Northeastern Next Podcast

Forging Your (Nonlinear) Career Path feat. Magda Pavlak-Chiaradia

Meet Magda Pavlak-Chiaradia, S'99! The author of "This Wasn't the Plan (and That's the Point): Real Lessons for Career Pivots, Professional Growth, and Navigating What You Didn't Plan For," Magda joined the Northeastern Next podcast to discuss her time at the Global Leadership Summit, working and living abroad, and the inspiration for writing her book. 

Purchase your own copy here: https://www.amazon.com/This-Wasnt-Plan-Thats-Point-ebook/dp/B0GDY82VKL

Engineering Community Support feat. Sarela Bliman-Cohen

Meet Sarela Bliman-Cohen, E'93! The founder of QNEST—Queers Never Experiencing Shame and Traum—she has made a name for herself in the nonprofit community. QNEST strives to support homeless LGBTQ+ in the Boston area. Hear about her career beginnings as an engineer and why she decided to make a change to the nonprofit sector.

Learn more about QNEST: https://qnest.org/

QNEST on Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/qnestinc

QNEST on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qnest/

QNEST on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@qnest.org

QNEST on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/qnest.bsky.social

QNEST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qnest_org

A Rocket in the Tech Industry feat. Puneet Kohli

Meet Puneet Kohil, Khoury’98! Puneet joins the Northeastern Next podcast to reminisce about the impact the computer science program had on him as an undergraduate, how AI is innovating and changing the tech world, and the striking similarities between Northeastern's co-op program and Rocket Software's NextGen program. 

A Dedication to Serving Others feat. James Eggers

Meet James Eggers, SSH'12! Currently a Lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard, James has dedicated his life to serving others. From his time at Teach For America and a Fulbright Scholarship that lead him to teaching English in Brazil, to recently being named a McCain Institute Global Leader, he seems to have done it all—and he's nowhere near finished.

Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james1eggers/

All views expressed in this interview are his own.

Promoting Health and Safety on a World Stage feat. Kerstin Haskell

Meet Kerstin Haskell, DMSB'03! The president of World BioHazTec, Kerstin strives to keep her firm true to its mission—to promote health and safety in an ever-changing world. We'll discuss her Northeastern experience, how World BioHazTec came to be, and why it's important to leverage your personal network.

Learn more about BioHazTec: https://worldbiohaztec.com/

The Foundations of a Career in Music feat. Emily White

Meet Emily White, SSH'05! Emily is the host of the hit podcast "How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams," as well as a high-profile public speaker. She joins the Northeastern Next podcast to discuss her beginnings in the music industry, why she started her podcast, and why it's important for members of our university's community to attend a Northeastern-based conference. 

Register for this year's Global Leadership Summit in London: https://eventregistration.northeastern.edu/event/gls2026/summary?rt=32XOyQcVU0eIsFjTVZJdnQ&RefId=25marpod

Listen to Emily's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-build-a-sustainable-music-career-and-collect/id1561859742

Guiding the Next Generation feat. Sara Alaoeasheg

Meet Sara Alaoeasheg, CPS'25! The founder of Lillian Prep, Sara looks to harness what she learned during time at Northeastern and convey it into the principles of her new nonprofit. We'll discuss her co-op experience, her interest in human resources and social work, and the mission of Lillian Prep.

Learn more about Lillian Prep: https://www.lilianprep.org/

A Career in Gene and Cell Therapy feat. Meet Shah

Meet Meet Shah, MS'19! Drawn to Boston’s powerhouse biotech ecosystem, Meet chose Northeastern to immerse himself where scientific discovery meets real-world execution. After launching his career through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, he focused on one of medicine’s most transformative frontiers: engineering immune cells to fight cancer. Now contributing to next-generation allogeneic cell therapy development at Genentech, Meet works on the manufacturing and process innovations that determine whether breakthrough science can scale to reach patients worldwide. In this episode, we explore how Northeastern’s experiential model shaped his translational mindset, the evolution of cell therapies from autologous to scalable platforms, and what it takes to move cutting-edge research from concept to clinic.

The Future of Global Interconnectivity feat. Raymond Tay

Meet Raymond Tay, MS’24! A transport network engineer, Ray shares his journey from over a decade in the global telecom industry to pursuing a master’s degree at Northeastern University. He discusses how the Gordon Institute of Engineering Leadership helped him transition his role, how his perspectives on global connectivity developed, and how AI is transforming the future of telecommunications infrastructure.

Paving the Way for a Career in Tech feat. Jenny Taconet

Meet Jenny Taconet, MS'25! A data scientist for Meta, Jenny explains the process of how she was hired for one of the most prestigious tech companies in the world. Additionally, she talks about how her experience at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences impacted her professional development, as well as her thoughts on the integration of Al in the workplace.