The New School Podcast with Christine Hong

Master Rahsun was passionate about music and martial arts growing up in Brooklyn. He took on martial arts because he wanted to learn how to defend himself when he was younger so he could always have the upper hand in a street fight. However, as he grew up, he decided he would focus on the music for a while. After about 10 years, Rahsun had made a name for himself in the music industry but didn’t exactly click with the business side...

Chelsea Fuss was obsessed with flowers when she was growing up. When other kids were at the mall or playing sports, she had grown her own cottage garden at the age of 14. She studied art history at college but would draw flowers in the margins of her class notes. She decided to make flowers her career — going from internships to renowned floral designer and influencer.

In this episode, Chelsea and I talk openly about when she reali...

When Dr. Therese Mascardo was little, she wanted to be a doctor, or failing that, the first female president. Well, neither of those goals worked out exactly, but it’s safe to say that Therese has definitely found her calling. Once she realized psychology was a thing — and that she could talk to people for a living — there was no turning back. In this brilliant conversation, Therese breaks down exactly how to become a licensed...

Today’s guest proves you don’t have to know what your dream career is when you’re still in school. Michael Riscica struggled with school - in his own words he was a special ed student - and he didn’t have a plan for graduation. In fact, he just barely graduated high school.

But a chance job at an interior design company helped him realize that he actually had great problem solving skills. A coworker encouraged him to pursue archite...

Whether it’s a bad job interview or disappointing grades, we’ve all had those moments where things don’t work out how we hoped (or, if it’s 2020, a whole year of things not going to plan).

But for this episode’s super-inspiring guest, it’s all about how you react when things don’t go to plan. Hannah Cecille grew up in a musical household and she always wanted to be a Broadway star. But once she graduated college, she realized that ...

If you’ve ever had that quarter life crisis where you feel like you’re stuck in a Groundhog day loop, you’re not the only one. Eric, at the age of 25 decided that he wasn’t in the career that he wanted to do for the rest of his life. After realizing his interests was truly in action movies and how they were made, he decided to embark on his career path in being a stunt man. By taking a leap of faith he moved from Ohio, to Philadelp...

If you love hosting events for your friends and family, have you ever considered doing it for a living? We’re all familiar with the hotel industry, but don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes. Caroline Shone gives us the inside scoop on what it takes to curate experiences for luxury resorts and how she became one of the youngest managers at Four Seasons at age 22. In this episode, Christine and Caroline talk about what mad...

Have you ever looked up at the stars and wondered about what goes on outside of our own world? Othniel Mbamalu discusses his own experience of how he founded a corporation that is helping advance human space flight and leading the way to better understand what goes on outside of our planet.  He is the founder and CTO of Advanced Rocket Corporation (ARC), an Aerospace startup based in Southern California with a focus on advance...

I always used to feel self conscious growing up because I didn’t have a single passion and always felt jealous of others who knew exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up. Even on the show, we’ve had a few guests who told me there’s only one thing they ever considered as a career like Jen Kramer, who knew she wanted to be a magician as a child, and Matt Miller last week, who grew up only wanting to skateboard.

That’s why I ...

When I was growing up, I remember stressing about how to make money after school especially as high school graduation approached. I never even really considered if I just focused on casual hobbies I enjoyed they could be a way to make money. That’s not the case for Matt Miller, who grew up eating, sleeping, breathing skateboarding. His passion for it paid off as he started getting sponsors just by hanging out at the local skate sho...

Growing up, I used to binge interviews with my favorite celebrities on TV and Youtube. What’s it like to be the person on the other side interviewing celebs on TV and on the red carpet? I get the answers today from Sanyee Yuan. She’s achieved her hosting dreams as a Disney Channel Movie Surfer and as a regular Hollywood reporter on the red carpet and awards shows. She has interviewed numerous stars including Sandra Bullock, Ryan Go...

If you’ve ever gone to a live concert, I’m sure you’ve noticed not just the music but the amazing lighting that really gives you the full concert experience. But who is behind designing this lighting? Today, I’m getting the answers from Jeff Maker, who has been working as a touring lighting designer for concerts the past 14 years and has worked with some BIG groups like Good Charlotte, All Time Low, Dropkick Murphys, Mighty Mighty ...

If you’ve binged Sex and the City like me, you’ve probably been obsessed with Samantha Jones and her job, PR. Is it really as glam as the show? Do you really get to go to exclusive parties all the time and work with celebrity clients daily? Today, I’m getting the answers by sitting down with Emily Johnston, an experienced publicist in the media landscape. She got her start by interning with the woman who was Miramax’s “Oscar Whispe...

For some people, their favorite time of year is Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. I’ve always wondered why some people are so fascinated with a creature they fear as much as sharks. Today, I chat with someone so into sharks he made it his job, Dr. David Shiffman. Dr. Shiffman is a marine biologist who has turned his passion for sharks into a career focusing on their conservation. People are paying attention to his work too, as eviden...

In a time of astrology apps like Co-Star and The Pattern, there’s clearly a lot of people interested in learning what their horoscope says about them. However, if you type in “Do you believe in astrology?” into Google, you’ll find equally divisive opinions on the matter. I’ll admit that I’ve been a skeptic when it comes to horoscopes printed in newsletters (“There’s no way people born the same month have the same personality!”). Ho...

When I first met Lucas Sin, he was running a pop up restaurant every Friday night in the basement of a Yale dormitory. Little did I know he would go on to design the entire food menu for the successful chain of fast-casual restaurants, Junzi Kitchen. Junzi Kitchen’s mission is to update the American understanding of Chinese cuisine and has been dubbed “the sweetgreen of Chinese food” by Vogue magazine. Since starting ...

How does one become a C-Suite executive at a major company? I get the answers today from Blair Shane, who has been CMO of multiple huge brands including Sequoia Capital, one of the top venture capital firms, Stanford Business School, and the California Academy of Science. In this episode, we chat about how she got into marketing, how she worked her way up to CMO, and what it is like to build and grow a brand and business.

To learn ...

What’s it like to be a foreign correspondent? Are you actually putting your life on the line regularly just for a story? How do you even become one? I get the answers today from Alex Pena, digital journalist and producer at CBS. In this episode, we talk about how he got started in journalism, what life was like as a foreign correspondent in Kenya, how he got hired at CBS and won an Emmy for his work there, and what he thinks it tak...