The Careers Out There Video Interview Series begins tomorrow.
I’m looking forward to starting the video interview series tomorrow. Our first guest will be session musician & professional cellist, Cameron Stone. Cameron is the first guest because Careers Out There was born out of our first meeting. Back in September of 2001, I was living in Chicago to help my mom as she battled terminal cancer. After a few rough months, I was depressed and desperately needing to recharge. I flew back to Los Angeles to visit friends and unwind in my apartment for a week while my mom had things temporarily under control. On one of my first nights back in L.A., I went out to the Cat & Fiddle with a great group of friends from my A&M Records days. When we got seated, I found myself next to our friend Stacy’s new boyfriend, Cameron. I asked the typical question that you ask when meeting someone for the first time: so what do you do for a living?
I’m known for being a very inquisitive person – to the point where it’s sometimes the subject of jokes. Especially the night I was at a party in Hollywood where we got shot at, called 911, the police arrived by helicopter and I proceeded to ask them whether this was a typical night, how often do you arrive by helicopter, is it fun chasing gangs, how real are the cop shows on TV, etc. I just can’t help it when I want to learn new stuff! I can tell you that this trait comes in handy for recruiting and sales. So if you have this same sickness, be sure to really explore sales career paths! I digress…..back to Cameron.
When Cameron said he was a session musician, I instantly had a billion questions to ask – I didn’t know anything about that career path, so I had to learn it right then and there! For the next 30 minutes, we had a dialogue similar to what you’ll see tomorrow. 8 years later I couldn’t remember the answers, so what you’ll see tomorrow is genuine! Eventually my friends at the table wanted me to shut up. “Enough Luber – just get a TV show where you can ask people this kind of stuff!” Ding – lightbulb over my head. I asked the waitress for a pen and wrote down “career TV interviews” on my napkin. I was up most of the night thinking about it – how can I do something with that interest of mine. I finally fell asleep, but not for long….my dad called a few hours later to tell me to turn on the TV immediately. I figured it was because Michael Jordan was announcing his return to basketball….but why wake me for that….instead it was to watch what was happening to the World Trade Center buildings.
My mom wanted me home right away but all flights were cancelled. So I got to do one of my favorite things – drive across America! I spent time checking out the cities of Flagstaff, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Tulsa, Rolla, and St. Louis on my way home to Chicago. This country may have become more homogenized, but it is still a massive, fascinating place….so great to experience the different scenery, vibes and cultures as you go from town to town. I wish I could do that every year. We’ll soon be featuring an interview with a freelance writer and chidren’s book author who gets paid to drive across America every year! When I arrived in Chicago, I still had that napkin in my pocket: “career TV interviews”. Tomorrow I’ll finally get to dust it off.
Keep coming back – I hope you enjoy and learn from the video interview series!