Jared Melzer + Ross Weisbrot, Hosts - Lion Legacy (#25)

We are, it's more than just a CIN. We are inspirational creators difference makers, world changers, and we are one community. Join the LEMS Jared and Ross, as they uncover stories of Penn Staters and their unique professional and personal journeys. We are Penn state and this is lion legacy. All right. Episode number 25, our silver anniversary, my friends, silver anniversary. another milestone here at line legacy. Did you get me anything, a swift kick in? No, just kidding. no, I did.

I'll put it on my. I'll put it on your tab. All right. All right. I'll take up that drink when we meet next. you know, we've really enjoyed shining a spotlight on many Penn Staters, and it's hard to believe we're at number 25 right now, but we've also heard some people said, Hey, We want to know a little bit more about you and Ross. And we thought maybe that this would be a good episode to share a little bit about our journey at Penn state, beyond Penn state.

if you're not interested in hearing about that then probably episode number 26 is for you you know, I don't know that our accomplishments necessarily stack up against some of those that we've spoken to, but we have, we've had a good time with this and I guess sometimes it's good to get under the hood. And learn about your hosts. So to speak. There you go. Why don't you tell people how we met? I know we touched on that. I think briefly in an intro.

But we got to go all the way back to fall of 2000, our freshman year. 2000.

So the story goes like this. so Jared and I we actually met pretty early on in our Penn state career. We both coincidentally lived in the same dorm building east halls, McKean hall. I lived on the first floor and I I met my now wife very early on in our freshman year, as I mentioned, way back when we were doing the Penn state love stories. my wife, Jessica, who side note, Jared still urging her to come. On the show, but she's, I think she's sidestepping us. so that's still going to happen.

I keep bugging her about it. So we're going to get my wife on here as a special guest at some point, but I digress anyway, so I met my wife. I met Jessica. We obviously had just met each other and somewhere along the way early on in the first couple of months of freshman year Jessica also mentioned. And so here, I, took a liking to my wife. I liked her, we were, we started dating some months later and I actually thought that she liked Jared.

so I was a bit, I will be honest in, in, in revisionist history. I was a little bit jealous of Jared. I thought Jared was my competition here as I was trying to get the girl. but very shortly thereafter, we all started hanging out in in McKean hall. Jared was on. I was on the third floor. Third floor. Thank you. Jessica was on fifth. fourth. Yeah. And anyway, so Jared and I started hanging out and I'm like, oh, this guy's pretty cool.

he comes from New York, he's from Queens, he's got this swagger, but he was also a very genuine, nice person, a good head on his shoulders. I don't know what happened since then. Just kidding. Just kidding. Jared that's the wild thing is that our friendship goes back. You know what, 21 years This next month. It's crazy. I mean, it feels like yesterday, but in a lot of ways, it doesn't feel like yesterday too. Like when I look back, I'm like, oh wait, it wasn't that long ago.

And then you're like, oh yeah, it was that long ago. Yeah. So what's great about it is that. Jared and I have known each other and we've been such great friends for so long, but also he's known my wife for that same time period. we both see both my wife and I see Jared as a very good friend of both of ours. It's not like, you know, people get married and then you eventually meet friends. And, one person knows the friend for a short period and one knows them their whole life. Not like that.

Like we both know Jared for the same. Yeah. Yeah. And I love it. we got memories of you. I've got memories of Jess and I've got memories of you guys together too. So it's really cool obviously to see that all come together and you guys grow independently, but also together too. Yeah. And as far as friendship circles go at Penn state too, a lot of some other close friends of mine and my wife's or also friends of people that we met through. we don't have to go through the list here.

People don't necessarily need to hear names, but like Jared, you know who I'm talking about, there's other friends of ours that we've met through you and that kind of, we built up our larger circle over there of course, of our four years. Exactly. And vice versa. Right? I mean, I think that's the beauty of Penn state, I think, or college in general, Is like those networks keep expanding along the way.

And you keep bringing people into those circles and you then come away with some pretty damn good friends at the end of the day. That's right. and you'll look back. and obviously we spent quite a bit of time together, us and the group of friends, when we were in college, but, after that, you spend much less time together, but it's still you've built that meaningful relationship. And even for example, I'm jumping ahead a bit, you spend a lot of time, a few years in Spain.

And so we went years without seeing you and, maybe we'd have a phone call every now and again to catch up, and then you came back to the states and then, we picked up right. Exactly. why did you choose Penn state? I'm curious. you're originally from outside of Philadelphia. Was it just that the natural choice?

Yeah. I don't even know. I was thinking about that. I don't even remember what drew me to Penn state from the beginning. I actually took my first trip up to university park. I want to say it was after my sophomore year. and I think it was just on a whim. My parents were like, Hey, it's a little early, so we're looking at schools, but do you want to take a ride up? And so it was, yeah, let's take a ride up. And this was, again, I was one 15 years old, whatever. However old you are in 10th grade.

And I remember seeing. Penn state for the first time. And it was one of those spring, maybe early summer days where it was just gorgeous weather. And we ended up taking a tour and I have to go here. that was it. It was, I was halfway through high school and I already was like, this is where I'm going to college. I looked at other schools cause I wanted to be fair in my in my decision.

And when I took a couple of other trips, some schools close by in the Philadelphia area, some, a little further away and and I will admit also I actually did fun fact. I took a a visit to university of Maine. I did. I took a visit to Ann Arbor. It was raining the format of their, I don't want to speak ill of the university, but the format of their campus. I didn't love it. I think the weather truly impacts your decision when you. Making college visits, but the weather didn't help.

And I just didn't. I was like, nah, not for me. and we got stuck in the Detroit airport on the way back. Hey, that's neither here nor there, but my mind was pretty much made up after that visit after 10. You made a smart choice, then my friend. good move. Not going to Michigan Yeah. between, just the university that the campus, the options, I didn't know what I wanted to study, but there was a lot of options. I knew that I wanted a big campus setting. I wanted all the athletics.

I want to be activities that, you know, everything. I want it all of that. And that's what the university offers. But I think, my story again, I'm Pennsylvania. I'm in state. Jared, how about you? You grew up in Queens, New York. You were a city boy, and yet you went to rural central PA. So what's your story? I mean, it, it squarely rests on my brother-in-law Ray Kaplan shout out to Ray, also Penn state alum. At the time he was dating my sister.

and he said, Hey, you gotta come check out Penn state. And quite honestly, I don't think I really knew where I wanted to go, but Penn state was not like, oh, I'm so excited to go. I'm looking at this college, but I was like, yeah, sure. We'll go. We'll go to a football weekend. They were playing playing Michigan. I remember in 99 LaVar Arrington was on the team. They lost that game. That was probably a preview to the next four years at Penn state, but I ended up going and we went up on a Friday.

It was a short visit. We went up on a Friday night. we stayed over Saturday, woke up real early, a walking tour of the campus real quickly and went to the football game and I fell in love. I've always been a big football fan and. I didn't really have a college team growing up, but what I felt there was a sense of community and that community was actually missing in my life from a high school perspective in Queens. There was, no football team at my high school, no home coming.

It was a six story building and it felt like it was going to work every day. I would go and come back, do my work. And wake up the next day and go I've I certainly had good friends, but the interesting thing about a high school in New York city, it's like a college. So you end up applying to these high schools and then people come from all over New York city to the high school. So it's not like you're going to school in a community. But in the same community that you live in. Always right.

So I got that sense of feeling of pride and community, and I knew it was a good school as well. and I pretty much made up my mind. I applied to a few other schools, but never went to visit them. I made up my mind that day. There's a feeling here and I want to be part of that feeling and be part of that community. And I don't think then I even knew how special that community is, but I certainly got a good tea tastes or that day, and was like, this is for me.

So I will be forever grateful to my brother-in-law because that was obviously a big moment that changed my life. personally and professionally, and I got to thank him. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. I don't know if I ever knew all those details. So thank you for sharing for me. I'm probably, I probably have heard that story, but it's been a long time. Yeah, it was a, it was right. it definitely took me out of my element.

I never stayed in such a small city or a small I'll call it a small town before, but I just love the sense of community and pride that Penn state has. Wherever at football games, but you also see that in the streets, just walking every day. And that's something that we've asked some of our guests, those that maybe are from somewhere, a little further away from state college. And that's something that you can't necessarily describe to somebody that's in high school.

you visited, I visited and you're like, this is where I want to be. And guess what? There's a lot of people that I'm sure that visit Penn state every year. That is not for them. And that's fine too, but it's that intangible feeling. You can't explain where, when you see something, you go, yep. This is for me. And there's the, whether, whatever it is, whether it's the community or it's the campus or it's the programs or it's the, whatever you're looking for, that it has you boom.

It clicks and it's. Exactly it was for me, it was just a feeling quite honestly. I know it was with the decision was made with my heart more than the more than my head. Yep. So I've got to ask you though at Penn state and we ask our guests all this all the time, and I actually don't even know my own answer, but maybe I got to figure it out. Favorite pencil. you know the answer to that question, right? It's true. Asked I'm meeting my wife. yes. I guess for me it's a little bit harder.

it definitely was not the football games cause we were there. Yeah. You know what? We were there one bowl game in four years we had bowl game three out of four losing seasons, we'll let that be. We still had a lot of fun,

for me. And it's somewhat of a general answer, it's meeting people like you, It's meeting your friend group, it's hanging out with them. It's pretty, it's not the big memories or the big events. It's just those more small micro moments that add up. And when you think about, why do people love Penn state? Yeah. People will say football. and the academics, but I think at the end of it and the heart of it really is the people that you meet and the connections that you meet there.

Yeah. and the friendships that you make and those kinds of those small moments, whether it be hanging out on a Friday night or Monday night or Saturday night and just it was it was kinda cool. You really didn't have much to worry about other than going to class, right? Yeah. Life was, life's a bit simpler when you're in college and it's wish someone told you that During the time, right? Hey, relax. everything turns out just fine.

now you're also answering one of our other lions then questions what advice would you give your 18 year old self? There you go. That, that for sure would be some advice it's relax, Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Just enjoy the moment, enjoy the time, even more so than I did. Yeah. Completely agree. that's the thing.

When look back on your time there, you think about your friends and hanging out, go into a party or, hanging out on a spring afternoon at the cafe to 10 or the football games or, if you took a road trip somewhere also for me, a big part of it was, and we spoke with several guests, I was a member line ambassador. So some of the people I met there and some of the the events that we put on, were some great members. it's a culmination of all of that, right?

The montage in your mind of of memories that the makeup, some of your favorite parts of school, and yeah, we got an education along the way, it's set us up. For successful careers, and that we can't undersell that, in the grand scheme of life, it's the social aspect and the relationship and the network that, that comes to me. Yeah. And I also think, there's so many people that will say, oh, Penn, state's too big, and we've heard this, this somewhat of this advice as well from some of our guests.

And it's yeah, you can make it pretty big or you can make it pretty small. And it's up to you if you want to be a number or if you want to be a face in the name. And that's one of the things I graduated with a business degree, and I just love like that smaller community. Through kinesiology, not only with my classmates, but also I had some great relationships with professors. I had a great advisor.

I got to know the people, the staff of KeNeice and that to me was like, it became even a smaller community within this very large community of Penn state. And I think for any students who are listed. Like, how do you not become a number and that squarely rests on your shoulders? That's right. It's something that making the small effort, you can do it.

It's just finding whether it's through, like you said, through your classes, through your through your college, through the extracurricular activities that you take part in, you just have to get. You do any of those get involved? You'll make that community much smaller right away with people that are like-minded or studying, working towards the same things, goals, it's it can be done. You just have to put forward. Exactly. Exactly.

So why don't you, share a little bit, I certainly know what you did after Penn state.

Yeah, so I was so I, I graduated with a finance degree from Smeal and I was very fortunate in that I took advantage of the job placement at the career fairs and so forth that that Penn state and Smeal were offering. and I was fortunate enough to land a job, February of my senior year. I was able to secure a job with IBM which I started the summer after graduation. and so I was, doing a corporate FP and a, which is what I ended up doing for the first 15 years of my career.

a lot of my finance courses were more geared towards wall street and investments, and that was something I quickly realized that I didn't necessarily want to go in that direction. I struggled a little bit with deciding what I wanted to do if it wasn't wall street. And so when I interviewed with with IBM, they were like Hey, you have a finance degree. Do you like problem solving? Yeah. Do you like business? Yeah. Are you good with numbers?

Yep. Okay. you can do corporate financial planning and analysis. Takes into account. All of that. It's finance, it's, understanding the numbers, it's problem solving and it's understanding business.

I'm like I can do all that and was able to, jump into that world right after college, which was good because it having the degree and the education and just having a good head on my shoulders, allowed me that opportunity, which kind of was the very early part of my career that, W was a good spot for me. It did well. And I was very happy that I was able to. Before graduating. And you were in Connecticut then? Yeah, so the IBM job was in Westchester county, in New York in Armonk.

I live just over the border in Stanford, Connecticut, so it was not too far away for the first couple, a years out of school. and then I went on to different industries, again, all in corporate FP and a financial planning analysis. I spent some time with IBM that I worked, I moved into New York city.

Worked for a fragrance and cosmetics manufacturer called Cody C O T Y. and so I worked in the in that the package goods space, if you will doing finance for another handful of years then I moved back to Philadelphia. We got married while we were living in New York and moved back to Philadelphia in 2010. and I was working in the pharmaceutical industry for a while. I worked for Teva pharmaceuticals for about 10 years also in finance. So that was a big chunk of that.

post-college career working in pharma. I spent a little bit of time doing finance and the travel industry right before the pandemic, which wasn't a good time to be in that. And then just recently about a year ago, August of 2020 I made a small pivot into what they call commercial operations with GE healthcare, which is what I'm doing currently.

and so that's essentially supporting our sales organization in the medical device space sell, they sell equipment at the hospitals and physicians, offices clinics. And so I'm still doing a little bit of finance and a little bit of, touching upon other parts of the business inventory manufacturing, supply chain, which is really cool. It's actually a nice change of pace for me after doing finance for a number of years. Is that a nice pivot?

So that's my CV, as they say, Fancy is my resume in a nutshell. it's, but it's been good work and I've enjoyed it and it's been interesting and I'm happy to have some big name companies on my resumes. I've learned a lot. I've made a lot of great connections, Penn Staters, along the way. every company I've worked for, there's been Penn Staters there. Who I've, immediately connected with. And whether it was in New York or here in Philadelphia, there's Penn Staters, obviously everywhere.

And it's just been, we can't say enough about our. So true there. So now your turn, Jerry, go ahead and run us through, give us a couple of minutes on your post PSU career. Yeah, it's been a journey. I go back to Penn state. I said I was a KeNeice major. and I remember when I got into Penn state, I was like, oh, I think I want to be a doctor. and then I discovered I've always loved sports. I discovered there was something called kinesiology and then there's sports medicine. I had no clue.

I don't know. I was just, my mind was must've been closed or I never knew about other industries other than like engineering business and like medicine. but I landed in KeNeice. I ended up transferring into KeNeice I think the spring of freshman year. And started the athletic training courses and I was really fascinated by it, but I also developed an interest in two more. I've the business side of sports and sports management and how sports run had a number of internships along the way.

And I had an epiphany at one. and I was like, ah, athletic training, great. I have a ton of respect, but it's not for me. and luckily through great advising at Penn state, it was like, all right, this will count for this. This will count for that. Here's how you can Quote, unquote, create your own major in some ways. But still meet all the requirements. if you look at all the courses that I took, there was a lot of science courses.

There were a lot of athletic training courses, and then there were a lot of business courses too. so I knew. You know the direction I would say when I graduated and I really credit Penn state for allowing me to find and develop a passion. but I realized, okay. I'd like to get a little bit more of an education in the sports business field, went down to university of Texas in Austin hook 'em horns. but if you're going to add. Saturdays are dedicated to Penn state first and foremost.

And then if I've got time, I'll put on the Longhorns game. That's right. was there for two years at UT getting a degree. I was a full-time student at a teaching assistantship and in between my first and second year, I applied for an internship at this agency called capital sports. And it doesn't exist today, but they managed Lance Armstrong and Lance Armstrong cycling team. And. Miraculously got the internship.

I will say, I didn't know anything about cycling other than Lance Armstrong on the tour de France, but I just went in and was like, all right, I'm going to learn as much as I can. And I'm going to work as hard as I can and let's see what happens. And luckily I got a position there. when I graduated full time and learned a lot about the sport of cycling And it was really focused on marketing the team working on our hospitality programs and managing our sponsors.

So likey and discovery channel and 24 hour fitness. And for me, I really took a liking to understanding or trying to figure out you've got a company that's spending money. How do you make them successful? How do you grow their business? How do you help meet their objectives through this investment that they're making? And that really developed my passion into sponsorships and partnerships. I ended up staying on with the team even after Lance retired.

And I did three years in just under three years, actually in Madrid, Spain. and Lance came back on the bike during that time, which was an exciting period for me. Spain was. Personally and professionally, I, saw things from a sports perspective around how do they consume sports? How do they view sports? And it's very different than, what we're accustomed to in the U S I met some amazing people in Spain as well. so personally it was a great journey.

Early on in my career, early on in my life, I would say to just learn and be out of your comfort zone in a lot of ways. And when I came back to the U S I eventually moved over to Los Angeles, took a position with farmer's insurance on sponsorships, and then a B2B company in Philadelphia, which brought me even closer to you.

And now living in New York city and doing something actually a little bit different once again, I always find myself in industries where I don't know a lot about that's challenging and that's really lab court, which is life sciences, diagnostics, clinical treatments, and looking at partnerships as a whole, from really more of the consumer side of the business. it's been an exciting journey. I would've never, probably, if you said, Hey, where are you going to be?

Even once you graduate, I probably, or would you ever move to Spain? I don't necessarily feel like I've got it. A life plan. I think I have more of a commitment, hopefully in myself to challenge myself and be in new areas where you can contribute to growth Sorry. that was a pretty long winded. I felt sorry. No, it's good. It's good. It's a great journey. You've had it for those of you keeping track at home chairs worked in four different time zones. Yeah. Spain east coast, central west coast.

Yeah. but now, and it's and it's interesting how, like your, your background, right? The, what you graduated with from Penn state and then how you applied your master's and everything kind of layers on top of it. How eventually along the way you found your niche in that sponsorships, Which goes back to your, appreciation and your passion for sports business. And so it's, it's a great journey. your journey. My journey it's everybody's is unique.

I think it's interesting to hear about it, whether you're us or you're some, one of the great intriguing guests that we've spoken to, it's still cool to hear where people have been, how they've gotten there, where they, what their stops were along the way. Yeah, it's interesting. Because you hear some people are like very laser pointed and they know exactly what they're going to do or want to do. And then you have some that are just more on that.

This is a true journey and I don't know where it goes next. Let's see. And hopefully we enjoy it. And I'm probably a little bit more on that ladder. Yeah. Which is cool. I give those people a shout out too. there was a point in my life earlier in my career when I was jealous, so to speak of people that knew that they wanted to be. Teacher lawyer doctor, We'll put those together, right?

You're a teacher, lawyer, doctor, you want to be that from school, you get your undergrad degree, you go through your, post grad whatever education and you were, and you are on a path. And if you stick with. That's what you're doing for potentially your whole career and good for them. That's a passion and there's a lot of people that do that.

And and some people, it's a little more a debate and some people it's a zigzag Hey, as long as people wake up every day and they're excited and feel like they're contributing and growing individually, then I think that's great. And that's one of the things that, our guests, I think have all shared just the passion that they have the passion and the commitment they have for what they do every day. Yup. Yup. Absolutely.

So Jared, so we talked about, our paths are professional paths, again, kind of building on the theme of the lion's den questions that we ask our guests.

How do you feel connected to the university these days? Yeah, I think this has been a big part of it, right? outside of our friend network, I think this has been great too, to just connect with these rants and Penn Staters again. And that was one of the things that we missed and just the opportunity to connect with new people that kind of went away during the pandemic, Your circle was your circle.

Sure. and this has been a great way to stay connected to Penn state and connect with new people through the podcast. I also And the alumni advisor of the Penn state sports business club really love getting to know the students and help them out in any way possible, whether it be through internship connections, whether it be through bringing in speakers, I'm just always amazed. Like these are extremely talented students.

I'm not surprised by any means because they are Penn Staters, but it's great to connect and feel like you're. Paying it forward. and I've really enjoyed it. Yeah, for sure. I guess that was a little bit of a softball question, but I'll build upon that. I think, th this doing the podcast and meeting all the people that we've spoken with is just very eye-opening. we have the utmost respect for everybody we've spoken with and their paths. And it's just cool.

I know we like it, maybe it sounds a little cheesy how we gush about all of our guests, but like it's, I think it's not, I think it is. we're like sponges, we absorbed their stories and it's just, it's really cool to hear it. and I say that with the with a hundred percent honesty, I'm not just saying it's a yeah. Make everybody sound good or look good. It's just, it's true.

but yeah, I, I guess I felt a little bit, I don't want to say disconnected, but I felt I, that I hadn't done as much as I could to remain connected to the university up until that point. I was involved in some local alumni association, chapter events here and there. over the years alumni interest groups, again with just keeping tabs on like the lion ambassadors and so forth over the years, but it wasn't anything. Anything to write home about. I didn't make as much effort as I could have.

And so I think this has been really a nice way to get back in touch. with, not just the alarms, but making some of those connections with those students who listen. Yeah. I think it's great that there's just so many ways to connect if you want to with the university. it doesn't have to be the same way. It doesn't have to be only financially. And I'm sure they would love it. if everyone gave. But, it could be the lion link, Where you can get on.

And it's kinda like the LinkedIn of Penn state and it's, students connecting with alumni, it could be, reaching out to someone after you read the Penn state or magazine and, helping them out or offering to help them out. yeah, why not? We all love this school. Why don't we find a way to. Continue to give back or pay it forward, for the future. Absolutely. one of the things I'd love for you to share is you've got two kids and hopefully future Nittany lions as well. Yeah, hopefully.

we've taken the kids up to Penn state a couple of times pre pandemic. they enjoyed it, I think they might not remember because some of those trips were when they were really little. it's certainly on the list of places to get back to, and it's a fine balance as I'm sure any listeners out there with children know that, you want to instill that.

Penn state allegiance to them, but you don't want to overdo it to the point where, you know your rebellious teenager says, oh, I'm going to not go to Penn state despite mom and dad, And so I don't want to get to that end of the end of the scale. as far as it goes now, my, my kids they know Penn state, they know that we are Penn state. They know we watched the football games in the in the, and then they recognize in any line, all that stuff. It's as far as colleges go.

Like they associate college with Penn state. It's not like the other ones. They, if I show them some other mascots or other games, they'd be like, who's this, I don't know what this is. which I guess is good in that regard, keep it narrow and to the point at least while they're young. but yeah, no I hope they go to that. They go to Penn state. I hope they have that love for the university. Like we do and want to get gained their own experiences. But I think it's.

And again, I'm still many years away from this, but I think when it gets to the point, it's more I'll shift, and put on, put on the right parent hat and explain to them, look from an educational perspective, You can go and choose whatever you want and, and all of the kind of instill in them, the hopefully fair assessment of what the university offers them and look, Hey, if it comes down to it and then. Aren't digging the university.

They really want, let's say an urban setting or they really want a smaller setting. And, I don't want to force them to go to Penn state and then them hate it. that would be that would be a counterintuitive. hopefully it works out that they they have that passion to go there like we did. but they have to make that decision. Yeah, that's a, I think that's a great parents. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man. I just, I had a flash forward, like many years. We've got to pump the brakes. Let's let time slow down.

What are we? Evan would be, Evan's going to graduate high school in 20 23. 2031. Wow. Okay. Slow down time. Yeah, it'll be here before, you know, right. Yep. Yep. That's a crazy thing. That's a crazy thing. Well, this has been great. I actually, I knew a lot of what you said. it's for the benefit of the listeners. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I want to thank you because I've really enjoyed it.

we've always been close friends and we always will remain close friends, but it's been really nice to know now, speak to you on a weekly basis and get this time with you, around their guests too. So we have this ritual now, especially with busy lives going on with your kids. And it's nice that we get to spend this hour or so every week together and bring on a new guest, which is extremely exciting. And like I said, when I called you up, I was.

I don't think I would have done this without you, because I was like, man, Ross is going to be the perfect person to, to, co-host this with. So I'm glad you took me up on that all. Well, I'm glad you came up with the idea and then if you'll remember, I actually. I actually passed on it. I was like, no, I don't have enough time. which no. And then you're like, don't worry about it. We'll make it work. And and I'm glad I said yes, cause it's been a lot of fun.

and it's been a nice little project and we were still going. I know we're just w we're looking back on hindsight in the first 20 some odd episodes, we still have a lot to do. I'm looking forward to the next 25 episodes and beyond maybe we'll do another check-in. Yeah. Number 50 would be our gold anniversary, right? Yep. Yeah. It's a good time to plug, Hey, we're always looking at, we said it before and we say it in the, in the emails and so forth. We're always looking for great guests.

And, if you have friends, family, people in your network that you think would be that would tell a great story, right? Jared it's worth re reiterating for the audience. Anybody that has a great story. That depends data. We want to talk to you. You don't have to be CEO of a company. You don't have to be an entrepreneur that started your own company. you could be a recent grad. You could be somebody that's been around for awhile. It doesn't matter.

we are looking for that diversity in all aspects of the term, And if you know somebody, we just want good stories. that's some of our favorite episodes have been the ones where the guests. tell a bunch of great stories. We love to hear the journey, right? We'd love to hear, the verbal resume. We love to hear, what they've done in their work, and that's all cool stuff.

And it's eye-opening for the best part is that, is those little anecdotes along the way of what they've learned and what they've experienced. again, it's, if you have ideas for people that have cool stories, we'd love to hear it. We'd love to speak with them. we're always scheduling, a few out in advance and getting people on the calendar. So send those too. Roar at lion legacy guests nod, cast.com. Thank you.

It's been a while since we've plugged it roar, R O a r@linelegacypodcast.com drop us a line. and we'd love to reach out to people. And yeah, that's how we got Elizabeth Miller. A hundred percent. She actually reached out. She was like, my husband was listening. Yeah. who's actually not at Penn state or he was listening to Bridget last does episode in the beverage industry. and she's in the beverage industry and he's like, you should reach out to them and she did. Yeah. So there you go.

Elizabeth Miller episode. 4 24, 24. So there you can look at that. it's just all it's networking on a micro level. So yes, if you're a listener of our show and we appreciate everybody that listens to our our stories and our effort here to, to make a reputable publication and podcast we appreciate you. And certainly, I'm thinking probably know at Penn state or that has a good story. Couldn't have said it any better. My friend and we always end with we are Penn state.

Why lion legacy is a Varuna production. You enjoy this labor of love podcast. We'd certainly appreciate it. If you would subscribe and wettest or review on your favorite podcast platform,