to
build community and to keep thatreally broad sense of
connection amongst my formercolleagues, people I've worked
(17:35):
with or would like to work with,and also just a general sense
of what's going on in myindustry but also outside of my
industry.
So it's when I, when I post onLinkedIn, I've actually
gravitated to a few differentareas.
So we've talked a little bitabout music and that's something
(17:56):
that you know is just top of mylist always.
And and really I can dig verydeep there I have been a
photographer, my for my wholelife and I love to post
photographs.
But I don't just post aphotograph and say here's a
beautiful sunset or here's atree or flower.
I post a lot of pictures offlowers, but what I try to do is
(18:18):
draw those cross connections.
Sometimes they might seem alittle far distant from each
other, but by using two or threevery synergistic kind of ideas
you can see in, for example, arosebush growing and blooming,
like the same sense of, for me,major gift fundraising or donors
(18:41):
in community growing andbuilding from, you know, a small
blossom to a very beautifulbush and I think that that has
that also sort of maps intoLinkedIn generally is that you
start something very small andit's the sort of place that, yes
, it exists, like you know, kindof stays out there in the world
(19:02):
, but it's also you're buildingon something all the time, like
you're building on the ideasWith the music.
I can go through a whole albumof different songs and have
different things to say about iteach time, and I think there's
a lot of creativity around thatas well.
So there's some different waysthat it's helped me, but each of
those things draws differentparts of the community.
(19:23):
I'll see some people John,you're one of the wonderful ones
who's tagging me and working inthe comments, and that's
another area you can really work.
You can really like use in avery deep way is to connect with
people in the comments and kindof say to them oh, I saw this,
it's so interesting, I'd love toknow more about this.
Or, you know, tell me whereyou're going.
(19:44):
What, where, how?
Why does this mean so much toyou?
Questions, lots of goodquestions.
John Neral (19:52):
I can't help but think that there is someone
listening to this conversation,jemima, who is hearing what you
just said and saying tothemselves that sounds like a
lot of personal stuff and Idon't think LinkedIn is really
the place to be posting picturesof flowers and music and stuff
like that.
But you found a way to pullyour network together around
(20:20):
these things because theyconnect with it and they, like
we always say it builds thatknow, like and trust factor.
What would you say to somebodywho is concerned about posting
something a little quote unquote, personal on LinkedIn, but
still find a way to make itprofessional and uplifting.
Jemima Attanasio (20:43):
Mm-hmm.
I think that it's joining ittogether, being clear about your
intentions, some of my posts, Idefinitely am very clear that
this is because it was somethingthat I wanted to share, that I
felt that other people, you know, because it was something that
I wanted to share, that I feltthat other people would benefit
from, whether it's personal ornot, we bring a lot of ourselves
(21:06):
authentically in different ways.
Everybody has different ways ofdoing that and I think that
we're able to speak to eachother without, you know, without
too much you know judgment ofthat sort of thing, you know,
with kind of a sense of grace toeach other as well.
(21:26):
I think, you know, for me, youknow, I tie a lot of my posts
also to you know, I'm postingpictures of the campus at
Fordham and different parts ofthe work that I do as well.
So there's a, there's a reallythere's a sort of sense of a
real, a full person behind a lotof what I post as well.
So, and I think that, again,you know, with community, with
(21:47):
organizational values, I thinkthat those are things that
genuinely people are interestedin.
We spend a lot of our time atwork and we spend a lot of our
time being.
You know real people at work aswell.
So, I think that it's.
Yes, I think that there aretimes where it goes over a
boundary and I think you want tokind of be careful of that and
(22:08):
sure.
But also it's also a placewhere you can kind of test it
out and see how comfortable youare with the things you want to
say as well.
John Neral (22:16):
So, for the listener's benefit, you and I
are recording this episode onJuly 3rd.
Jemima Attanasio (22:21):
And.
John Neral (22:21):
I share the date with them because you shared
with me earlier today that youhad done a post on LinkedIn
recently where you taggedFordham in it and they reacted
in a particular way that soundedlike it surprised you a little
bit, can you tell us a littlebit more about the essence of
(22:43):
the post and what Fordham did.
Jemima Attanasio (22:45):
Sure.
So you know, as an employeecolleague here at Fordham, we
had a retreat last week for ourdevelopment team we're about 100
strong and got together and hada long day of shared learning,
shared, you know, communityspirit, again, that same sense
(23:06):
of being together.
I posted about it in a you knowcelebratory way to you know
kind of put lift that up for thecommunity, and often I do post,
you know, fordham things thatare around that we have a large
university, lots of students,lots of community members who
are often posting as well.
But it happened that theuniversity tagged my post this
(23:30):
time and so of course it landedin our university feed.
My feed, my network, iscurrently just over a thousand
members, but the university feedis 150,000 members, is
currently just over a thousandmembers, but the university feed
is 150,000 members, so thefollowers have a lot more.
There are a lot more peopleseeing impressions of those at
that post.
So it lifted up right away intolots of people's feed.
(23:50):
You know lots of people wereliking that post and it got
three or four times the amountwell, over 4,000 posts
impressions on that post.
So it just it shows again thatbenefit of sharing common
experience and sharing somethingthat you know can be celebrated
and really lifted up.
And then it's part of like thecommunity spirit too that lots
(24:12):
of people you know also liked it, wanted to learn more.
You know a few people did alsowrite into that.
I also get and I think this issomething that's very helpful
for people who don't useLinkedIn or sort of like you
said listeners who may think oh,you know, it's just.
I mean, I get a lot of peoplewho reach out to me both through
direct message and then justfind me through email or, you
(24:34):
know more, just generally inperson around the university and
will lift up the work that I'vedone offline, totally offline.
So that's a really importantpart of it too.
It's just one piece of thepuzzle.
John Neral (24:47):
Yeah, and how did you feel when you saw that
Fordham tagged your post andshared it with their 150,000
person network?
Jemima Attanasio (24:58):
It was wonderful, it was very exciting.
I was really because I had beentagging the university a lot
and I just, you know, alwayshope that, you know, other
people learn about the thingswe're doing.
It's part of my role tocelebrate the community as well,
but it was really exciting tosee it up there and, of course,
recognize that you know, a lotof people benefit from this
place too.
(25:18):
You know, my one of my hopesalways is that I help other
people, and that's really one ofthe things I like to do the
most.
So this, I think, just I hope,helps the university too, as
well as as all the people herewithin it.
John Neral (25:32):
Yeah, and it goes without saying, you really love
your job and you love where youwork and everything.
So it makes it a little easierin that regard to kind of tag
your employer in that regardwithout any expectation that
they're going to repost orreshare that kind of post from
you as well.
But what I want to offer peoplewho are listening today is that
(25:55):
the message here is be yourself,be authentic.
If you're going to post onLinkedIn, do it in a way of
serving your network, regardlessof whether you have 50 people
who are currently following youor 500,000 people following you.
Do it in a way to kind of serveyour network and see what the
(26:18):
reactions are.
Right, you and I both know wepost stuff on LinkedIn all the
time and some stuff lands andsome stuff doesn't.
And what a lot of people don'tunderstand is that there's so
many algorithms at play in termsof where LinkedIn decides to
give you their blessing and kindof move your post a little bit
forward in that regard.
But when you show up every dayfrom that intention of how can I
(26:39):
serve, how can I help thepeople in my network, it speaks
volumes about the brand and thequality that your feed has and
why people would naturallyresonate toward that.
Jemima Attanasio (26:54):
Yeah, definitely, and I think that you
know that comes across for me.
You know a lot of organizationsare very complicated places.
They're big places, they haveeven small.
You know I've worked atnonprofits that are one to two
people, you know, all the way upto thousands and thousands of
people Like there are lots ofreasons and different parts to
the organization and sometimeswhen you do something every day,
(27:18):
showing up, like you just said,you know, in different pieces,
it just enables that whole storyto be told.
And I think that it's so easy,unfortunately in the world of
social media to kind of thinkit's just one thing and it's
kind of here and done.
And I think, again, that sortof sense of showing up and
presenting different kinds ofaspects and different pieces to
(27:40):
the puzzle just really helps theoverall picture.
John Neral (27:43):
Yeah.
So, jemima, we're going tostart wrapping up here in a
couple of minutes, but I wouldbe remissed if I didn't take a
couple of minutes just to talkto you about why Pink's music
resonates for you so much, whatis so special about her and her
music?
Jemima Attanasio (28:01):
Pink is an incredible pop singer.
Those of your listeners whohave heard her or followed her
may have done so for a very longtime.
I only was introduced to her.
I knew one or two of her songsduring COVID listening on
Pandora, in fact, to generalmixes of this kind of music I
(28:21):
liked.
But I got really into a journeyof learning about her and her
progression as an artist, herprogression as a person, as a
mother, I think, also somebodyvery authentic and very open
about the fact that she's quitea complicated person.
But I actually one of the mostfascinating things about her
(28:42):
music and my own journey is thatI went backwards through her
catalog.
So I started in her most recentalbum that was in 2023 and then
went backwards.
I'm currently in her album from2003.
I've still got two more albumsto go back, but there's
something very special about ajourney that maps a lot of your
(29:04):
own kind of career moments orclarity moments as well.
I think, again, it's a reasonthat the Mid-Career your GPS
podcast actually has a lot ofresonance.
For me, too is you see bits andpieces of yourself and how
you've discovered things and soon, and I think that for me,
comes across in Pink.
She's also a very deep artist.
(29:26):
She actually I mean, she works,she collaborates again somebody
who has a very serious sense ofa team, people around her, a
band, and also she performs live.
So how can you?
You know these incredibleaerial stunts and she's singing
live as she does them.
So she has a very special kindof talent to be able to do that.
(29:48):
I think again, for someone who,like me, presents quite a bit
of you know of how I amauthentically, that has
resonated with me very deeplywith me, very deeply, and you've
posted some things about her aswell, to kind of bring all that
out.
John Neral (30:04):
And it's, it's music is one of those things that
absolutely bonds us in so manyways and and I think when, when
we have something like that thatwe love and we appreciate and
it's that, it's that gift andtalent that we have in that
regard, it makes life a wholelot more special in that regard,
(30:27):
yeah.
Jemima Attanasio (30:27):
And I think it's also that you know,
stepping beyond something youknow like the day-to-day.
You know there's something.
Sometimes it's just a littlebit more than that.
You know you can kind of justbe in awe of it, and I think
that that is part of it as well.
I have a sense of somethingthat's just a little bit you
know beyond.
(30:48):
You know that you can't quite,it's not quite tangible, and I
like that about it.
John Neral (30:53):
I shared this with a friend of mine who is a huge
Donna Summer fan but there is anew version of MacArthur Park
that is sung by Amber Riley andI forget how many pieces in the
orchestra are backing her up,and there's a young guy it's
(31:15):
Micah, somebody I can't remember.
I can see his face, but theorchestral version of that is so
incredibly phenomenal and it'slike, yeah, I could listen to
that on autoplay just over andover and over again and enjoy
that.
Jemima Attanasio (31:34):
Well, I have a pink story for that same thing.
She went on um um when her newalbum launched and her song
turbulence and she admitted tothe to the broadcaster on the on
on the bbc.
She had only ever once sungwith a full orchestra and they
had a full orchestra for her andshe sang it, the orchestra and
(31:55):
just the piano and her on hersinging and it was incredible.
It's a very special song.
It's um, it's actually um um.
When I get there, it's the songthat um she wrote really for
her father who she'd lost um tocancer a few years ago, and so
of course I had a lot of emotionfor her.
But then to have that song bethe one she performed with this
(32:16):
orchestra was, I mean, you canwatch it live.
It'll be recorded from the liveperformance.
It's something really quitespecial.
John Neral (32:25):
Send me that link please.
I will do.
Yeah, all right, sounds good.
So, jemima, we've talked abouta lot of things today.
We have talked about the wholeimportance of about finding that
organizational fit and how youfit and align with the
organization's mission andvision and purpose.
We talked about how to assesswhat that organizational fit may
look like.
(32:45):
We've also talked aboutbuilding community and how you
do that on LinkedIn.
So, as we start wrapping uphere, what advice would you give
someone listening today to helpthem build their mid-career GPS
to whatever is next for them intheir career?
Jemima Attanasio (33:03):
I think there are two or three things, three
things that I'd like to sharethat are really, you know, have
been important for me.
One is that sense of reflectionLike I shared, you know, some
of my, you know, in mymid-career moment.
Being able to sort of reflectback on what that meant and keep
looking back even as you comethrough into a new stage.
(33:25):
That has been really helpful tome.
I think as we journey throughmid-career or journey through
any of our career, we tend to goreally fast and so we kind of
jump to the next thing.
Particularly if we're movingquite a bit, we get into the new
place and we try and learneverything.
Reflecting and pausing andtaking some more time has always
(33:47):
been really helpful.
And, on that same note, findingthat self you know self care
moment, self, you knowreflection and what you need out
of that, I think is also reallyimportant.
Those are two things that youknow have, just as I've gone
through changes have nowgrounded me again and being in a
(34:08):
place, like you said, atFordham here, where I do feel
very comfortable and grounded,they're things that I have been
able to really actually kind ofdig into deeply and kind of
solidify myself.
John Neral (34:21):
I want to thank you for sharing that.
I want to thank you for sharingall the great things you shared
with us today.
So, if people want to connectwith you and find you and learn
more about you, I'm going toturn the mic over to you.
My friend, tell us where peoplecan connect with you.
Jemima Attanasio (34:34):
Thank you so much, john.
Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn.
I think that is the best placeto find me.
I work here at FordhamUniversity, so you can always
catch me through the universityhere as well, find me online.
But LinkedIn is the space thatI use as my professional as well
as personal journey.
So my profile, you know undermy name, jemima Atanasio, and
(34:57):
you know, follow me along.
You'll hear about music, aboutnature, about Fordham and about
lots of things in life.
So fundraising in the wildhashtag, fundraising in the wild
is my cross connection betweenfundraising and the photography
and the music that I puttogether.
John Neral (35:13):
That's awesome.
Well, jemima, I will make sureall of that is in the show notes
, but thank you so much.
I've been wanting to have thisconversation with you for a
while, so thanks for being agreat guest on the Mid-Career
GPS podcast.
Jemima Attanasio (35:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
I've been a follower for a longtime too, john, so it's been
very special to be with you,thank you.
John Neral (35:30):
Same same here.
I appreciate that.
So, my friends, as we wrap uphere, here's the one takeaway I
want you to think about when canyou be more you?
How do you bring more ofyourself to work?
How do you bring more ofyourself into building community
?
And if you're posting onLinkedIn or engaging with other
(35:51):
people's content on LinkedIn,how can you bring more you of
that as well?
How you make that connection isa big part of how you build
your mid-career GPS, and I thankJemima for adding that special
component to this conversationtoday.
So until next time, my friends,remember this you will build
your mid-career GPS one mile orone step at a time, and how you
(36:13):
show up matters.
Make it a great rest of yourday.
Make it a great rest of yourday.
Thank you for listening to theMid-Career GPS Podcast.
Make sure to follow on yourfavorite listening platform and,
if you have a moment, I'd loveto hear your comments on Apple
Podcasts.
Visit johnnerrellcom for moreinformation about how I can help
(36:38):
you build your mid-career GPSor how I can help you and your
organization with your nextworkshop or public speaking
event.
Don't forget to connect with meon LinkedIn and follow me on
social at John Darrell Coaching.
I look forward to being backwith you next week.
Until then, take care andremember how we show up matters.
Imagine working a full-time job, raising your
family, all while diligentlytrying to find the balance
between your home life andgrowing your career.
Sound familiar?
Where do you find the energyand motivation to keep you and
your career moving forward?
Well, my guest today is someonewho's found that secret and
(00:22):
she'll share her experienceswith you today.
In a few moments, you will meetJemima Attanasio.
Jemima is the Senior Directorof Development at Fordham
College at Rose Hill.
She's here to talk to you aboutwhy she values
cross-collaboration, the powerof Pink's music, and how she
found a wonderfully supportiveand engaging community in her
(00:45):
LinkedIn network and you can too.
So let's get started.
Hello, my friends, this is theMid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm
your John Neral.
(01:05):
I help mid-career professionalslike you find a job they love,
or love the job they have, usingmy proven four-step formula.
I've known Jemima Atanasio fora few years now, and she is one
of those people whose posts Isee on LinkedIn and I have to
stop and look whenever I see it.
Her posts are thoughtful,unique and personal, all while
(01:29):
being professional and engaging.
It's one of the lessons you'llhear from her about how she
found success posting contentlike this on LinkedIn and how it
has helped her build hercommunity and network, all while
building her mid-career GPS.
This is a practical and funconversation, and one which I am
(01:50):
sure you will absolutely findrelatable, so it is my pleasure
to introduce you to JemimaAttanasio.
Hey there, Jemima, welcome tothe podcast.
I'm excited for ourconversation today.
Jemima Attanasio (02:05):
Thank you so much, John, for having me.
I'm really excited to be here.
John Neral (02:09):
Same.
So we've set an intention todaythat you and I are going to
have a lot of fun in thisconversation.
There's so many things I'mexcited to talk to you about
today but, to help the listenersout, you've got some
interesting perspectives on thiswhole mid-career moment and
mid-career journey and I'mwondering if you can share with
(02:31):
us a particular event that youhave just found really shaped
and defined a big part of yourmid-career GPS.
Jemima Attanasio (02:40):
Thanks so much , john.
I've listened to your work fora long time and I've been really
interested and fascinated bythis moment.
I think it happens in stagesand for me, I'm a mom, a mom of
three.
I've been working for my wholeadult life and my career, with
all three of those children aspart of it.
(03:00):
But at each stage I've come tomoments that have that
mid-career sort of feel to itand I wanted to choose one that
kind of shifted me.
So I'll give you a littlebackground, your listeners a
little background.
As you might tell from most ofmy accent, I grew up in the UK
and I have been in the UnitedStates for nearly 20 years now,
(03:25):
and when I moved here initiallyI moved here with my husband,
who is American, and we movedhere to New York City and took
my first job, was just newlymarried and we were a young
couple here in New York.
We had our first child and Istarted to sort of say what is
my career going to look like?
How are we going to do thatwith a little one?
(03:46):
We had some shifts.
At that moment that happened.
I took a change of career.
I work in fundraising and Istarted my career in the first
10 years in special events,which involves a lot of late
nights and a lot of event work,long hours and so on.
You can imagine, john, it's adifferent kind of life.
So as I moved into being aparent, I shifted more in
(04:07):
fundraising to what we callmajor gifts work, which is much
more nine to five, a lot morework one-on-one with donors and
supporters of our organization.
And I had moved into that andstarted my progression through
career moments into a differentsort of level of middle
management kind of moment and Istarted to think, you know, I
(04:28):
wanted to progress up, to haveteams under me and be more of a
manager.
I looked at the differentcareer projection here in the
States and I also, with myBritish background, was working
actually with a Britishinstitution at the time, and so
I started to look across theocean back to London to see what
(04:49):
things were there.
Now this was actually in 2016,which has a very similar kind of
feel now to 2024.
Election season, a lot of changeand a lot of sort of pendulum
swings happening, and I was in asituation I'll just tell you a
very quick little storyhappening, and I was in a
situation.
I'll just tell you a very quicklittle story with some donors
here in the States, but with thepresident of my institution,
(05:16):
and we were there in thismeeting and each of them were
asking each other kind of whatwas going on in their own
countries and nobody had anyanswers.
It was the strangest momentwhere I was sort of sitting as a
thing on the wall in thismeeting and had like no idea of
these senior people who had, youknow, they were at that
management level, that seniorlevel, and had like really no
sense of what was going on and Iactually was thinking very
(05:38):
seriously interviewing for jobsback in London.
In the end those didn't workout, but I had similar
conversations with them inLondon when Brexit happened,
which was just again give yourlisteners a little background on
this.
Brexit was the vote in 2016,summer of 2016, where the UK
voted to leave the EuropeanUnion.
(06:00):
Obviously, this is a longhistorical issue and lots of
politics behind that, but for meit was a big moment where I
said, if I'm going to move myfamily back to the UK and to be
in a position there where I'mworking there and building my
career at this mid-career momentthere, if the institution that
(06:20):
I'm working for doesn't havesome answers or some plans or
some thoughts about how this isgoing to affect what they do and
what their sort of mission isand so on, then it's going to be
really hard for me to kind ofbring my value to that place.
So I made a decision there.
I had other opportunitiesopened up here in New York and I
(06:41):
stayed here in New York and youknow, sitting at this point in
my career so mid-career now, 21years through my career, I have
this sort of moment now, whichis nearly, you know, eight years
ago, where I can see that therewas a shift, a change that
mentally I had to make adecision one way or the other,
but it was also totally out ofmy control.
(07:03):
It was one of those situationswhere and I actually realized
that you were talking about thisvery recently on your podcast
like how little control youreally have over what you do,
over your career and how.
But those things that you docontrol are smaller decisions
sometimes, those little stepsthat you can make, and for me it
(07:23):
was a moment where I had to sayI think this is where I need to
stay right now.
John Neral (07:28):
So Jemima, let me just jump in here for a second,
because what you're hitting onis such a big part of this whole
mid-career moment, which iswhere do I fit?
And when we think about fit interms of not just our
professional life but ourpersonal life as well, you and
(07:48):
your husband have three smallchildren.
You're raising them.
There's fit in terms of wheredo you live and where do you
work, and when mid-careerprofessionals are struggling to
wonder what that fitspecifically looks like for them
(08:09):
, how did you get clarity aroundknowing?
For right now, this is thedecision I want to make, because
this fit seems right.
Jemima Attanasio (08:21):
I think it's a really good question.
I think it has been a littlebit of step by step, as I said,
also kind of crawling, sometimestaking those things one day at
a time.
I think what often happens whenwe're not sure where we're
going or we're not sure what'shappening around us, like I said
(08:41):
, we kind of feel thispowerlessness around some of
those things.
So what I tried to do more wasground myself and try to say so
who am I and where, where do Icome from and how do I feel
really centered in what I do?
That is on two sides, bothprofessional and a personal
(09:03):
level, and I think one of thethings that has really grounded
me throughout my life, actuallyright from the start, is music.
It was something that I did alot of.
I play the piano and I sing mytwo instruments, my two passions
, and as a teenager I played thepiano constantly.
(09:24):
I would sing along to the musicthat I was playing.
But then I sang a lot incollege and I did a lot of work
with other people, and those twothings have kind of come
together in my life at lots ofdifferent moments.
But I think what you're helpingme also remember is that each
time I've really struggled withsomething that kind of didn't
(09:45):
make sense or organizationallysomething that wasn't fitting,
I've often looked for music orthe arts particularly.
But even just that musicelement, like what does this
institution have that speaks tome there?
I've worked in the ballet, atthe New York City Ballet.
I've worked for institutionsthat have very important music
departments.
(10:06):
The universities I've worked athave really strong arts and
liberal arts kind ofperspectives in them too.
But that music every time Iwould sort of lose a sense of
where I was going.
I remember to put my headphonesback on and I remember to put
my music back in my ears andthat would actually help me
(10:26):
ground myself and feel myself.
And I remember this vividly ata couple of points where you
know I might have very simplylost an iPod or forgot where you
know I put the CD like yearsand years ago.
Or now you know, you know had anew phone and forgotten to
download the music that I reallywanted onto my phone and I've
(10:48):
had weeks or months without thatmusic and it kind of takes away
something from what I am.
So I think something of that,the organ piece of that, comes
in there too.
John Neral (11:01):
Where's the most interesting or coolest place
you've ever sung?
Jemima Attanasio (11:09):
I've sung in some beautiful cathedrals in
europe, um florence and uh.
We went to venice and the gaudicathedral in barcelona was
amazing.
We didn't get to sing in thecathedral, upstairs okay sang
because they're still working onthat it's a hundred and
something year project.
Well, we sang downstairs in thebasement and it was just
(11:30):
incredible, oh my gosh.
But there's something alsoabout that sorry, just on the
kind of the level of when yousing in a group and I think this
comes back to thatorganizational fit and where you
you come from there um is thatyou're listening to other people
.
You're listening to the peoplearound you.
You're hearing that feedback inthe sort of just pure sound
(11:54):
sense of that.
But you're also hearing how youcome together differently and
in different lines, but then youstart and end at the same point
.
There's a lot of synergy, Ithink, to how organizational
cultures come together throughmusic as well.
John Neral (12:12):
Without question.
The parallels are so profoundin that regard because for you
as an artist, as a musician,those things are absolutely
important, right?
It's where that synergy andthat harmony come into play in
terms of where you get to doyour best work.
So if you were showing up inthese situations where this is a
(12:37):
particular value of yours,right Harmonious collaboration,
very direct leadership, clearrules and expectations If you're
actively job seeking and youhave those values, what advice
(12:58):
can you share with the listenersin terms of how you would
assess organizational fit in thejob search and, specifically,
what questions you might askduring a job interview that may
help you determine whether ornot that organization's values
align with yours?
Jemima Attanasio (13:19):
That's great.
That's a really great umquestion to to even consider um.
I often ask questions aboutcross-collaboration who else do
you work with at the institutionum, which departments you know
pop up again and again, or wherewould you like to see this role
(13:40):
have more impact?
Um, um.
So you know a lot of theinstitutions.
I've come to um as a um, as aprofessional.
I've actually often been thethe first person taking this job
or a new, revitalized versionof this role, um, and so there's
often a lot of expectationaround that Um, but there's also
(14:02):
a lot of unknowns.
There are a lot of people whomay want or see things forward,
but they don't necessarily knowhow to get there, and I think on
that when you're in aninterview.
So I think you want to ask goodquestions and ask them for
specific examples, if they cangive a specific example of a
(14:24):
department or an event thatthey've worked on, or some kind
of team that they had, aspecific project that needed
collaboration across differentdepartments.
I think a lot of work, you know, tends to be very straight down
the line, but if you can be asan individual both an individual
and a team player thinking morebroadly, that can help find
(14:50):
more collaboration opportunitiesas well.
John Neral (14:54):
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com/courses.
Now let's get back to theepisode.
You and I've had an opportunityto get to know each other over
the last few years.
We were connected.
I believe it was Robin Merrill.
(16:03):
She was a guest of ours as well,a guest of mine several years
ago, and so one of the things Ihave come to know about you,
both from our conversations butalso in looking at what you post
and share about on LinkedIn, isthis sense of community.
(16:23):
And in your work inphilanthropy and doing this
large donor fundraising typework, the idea of building those
kinds of connections andbuilding that sense of community
is undeniably important for thework that you do, that's right.
(16:43):
You and I both know there are alot of people who are.
They have a LinkedIn profile.
They kind of have it becausethey feel like they should have
it and they're really anxiousabout what they could post, or
even what to start posting about.
(17:03):
Talk to us a little bit abouthow this sense of community
drives, how you've built yournetwork on LinkedIn.
Jemima Attanasio (17:15):
So I think that there are two parts, or two
or three different parts to howI approach LinkedIn.
But I think one of the thingsis that I see it as a place to
build community and to keep thatreally broad sense of
connection amongst my formercolleagues, people I've worked
(17:35):
with or would like to work with,and also just a general sense
of what's going on in myindustry but also outside of my
industry.
So it's when I, when I post onLinkedIn, I've actually
gravitated to a few differentareas.
So we've talked a little bitabout music and that's something
(17:56):
that you know is just top of mylist always.
And and really I can dig verydeep there I have been a
photographer, my for my wholelife and I love to post
photographs.
But I don't just post aphotograph and say here's a
beautiful sunset or here's atree or flower.
I post a lot of pictures offlowers, but what I try to do is
(18:18):
draw those cross connections.
Sometimes they might seem alittle far distant from each
other, but by using two or threevery synergistic kind of ideas
you can see in, for example, arosebush growing and blooming,
like the same sense of, for me,major gift fundraising or donors
(18:41):
in community growing andbuilding from, you know, a small
blossom to a very beautifulbush and I think that that has
that also sort of maps intoLinkedIn generally is that you
start something very small andit's the sort of place that, yes
, it exists, like you know, kindof stays out there in the world
(19:02):
, but it's also you're buildingon something all the time, like
you're building on the ideasWith the music.
I can go through a whole albumof different songs and have
different things to say about iteach time, and I think there's
a lot of creativity around thatas well.
So there's some different waysthat it's helped me, but each of
those things draws differentparts of the community.
(19:23):
I'll see some people John,you're one of the wonderful ones
who's tagging me and working inthe comments, and that's
another area you can really work.
You can really like use in avery deep way is to connect with
people in the comments and kindof say to them oh, I saw this,
it's so interesting, I'd love toknow more about this.
Or, you know, tell me whereyou're going.
(19:44):
What, where, how?
Why does this mean so much toyou?
Questions, lots of goodquestions.
John Neral (19:52):
I can't help but think that there is someone
listening to this conversation,jemima, who is hearing what you
just said and saying tothemselves that sounds like a
lot of personal stuff and Idon't think LinkedIn is really
the place to be posting picturesof flowers and music and stuff
like that.
But you found a way to pullyour network together around
(20:20):
these things because theyconnect with it and they, like
we always say it builds thatknow, like and trust factor.
What would you say to somebodywho is concerned about posting
something a little quote unquote, personal on LinkedIn, but
still find a way to make itprofessional and uplifting.
Jemima Attanasio (20:43):
Mm-hmm.
I think that it's joining ittogether, being clear about your
intentions, some of my posts, Idefinitely am very clear that
this is because it was somethingthat I wanted to share, that I
felt that other people, you know, because it was something that
I wanted to share, that I feltthat other people would benefit
from, whether it's personal ornot, we bring a lot of ourselves
(21:06):
authentically in different ways.
Everybody has different ways ofdoing that and I think that
we're able to speak to eachother without, you know, without
too much you know judgment ofthat sort of thing, you know,
with kind of a sense of grace toeach other as well.
(21:26):
I think, you know, for me, youknow, I tie a lot of my posts
also to you know, I'm postingpictures of the campus at
Fordham and different parts ofthe work that I do as well.
So there's a, there's a reallythere's a sort of sense of a
real, a full person behind a lotof what I post as well.
So, and I think that, again,you know, with community, with
(21:47):
organizational values, I thinkthat those are things that
genuinely people are interestedin.
We spend a lot of our time atwork and we spend a lot of our
time being.
You know real people at work aswell.
So, I think that it's.
Yes, I think that there aretimes where it goes over a
boundary and I think you want tokind of be careful of that and
(22:08):
sure.
But also it's also a placewhere you can kind of test it
out and see how comfortable youare with the things you want to
say as well.
John Neral (22:16):
So, for the listener's benefit, you and I
are recording this episode onJuly 3rd.
Jemima Attanasio (22:21):
And.
John Neral (22:21):
I share the date with them because you shared
with me earlier today that youhad done a post on LinkedIn
recently where you taggedFordham in it and they reacted
in a particular way that soundedlike it surprised you a little
bit, can you tell us a littlebit more about the essence of
(22:43):
the post and what Fordham did.
Jemima Attanasio (22:45):
Sure.
So you know, as an employeecolleague here at Fordham, we
had a retreat last week for ourdevelopment team we're about 100
strong and got together and hada long day of shared learning,
shared, you know, communityspirit, again, that same sense
(23:06):
of being together.
I posted about it in a you knowcelebratory way to you know
kind of put lift that up for thecommunity, and often I do post,
you know, fordham things thatare around that we have a large
university, lots of students,lots of community members who
are often posting as well.
But it happened that theuniversity tagged my post this
(23:30):
time and so of course it landedin our university feed.
My feed, my network, iscurrently just over a thousand
members, but the university feedis 150,000 members, is
currently just over a thousandmembers, but the university feed
is 150,000 members, so thefollowers have a lot more.
There are a lot more peopleseeing impressions of those at
that post.
So it lifted up right away intolots of people's feed.
(23:50):
You know lots of people wereliking that post and it got
three or four times the amountwell, over 4,000 posts
impressions on that post.
So it just it shows again thatbenefit of sharing common
experience and sharing somethingthat you know can be celebrated
and really lifted up.
And then it's part of like thecommunity spirit too that lots
(24:12):
of people you know also liked it, wanted to learn more.
You know a few people did alsowrite into that.
I also get and I think this issomething that's very helpful
for people who don't useLinkedIn or sort of like you
said listeners who may think oh,you know, it's just.
I mean, I get a lot of peoplewho reach out to me both through
direct message and then justfind me through email or, you
(24:34):
know more, just generally inperson around the university and
will lift up the work that I'vedone offline, totally offline.
So that's a really importantpart of it too.
It's just one piece of thepuzzle.
John Neral (24:47):
Yeah, and how did you feel when you saw that
Fordham tagged your post andshared it with their 150,000
person network?
Jemima Attanasio (24:58):
It was wonderful, it was very exciting.
I was really because I had beentagging the university a lot
and I just, you know, alwayshope that, you know, other
people learn about the thingswe're doing.
It's part of my role tocelebrate the community as well,
but it was really exciting tosee it up there and, of course,
recognize that you know, a lotof people benefit from this
place too.
(25:18):
You know, my one of my hopesalways is that I help other
people, and that's really one ofthe things I like to do the
most.
So this, I think, just I hope,helps the university too, as
well as as all the people herewithin it.
John Neral (25:32):
Yeah, and it goes without saying, you really love
your job and you love where youwork and everything.
So it makes it a little easierin that regard to kind of tag
your employer in that regardwithout any expectation that
they're going to repost orreshare that kind of post from
you as well.
But what I want to offer peoplewho are listening today is that
(25:55):
the message here is be yourself,be authentic.
If you're going to post onLinkedIn, do it in a way of
serving your network, regardlessof whether you have 50 people
who are currently following youor 500,000 people following you.
Do it in a way to kind of serveyour network and see what the
(26:18):
reactions are.
Right, you and I both know wepost stuff on LinkedIn all the
time and some stuff lands andsome stuff doesn't.
And what a lot of people don'tunderstand is that there's so
many algorithms at play in termsof where LinkedIn decides to
give you their blessing and kindof move your post a little bit
forward in that regard.
But when you show up every dayfrom that intention of how can I
(26:39):
serve, how can I help thepeople in my network, it speaks
volumes about the brand and thequality that your feed has and
why people would naturallyresonate toward that.
Jemima Attanasio (26:54):
Yeah, definitely, and I think that you
know that comes across for me.
You know a lot of organizationsare very complicated places.
They're big places, they haveeven small.
You know I've worked atnonprofits that are one to two
people, you know, all the way upto thousands and thousands of
people Like there are lots ofreasons and different parts to
the organization and sometimeswhen you do something every day,
(27:18):
showing up, like you just said,you know, in different pieces,
it just enables that whole storyto be told.
And I think that it's so easy,unfortunately in the world of
social media to kind of thinkit's just one thing and it's
kind of here and done.
And I think, again, that sortof sense of showing up and
presenting different kinds ofaspects and different pieces to
(27:40):
the puzzle just really helps theoverall picture.
John Neral (27:43):
Yeah.
So, jemima, we're going tostart wrapping up here in a
couple of minutes, but I wouldbe remissed if I didn't take a
couple of minutes just to talkto you about why Pink's music
resonates for you so much, whatis so special about her and her
music?
Jemima Attanasio (28:01):
Pink is an incredible pop singer.
Those of your listeners whohave heard her or followed her
may have done so for a very longtime.
I only was introduced to her.
I knew one or two of her songsduring COVID listening on
Pandora, in fact, to generalmixes of this kind of music I
(28:21):
liked.
But I got really into a journeyof learning about her and her
progression as an artist, herprogression as a person, as a
mother, I think, also somebodyvery authentic and very open
about the fact that she's quitea complicated person.
But I actually one of the mostfascinating things about her
(28:42):
music and my own journey is thatI went backwards through her
catalog.
So I started in her most recentalbum that was in 2023 and then
went backwards.
I'm currently in her album from2003.
I've still got two more albumsto go back, but there's
something very special about ajourney that maps a lot of your
(29:04):
own kind of career moments orclarity moments as well.
I think, again, it's a reasonthat the Mid-Career your GPS
podcast actually has a lot ofresonance.
For me, too is you see bits andpieces of yourself and how
you've discovered things and soon, and I think that for me,
comes across in Pink.
She's also a very deep artist.
(29:26):
She actually I mean, she works,she collaborates again somebody
who has a very serious sense ofa team, people around her, a
band, and also she performs live.
So how can you?
You know these incredibleaerial stunts and she's singing
live as she does them.
So she has a very special kindof talent to be able to do that.
(29:48):
I think again, for someone who,like me, presents quite a bit
of you know of how I amauthentically, that has
resonated with me very deeplywith me, very deeply, and you've
posted some things about her aswell, to kind of bring all that
out.
John Neral (30:04):
And it's, it's music is one of those things that
absolutely bonds us in so manyways and and I think when, when
we have something like that thatwe love and we appreciate and
it's that, it's that gift andtalent that we have in that
regard, it makes life a wholelot more special in that regard,
(30:27):
yeah.
Jemima Attanasio (30:27):
And I think it's also that you know,
stepping beyond something youknow like the day-to-day.
You know there's something.
Sometimes it's just a littlebit more than that.
You know you can kind of justbe in awe of it, and I think
that that is part of it as well.
I have a sense of somethingthat's just a little bit you
know beyond.
(30:48):
You know that you can't quite,it's not quite tangible, and I
like that about it.
John Neral (30:53):
I shared this with a friend of mine who is a huge
Donna Summer fan but there is anew version of MacArthur Park
that is sung by Amber Riley andI forget how many pieces in the
orchestra are backing her up,and there's a young guy it's
(31:15):
Micah, somebody I can't remember.
I can see his face, but theorchestral version of that is so
incredibly phenomenal and it'slike, yeah, I could listen to
that on autoplay just over andover and over again and enjoy
that.
Jemima Attanasio (31:34):
Well, I have a pink story for that same thing.
She went on um um when her newalbum launched and her song
turbulence and she admitted tothe to the broadcaster on the on
on the bbc.
She had only ever once sungwith a full orchestra and they
had a full orchestra for her andshe sang it, the orchestra and
(31:55):
just the piano and her on hersinging and it was incredible.
It's a very special song.
It's um, it's actually um um.
When I get there, it's the songthat um she wrote really for
her father who she'd lost um tocancer a few years ago, and so
of course I had a lot of emotionfor her.
But then to have that song bethe one she performed with this
(32:16):
orchestra was, I mean, you canwatch it live.
It'll be recorded from the liveperformance.
It's something really quitespecial.
John Neral (32:25):
Send me that link please.
I will do.
Yeah, all right, sounds good.
So, jemima, we've talked abouta lot of things today.
We have talked about the wholeimportance of about finding that
organizational fit and how youfit and align with the
organization's mission andvision and purpose.
We talked about how to assesswhat that organizational fit may
look like.
(32:45):
We've also talked aboutbuilding community and how you
do that on LinkedIn.
So, as we start wrapping uphere, what advice would you give
someone listening today to helpthem build their mid-career GPS
to whatever is next for them intheir career?
Jemima Attanasio (33:03):
I think there are two or three things, three
things that I'd like to sharethat are really, you know, have
been important for me.
One is that sense of reflectionLike I shared, you know, some
of my, you know, in mymid-career moment.
Being able to sort of reflectback on what that meant and keep
looking back even as you comethrough into a new stage.
(33:25):
That has been really helpful tome.
I think as we journey throughmid-career or journey through
any of our career, we tend to goreally fast and so we kind of
jump to the next thing.
Particularly if we're movingquite a bit, we get into the new
place and we try and learneverything.
Reflecting and pausing andtaking some more time has always
(33:47):
been really helpful.
And, on that same note, findingthat self you know self care
moment, self, you knowreflection and what you need out
of that, I think is also reallyimportant.
Those are two things that youknow have, just as I've gone
through changes have nowgrounded me again and being in a
(34:08):
place, like you said, atFordham here, where I do feel
very comfortable and grounded,they're things that I have been
able to really actually kind ofdig into deeply and kind of
solidify myself.
John Neral (34:21):
I want to thank you for sharing that.
I want to thank you for sharingall the great things you shared
with us today.
So, if people want to connectwith you and find you and learn
more about you, I'm going toturn the mic over to you.
My friend, tell us where peoplecan connect with you.
Jemima Attanasio (34:34):
Thank you so much, john.
Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn.
I think that is the best placeto find me.
I work here at FordhamUniversity, so you can always
catch me through the universityhere as well, find me online.
But LinkedIn is the space thatI use as my professional as well
as personal journey.
So my profile, you know undermy name, jemima Atanasio, and
(34:57):
you know, follow me along.
You'll hear about music, aboutnature, about Fordham and about
lots of things in life.
So fundraising in the wildhashtag, fundraising in the wild
is my cross connection betweenfundraising and the photography
and the music that I puttogether.
John Neral (35:13):
That's awesome.
Well, jemima, I will make sureall of that is in the show notes
, but thank you so much.
I've been wanting to have thisconversation with you for a
while, so thanks for being agreat guest on the Mid-Career
GPS podcast.
Jemima Attanasio (35:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
I've been a follower for a longtime too, john, so it's been
very special to be with you,thank you.
John Neral (35:30):
Same same here.
I appreciate that.
So, my friends, as we wrap uphere, here's the one takeaway I
want you to think about when canyou be more you?
How do you bring more ofyourself to work?
How do you bring more ofyourself into building community
?
And if you're posting onLinkedIn or engaging with other
(35:51):
people's content on LinkedIn,how can you bring more you of
that as well?
How you make that connection isa big part of how you build
your mid-career GPS, and I thankJemima for adding that special
component to this conversationtoday.
So until next time, my friends,remember this you will build
your mid-career GPS one mile orone step at a time, and how you
(36:13):
show up matters.
Make it a great rest of yourday.
Make it a great rest of yourday.
Thank you for listening to theMid-Career GPS Podcast.
Make sure to follow on yourfavorite listening platform and,
if you have a moment, I'd loveto hear your comments on Apple
Podcasts.
Visit johnnerrellcom for moreinformation about how I can help
(36:38):
you build your mid-career GPSor how I can help you and your
organization with your nextworkshop or public speaking
event.
Don't forget to connect with meon LinkedIn and follow me on
social at John Darrell Coaching.
I look forward to being backwith you next week.
Until then, take care andremember how we show up matters.
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