Laurie Nilo-Klug Of Post College Journey On 5 Things They Forgot To Mention In College
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
The first thing they don’t teach you is that your peers are NOT your competition.
We are starting a new interview series about the world of entrepreneurship beyond the classroom — a realm where theory meets grit, and education meets real-world challenges. We want to hear about critical business wisdom that often goes unspoken in academic settings. I had the honor of interviewing Laurie Nilo-Klug
Laurie Nilo-Klug is the Founder of Post College Journey, a company dedicated to helping college students line up a job with graduation. She guides career coaching clients through a self-discovery process that helps them develop career paths that align with the life they want to live. Then, she uses her background in marketing to help clients prove to employers exactly why they need to be hired.
Thanks for being part of this series. Let’s jump in and focus on your early years. Can you share who was your biggest influence when you were young and provide specific examples of what you learned from them that helped shape who you’ve become and how you live your life today?
My biggest influence when I was young was my parents. They both immigrated from the Philippines in their young adult life. When they got married they did not have a lot of money, their English wasn’t the best, and yet they managed to build an award-winning, multi-million-dollar business.
My dad‘s work ethic taught me the importance of a person’s “why.” His work ethic is driven by the dream he has for his family. He worked two jobs — one at night and one during the day (when did he sleep? I truly don’t know). He kept getting passed over for promotions at his day job despite working hard. Although he liked the job and was good at it, he knew his chances of growing his career there would be limited. So, he started his own company.
My mom showed me the importance of curiosity when it comes to success. She worked a 9–5 and was the main caretaker of my sisters and I. While my dad was making good money, she knew his business had to have other income streams. Her curiosity was crucial to the growth of their business and is a big reason for their continued success.
Their marriage and love for each other showed me the importance of a good life partner.
Staying on the topic of influence, who has been your biggest catalyst more recently and what can you share that you’ve learned from them that led you to making changes in your life?
My biggest catalyst more recently has been my community. This includes my husband, my professors and peers from my master’s program, and my kickboxing friends.
When I feel fearful, weak, and like a failure, my husband reminds me to see opportunities, strength, and lessons. Entrepreneurship requires the ability to fail, learn, and try again with just as much excitement as the first attempt. He is a big reason I find the ability to keep moving forward.
The people that I met through the Student Development Administration program at Seattle University encouraged me to share my most outlandish career goals. They created a space to figure out how to make it a reality rather than telling me to be more realistic.
My friends from kickboxing and I bond over early morning workouts, a love of food, and laughing off out socially awkward interactions. They remind me that who I am as a person matters, regardless of my definition of success and how I feel I am progressing toward that definition. With them, I am a human being rather than a human doing.
Overall, everyone in my community, helped me come to the realization that if I need to advocate for my value to be seen, I’m in a space where I feel if I’m not being valued, I can move on and find a different space.
In this interview series, we aim to reveal what seasoned entrepreneurs wish they had known when they were starting out and capture what the textbooks and college professors left out.
Mistakes are invaluable. Can you name one specific mistake that you made early on, and learned the most from, but wish you’d been forewarned about?
A mistake that I made early on was putting my career first. I kept thinking “let me just get to the next level and then I can rest.” But then you get to the next level and feel pressure to go for it again and then you burn out. I wish I learned to prioritize my self-care and mindset first, then, wrap other parts of my life around that.
Is there a leadership myth you believed early on that you’ve since debunked through your real-world experience?
Working in corporate America led me to believe that I was too weak to be a leader because I am quiet, soft, and too emotional to be a leader. However, my experience creating Post College Journey proves otherwise because these qualities are what make me a good career coach and entrepreneur.
I’m quiet — It allows me to observe and ask questions. This helps my clients and me understand their “why” behind their career goals and thought processes.
I am soft — It allows me to create a safe space for my clients and students to set their career goals high. I am not here to tell you what you can’t or should do. I am here to help you uncover what you want to do, why you want to do it, and the tools you have to achieve your goals.
And I am full of emotions — all of my services and products are derived from feelings of unease and a desire change that for myself and others. Post College Journey started as 20-something lifestyle blog. Using marketing principles, I decided to niche my lifestyle blog down to focus on the transition from college to career. This was when someone asked me to be their career coach. Over time, I realized that most of my clients were women of color who were a few years into their careers. I started to question whether they’d need my services if they had received different career support when they were in college. This reminded me of the struggle of my post-college job hunt. Once I realized that my income was from women of color who probably should have received better career support while they were in college, I knew I had to change my business. I pursued a Masters degree in Student Development Administration to learn about the higher education system so I could find out how I could better support students. Now, I provide my services at scale to students by partnering with colleges.
What’s the key operational insight you’ve gained since running your business that was never mentioned in any classroom?
Done is better than perfect. Because of the grading system, I defined success as getting an A and anything other than that wasn’t good enough. When I applied the same mindset to my business, I spent a lot of time defining and re-defining my brand, my target audience, and my products. In other words, going in circles. Outside of the classroom, it’s better to aim for “done” because your customers will tell you how they want you to improve your products or services.
Did college prepare you for scaling a business? What specifically was missing?
I learned so much during my college experience. But, the thing that was missing was identity work. I mentioned earlier that I thought I was too emotional. Part of the reason I took things so personally is that I was engaging in contradictory consciousness which is when an individual sees hegemonic norms and beliefs but does not actively question or challenge these norms. I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu and moved to eastern Washington for college. When I was in high school, I felt sure of myself. I felt confident with who I was and knew where I was headed next, why I wanted it, and how I was going to get there. That confidence quickly disappeared once I started college. Since moving to Washington, I often felt lonely because I didn’t feel like I could bring my whole or true self to interactions with others. I didn’t click as easily with folks at my university as I had been able to with others in the past. I also realized that the career goal I had been working toward my whole life wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore. So I also felt lost. I didn’t understand why I felt lost or lonely mainly because I didn’t have the language or knowledge to understand why.
I’ve since gained the knowledge to engage in critical consciousness which is when an individual actively questions and disrupts dominant belief systems. For example, I now know how my identities contributed to feeling lonely and lost. It is because I was a first-generation college student, child of immigrants, woman of color who learned to be overly-independent through working in corporate America and going to a predominantly White college in a red county after being raised in a blue state where my race was the majority and my culture highly influenced the dominant culture. As you can see, that language is very different from the language I used to describe who I was earlier. This is one of the benefits of doing identity work. Being able to name these identities makes it easier to learn from mistakes and try again.
Any unexpected challenges in team dynamics that your academic experience didn’t prepare you for? How did you handle it?
One team dynamic challenge that my academic experience didn’t prepare me for is creating a truly collaborative environment when I am the person in charge. When people agree with me and don’t have reasons for pushback or questions, it creates pause. Is this because the idea or plan is good? Or because they don’t feel that they are in a position to pushback because I’m their boss?
I handle it by presenting a plan or idea to my team, opening up the floor for feedback, asking questions based on each person’s specialty, checking in with each person individually during our next 1-on-1s, and giving everyone time to think about additional feedback.
I’m not sure that I’ll get full transparency because there is a power dynamic at play, but this process has definitely created more candid conversations and I think we all grow from it.
Have you had to unlearn any widely accepted business ‘wisdom’ in your journey? What was it and how did it affect your strategy?
“It’s not personal. It’s business.”
So much about building a career is personal. To find a job that’s right for you or to communicate to an employer why they should hire you requires knowing yourself and pitching your skills. So when you face rejection, it can feel very personal. I’ve had so many clients say something to the effect of, “but how is it not personal when they say that I’m not the right fit? I was enough of a right fit to get the interview and then they met me and now I’m not the right fit.” I experience similar feelings when it comes to my business as well.
So I say that it is personal and it’s also business so it’s not a comment about my skill or worth.
What’s your advice for new entrepreneurs? What are your “5 Things You Won’t Learn in College But Must Know to Succeed in Business”?
- The first thing they don’t teach you is that your peers are NOT your competition.
When job-hunting, you need to define what makes you stand out. Often, things that make you stand out can lie in who you are as a person (a special combination of strengths, skills, and interests specific to you). If you can remember that each person is looking for a job or career that will make them happy and different things make each person happy, it’s easier to not see your peers as competition. So be open about your career goals and interests. You never know who might be able to make a referral or point you in the right direction.
2. The second thing that they don’t teach you is how to get a job through your network.
A lot of people know that “it’s about who you know not always what you know.” But not a lot of people know exactly how getting a job through your network can happen. This is exactly what I walk people through in the One-Hour Job Hunt workshop.
3. The third thing that they don’t teach, you is the importance of identity work
Your identities and beliefs have an impact on your career and the life that you live. Developing the language to name the impacts can help you navigate your life that prioritizes your mental health.
4. The fourth thing that they don’t teach you is that you should start looking for your personal board of advisors, a.k.a. Mentors.
You don’t have to have all the answers. But having people you can turn to for advice when times get hard makes navigating your career a lot easier.
5. The fifth thing that they don’t teach you is how to use college as a playground for career exploration.
In order to line up a job with graduation, you need to define a career niche so that it’s easy for employers to see why they need to hire you. So, get involved outside of the classroom and utilize your college’s career center as early as possible.
How do you ensure your team not just understands but embodies your business principles? Any techniques you wish you’d known earlier?
I look for teammates whose life values match the business principles. Therefore, by bringing their authentic selves to work, we can all still embody the business principles while working. I am also a big believer in team bonding.
If we were sitting together two years from now, looking back at the past 24 months, what specifically has to happen for you personally and professionally, for you to be happy with your results?
I’d like to write a book about career development and get it in the hands of as many incoming first-year students as possible.
Looking back over the last two years, what key accomplishments make you satisfied with your progress?
My biggest accomplishment has been transitioning my business from one that profits off a lack of support for folx with marginalized identities on their dime to one that ensures they get the support they deserve at an earlier age and included with their tuition.
As someone with significant influence, what’s the one change you’d like to inspire that would benefit the most people?
Define how you want to feel then build a career and life that supports that. This goes back to putting your self-care and mindset first.
How can our readers keep up with your work?
The best way for folks to keep up with my work is to download the Career Roadmap (https://postcollegejourney.com/careerroadmap/). This will get you on my email list where I send weekly career-building and job-hunting tips. But you can also follow me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-anne-klug/), Youtube (@postcollegejourney-careertips), and Instagram (@postcollege.journey)
Thank you so much for joining us! We wish you only success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
