Spotlight on Mark Wischmeyer

let's have fun Mark all right wow now that I'm being recorded I just became super nervous so doesn't affect my performance is this your first podcast this is my first podcast as a participant I've been a longtime listener of course first of the many to come Maybe not maybe not hopefully not is this your first time hosting a podcast yeah of [Laughter] course welcome World welcome to unboxing stories I'm your host sunet K and I'm thrilled to have you with us on this incredible journey through our professional Spotlight Series this podcast is all about diving deep into the lives of professionals just like you ambitious hardworking and aiming for the Stars whether you're just starting out or well on your way these stories are your stories growing up in India and studying science I was always surrounded by people from engineering and Sciences so the discussions were always revolving around the topics in those context and I only knew this perspective of looking at life from a science and technology background this changed when I moved to Europe several years ago and came across people studying and doing things which I didn't know one can do as a mainstream career economics politics psychology Sports Therapy Etc having conversations with with them helped me gain different perspectives and open my mind to different fields in the world which play a crucial role in moving the humanity and the world forward and to make it a better place and that brings me to our today's guest although he's originally from America he has a bit of Switzerland and a bit of Mexico in him he grew up in Texas studied economics Then followed an unconventional path for an American he moved to Italy for studying politics and then decided to stay back in Italy and join the UN and since then has been involved in amazing world food program contributing to their Noble causes someone with great sense of humor very sensible and mature in his approach to life authentic athletic and just a good-looking dude Mark wishm welcome how you doing Mark wow I'm shocked to hear the athletic and good-look parts though that is not something I'm known for anyway appreciate it appreciate it doing well I think all of my friends when they see you they're like oh that's your friend damn he's good-looking so that's that's why I put this part in in your [Laughter] intro a huge self boost uh so much to unbox and we are going to peel every layer of your journey so far and also also see what lies ahead speaking of your ties with the US your family background is truly a cultural Melting Pot right Mexico Switzerland and America can you take us back to your journey of your special Heritage it sounds like you have some fascinating stories to to unwrap sure I think yeah maybe the more I the older I get the more I realize how interesting I guess my background quot un quotes is my grandfather when he was about 20 22 years old he grew up in a really small village in in Switzerland where you live now which now of course is like one of the most developed countries in the world uh back then when he where he was when he was growing up it was of course quite uh had been quite destroyed by the war and was not in the best economic shape uh with the the rest of Europe of course and so looking for jobs he actually found an opportunity to go to Mexico with the company that he was working for uh and he got into the commodity trading business uh specifically with cotton okay and so we worked in Mexico for many many years met my grandmother there uh who was the secretary in in the office uh they dated for quite a while he moved to Brazil and they still have the the letters of when they were writing to each other long distance uh they were he they were long distance for many many months and then he came back to Mexico and got married to her uh so he's a very faithful dedicated man which is crazy today's world I mean that's absolutely wild uh so yeah that's where the I guess interesting side of the family comes from from that I guess move to to Mexico and moving and staying for the rest of your life I mean that's a big decision and then what about the us so you were born in the US right so then I was born in the US because my mother so my mother was born in Mexico and she was raised there as well until she was about 20 she moved with her entire family including my grandfather to the US to Dallas where they eventually well my grandfather was uh transferred to the office there in Dallas um to take on a different position and so he took the opportunity I guess to move the to move the whole family and that's where she met my American Dad who was very stereotypical normal American father so so growing up in mixed culture household must have been quite an adventure H how did it influence your upbringing CU I know you since your childhood you you traveled a lot you went to Mexico you were in Switzerland and household itself had mix of cultures H how did it affect you I think it made me much more open-minded person I mean everyone that's grown up in a multicultural household I think will probably say the same thing I think for me I had an unusual experience let's say because of my mother and my grandmother's willingness and in fact it was obligatory are to speak Spanish and to teach us Spanish and to pass on that s of our our culture and in the US it's not so common actually right um to have even families that have the full household is from a country Latin America often come to the US and are wanting to assimilate and so I think I was very privileged on on that side of they recognizing the fact that actually having Spanish having this knowledge of this culture is super important um so I feel very very blessed at this point but as a kid growing up I mean you never think about that stuff you think just God my mom and my grandmother what what different language are they speaking that none of my friends speak and none of my friends are interested inh so I actually felt like I felt a little bit unique but in a bad way I didn't think that it was a good thing growing up I wasn't very proud of the fact that I spoke Spanish the fact that I grew up in this Multicultural household I think in the US unfortunately there's not much room for that kind of stuff uh and so that that definitely impacted me I think as a kid I mean it impacts anyone but then you grow up and you realize actually this is a blessing yeah and not a day goes by where I don't thank my mom Grandma for passing down of course that that part of our culture but I think it also is like a very privileged perspective as I was saying too and I think my observation is also that you you have been very close to your mom and also your grandparents and these days I feel like this is something especially with your grandparents because families move away from the grandparents and the grandkids grow up without having grandparents around and I feel like this is this is a big mess for people for kids especially who are growing up without grandparents being around and for so many reasons one of them you just mentioned that some cultural values that they can teach you or family values and this is something so so valuable that no one else can give that kind of wisdom to to the grandkids of that age so I I can imagine how crucial the the role that they played in in your upbringing it's wonderful to hear how you Blended different cultures and became the product that you are today any siblings you have brother and sister how how did their existence in your life shape you and what do you think in general about having siblings in in one's life are they necessary that's a great question actually that I never hadn't thought about this too much um definitely made me like I said again more open-minded I think as a kid but with for reasons that you weren't even aware of when you're when you're a kid I mean there's just always someone there to hang out with and and play with and to get along with socialize with and interact with even if those interactions are negative I mean you're learning how to interact with another human being and from a very young age a young age that's super important I think uh so with my brother I don't think we got along extraordinarily well as kids and I think anyone can say this about their you know younger brother or older brother um but now I mean we're very close friends and we have very profound conversations um and we listen to each other we respect each other very much and I think it was because of our upbringing where of course we learned how to deal with those like negative interactions that we were having in a much more mature mature way and now we're both very mature and uh I mean grown adults and then friends so that's a very interesting uh development I would say and my sister and I have always been have been quite close and I think she she played the role you know big sister of two younger brothers that aren't getting along amazingly well I think is definitely difficult so she learned I think a lot of skills from from this too and it's interesting to think how that has shaped you know our our personalities in in this way and looking back I can see behaviors from my side as an older brother that my little brother would have perceived you know in a negative way and how that sort of interacted in in her in our relationship so it's interesting how age sort of makes you reflect back and and think on these things yeah it's they are they your uh partners in crime in whatever you do and they they do really shape you yeah I think I was talking about this with another another friend too and they mentioned that growing up as an only child for them there's this stereotype of only child only only children being selfish and growing up selfishly but he sort of completely disregarded that and he didn't think at all that this was the case it was more just the fact that he was exposed to kids his age in general yeah a young age frequently was super helpful in his in his upbringing that's a very good point and I also think about it because I also have some friends who who are the only child and I think then even when you have a brother there is an governing body above that right so that's your parents and grandparents and it really depends on them how they how they develop this dynamic between the siblings so you think oh you're getting along with siblings and you have good relationship but I think parents have a bigger role to play that you unknowingly or you don't know that they're playing this role but they are kind of cultivating this relationship between the siblings and making sure that you get along and are in good terms for lifelong relationship exactly exactly and each parent I mean you almost have to be a therapist to be to be a good parent I mean it's learning all these types of skills with parenting skills must be an absolute and and as you get older you realize it even more it was like wow how did my parents do this the exactly I'm not prepared for this exactly exactly unfortunately so let's let's move on to your education and career you have had an unconventional path for an American student did you plan your education and career so far how did it come about the way it did for example moving to Italy was a was it a strategic move or did it happen by chance how did you how did you end up in ital not as a tourist it's a good another good question I would say that it seemed seems like looking back like it was planned but in reality I think that plan I had to I change that plan every six months or so I think uh and it was always sort of in in motion based on different different things but yeah say very classic American upbring you know at the beginning went to just the cheapest University that I could find in Texas which is actually a fantastic University and I'm very happy with my education there of course and I started out as an engineer which is what you actually completed your studies in and I was unable to complete it so you have me have me beat there for two years I studied aerospace engineering which is a huge mistake uh and then I switched over to to economics actually a lot like we what you were talking about at the beginning I like science and math but I'm I was more motivated by other things I think M and so making that decision was difficult but actually much much I would say very much worth it and then uh after this I did some internships many internships I think my career has been defined by my internships that I've done in some in Washington DC in buiis Argentina and in what was my other one oh yeah and when I moved to Italy I did some internships here as well both for wfp and another part of part of the UN so that is really where I kind of formed my my career path was just kind of like trying and trying and doing maybe uses the same way trying yeah no that's that's Serendipity at its best try and doing I like it so you you stayed in Italy after your M so just to make it clear you came here for part of the master's program that you were enrolled in maybe you can talk a little bit about the Masters program but despite the cultural difference is I mean American culture and Italian culture they both of them are Western countries but the cultures are so vastly different right not lot of Americans do what you're doing I imagine most of them in your program as well went back to the US and started their careers over there what made you stay and do you ever think about returning to the US that's true it's a good question moving to Italy was not really ever part of the plan actually in fact when I applied to the university that I eventually went to John Hopkins they have the campus in bolognia I had applied to stay two years in Washington DC because I thought that that's what would be best for my career this is what I was going to do to to get there despite it would be interesting I think it would have been interesting to to go for you know eight eight or nine months in in Italy and then I was sort of thinking on my life and reflecting on my decision and I realized well spending you know the first year in in Italy is not going to limit me career-wise too much I can always make that ground back up when I move back to Washington DC which I never did so I think it was just a you know slowly but surely changing these these plans um and it's it was nice to be flexible in in in my plan um but I think when I came to Italy I had no idea and what you mentioned is super true about the differences but it's also true in the sense that it's they're very similar and I think the best parts of American culture are also emulated in in uh Italian culture too mostly I mean and you've experienced this too let me know if you think this is true there's a lot of warmth in Italian culture and a lot of welcoming and The Stereotype I think is actually quite quite real I think I have very very close friendships here I mean includ you were included in this thank you maybe that I maybe wouldn't have had uh there in in the US um which is which is a big reason of of why I stayed I think for sure if I would have to if I were to have moved back possibly my career would have taken different turns and maybe even better turns but I realized the I thought about the life that I wanted to be living and I think my values align much more with life maybe not necessarily Italy but Europe in general right and the lifestyle I think as well is is much more relaxed and this is something I think I I very much appreciate what's what's your favorite part about living in Italy oh that's another good question the friendships I have to say it's the friendships yeah I yeah I think being luckily luckily I can speak the language and that's again thanks to my mom helping me in learning Spanish and then that being so similar to Italian I mean it's one one step and so that is super helpful um and I have to say Italians are just super welcoming and once you're their friend you're their friend for for life I think and this really is different from American culture where like a big city like New York you're going to meet people all the time but how many close good friends are you are you gonna have that you can rely on and I'm just stereotyping here of course but I think in Italy it's the exact opposite you can meet maybe relatively fewer people than you would if you were going to go to the US but those meetings and connections are going to be quite profound which is is great I think the friendships and I mean everybody you go it's really beautiful that is and and food right cherry on the top is the food absolutely yeah and I love I'm a big fan of cooking as are as are you as is you as are you well how do you say that yeah we we did this we did this cooking course together I still remember that was so much fun incredible incred learning torini in bolognia Italy Italy does have its charm and it's it's an amazing place to stay and as you said knowing the language definitely helps to make your life easier and helps you to integrate into the society which is already welcoming so with the language you are even more welcome into the society and yeah it's just wonderful life over there working for the UN sounds like an incredible experience I mean a lot of people have who study economics and politics I'm sure have dreamed of working for the UN what's your role there and how has been the EXP erience so far my so I'll talk about my role first probably uh I've had various roles I guess over the past few years um I started my let's say un career if I can call it that um as an intern the classic way to to start I would say uh I interned during covid so I was working in bolognia while I was studying part-time um for the a part of undp which is called the UN capital Development Fund um and they were based in in New York so I was working New York hours from from bolognia while studying as well which is quite intense but given that it was remote actually felt really lucky because I mean that opportunity would have never been possible if it wasn't for for covid and remote work being so you know available um after that I the summer between my first and second years of of Masters of my master's program I interned for the Brussels office of that same UN agency MH doing very similar similar things as well including mostly so it's a partnership's role which means fundraising essentially so I was doing a lot of donor Outreach presentations um and helping you know the upper level staff that are going to these various meetings with with people so very interesting to get to know how the UN is funded um and how that side of the operation works and it was a nice way to get to know various un agencies as well um so there's so many and so having to do a lot of research into different ones to get to know their mandate and what they do um and that's where I found as well wfp which I where I'm working now so I interned there as well during and after my my masters so my third un internship after uh after it's all said and done wfp's world food program right yeah yes exactly yeah sorry for the for the listeners um yeah for the world or a listener I actually don't know or maybe and essentially my role is it's become much different but it's still similar in some ways I'm a working as a program and policy officer um and for the humanitarian policy team um at WP and essentially what that means is so my specific role is writing briefs and preparing upper level staff for for their meetings wow it's a meeting with a donor government um a partner or what have you that is generally going to fall on me to sort of prepare them before they go into the meeting because these people's schedules are packed to the brim so they need to be briefed a bit beforehand so I'm basically writing very clear you know reports on on what we're trying to achieve and and many of these different meetings and what the purpose is and that's been a lot of fun and it's been very interesting as well I have to say I'm learning a lot about how this sort of sector works that's that's very impressive I've always been curious and I'm sure a lot of people who aspire to work for the UN one day are also curious about this so everyone studies I mean who decides to study politics and economics most of them would want to have this kind of career that you have and you have navigated yourself quite well through these different internships what I'm interested in what what kind of skills do they look for in the UN so how did you prepare yourself to get into these roles and what kind of mindset and curriculum one needs to have to to do this job yeah I think there's no one set package I think it's um the UN is so big that they they do so many different things that any type of of profile in my opinion is is helpful and worthwhile to either apply or for the UN to take look at I mean I where I work we work with people that specialize in nutrition that have phds in in one field and they are hired by the UN sort of later in their career and we have Engineers um that are building infrastructure all across the world where it's most needed we have you know Pilots that are flying planes get humanitarian Aid where it needs to go truck drivers any type of profile is really accepted at least I'm talking the wp side of things here but overall across the UN system I think there's so many different types of jobs that that are available and that anyone can do that it really isn't just one sort of skill or background but I will say the one thing for me that has stuck out that has helped me to Advance if I even Advanced I haven't Advanced too much but to advance a bit has been writing I think I'm a good writer and it comes naturally to me and this is something really important because working in such an International environment with many different people speaking I'm writing mostly in English but of course at the UN your people are speaking any any un language um so when I'm writing in English many people are not native English speakers right and so they speak very very well um but sometimes the writing can be a bit of a challenge I think and I don't mean their talented I just mean in the way they express their their ideas it's not very clear and it's not very precise and I'm more of like a direct precise writer it's very easy for people to understand if they're not a natur not a mother tongue in in English let's say that is my number one contribution let's say how did you develop this skill of writing uh being a nerd I was a huge nerd when I was a kid and I read constantly every day I had no friends and I only read books I swear that's that's exactly how I really think that's what it happened because I mean I've never really had like a big passion for it for but when I was a kid I read just so many different books anything I get my hands on my mom still makes fun of me to this day wow um but definitely if I mean if you're if there are no children reading this or listening to this there's plenty of courses out there that are that you can take to develop it I mean I think guess it was honed in many years of you know in grad school you write a lot and University write all the time I guess and maybe not in the Italian system too because the Italian education system it's to be a lot of oral exams I you can tell me from your perspective in in India too but in the US and in in the US system writing is very strongly emphasized I think it's it's interesting in today's age I would love to hear your take on the AI so you you think what you're doing can be done by AI is it something that you think about I think I'm very replaceable to be honest yes but I I mean I in it's current states no like not nearly as quality as if a human had written it it's impressive the fact that they can gather all these data points and information and make a coherent you know document but it's nowhere near the point where it's G to take but you think it it might be sometime in future that this might be possible it's possible I think it's definitely possible I think right now there's always going to be pros and cons probably to that I think there's things that I will know about a meeting or an event that in AI just won't and will never be able to but you never know how the technolog is going to develop and yeah next few years I mean in 1990 we didn't think that people would be carrying around you know these computers that we have in our pockets that right are ruining your brains so you never know what's gonna happen in the future I think what do you what do you think I think some Rendon tasks would definitely be replaced by AI like scheduling of the meetings or like even Microsoft teams it already has this integrated AI which reminds you oh you have meeting in 5 minutes or would you like to take notes or transcribe some meetings so I think these sort of things would be sooner or later be used everywhere but the human aspect I mean you're writing reports and you're reading something you're Gathering the knowledge through different sources and and not just reading things on the internet because I'm sure you you talk to people you do your Advanced research and that's something thing a I will not be able to do right because it's probably you can create your report and get it Polished by AI but you'll have to create your own report that's what I think right right and I think it can be a great tool when you're looking maybe to start from scratch about a topic that you don't really know much about it's really easy to get up to speed with with AI and do that sort of research but I think the Strategic Edge in a lot of these types of meetings that we are having it will be really difficult for AI to come up with that but I mean you never I think it's possible it's possible you could definitely say you can track Trends really well so you can say you met with this donor government last year and this is what you talked about and then it can help you write the brief for the next meeting or something like that for sure and and you're not just a good-look guy right you're a smart guy as so I'm sure with time you're going to be equipping yourself to with different skill sets that AI can't compete with I'm 100% sure I hope so I hope so I hope to be retired in 10 years we'll see with with your efforts in world food program and world food program is quite big and has been involved in a lot of places like a lot of places where there are Wars where there is scarcity of food and doing really lot of good work do you ever think of physically going to these places and contributing no 100% I I'm I will go definitely I it's an expectation of a lot of our staff to to go and everyone's talking about you know where they want to go next and what they want to do next which I think is really great it contributes to a culture of you know everyone wanting to lend a helping hand when the time comes um so definitely if and that's the great part about WP is they have so much reach and things happen quick when to happen quick like I could be I could be emailed tomorrow and asked be asked to go and I'd be on a plane 48 hours so it just depends on on the situation and the need but definitely definitely it's in it's in the plans for sure I think that's where you learn the most and contribute the most that's where WP of course does its does its best work what do you hope the world would look like in 10 years or 10 to 15 years from now with all the efforts that wfb is is doing that's an interesting one I think the wp perspective is we would like to not exist that's what you know we always say and I think it's it makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways it doesn't it seems very far from happening unfortunately and it's going to be difficult for WP to not exist I think there's always going to be emergencies going on all over the world whether it's conflict and there's a lot of conflict right now unfortunately and climate is going to be picking up exacerbating a lot of these different problems whether it's over the long term or the short term and so unfortunately I see very limited opportunities in the future for for WP to not exist I hope but it would be great I mean I would love for the whole world to be able to I don't know have as much food as they need but it's just not the reality that we live in right now mhm unfortunate for the world but fortunate for the people who are in need so I guess some noble cause there what about you personally what's what's your vision or looking ahead what are you most excited about personally I'm looking forward and I think this kind of contradicts what I just said but looking forward very much to being able to have like stable life in a city that I enjoy I think moving around so much in my career it's been hard to find you know community in some of the places that you know if you're moving around this often it's difficult to really right you know grow roots in a in a new city and now that I've been in Rome for several years it's definitely happening and so that's something I'm really looking forward to personally I think wow growing together with you know friends and the community that I have here will be great but that doesn't take away from the fact that I think with my career I'll be called to do more elsewhere so I'm looking forward to to balancing both I think and and professionally where do you see yourself in next 5 to 10 years have you thought about it I've never you know I haven't thought about I have the luxury of not having to think about it right now because I mean doing what I'm doing now has been my goal for the last like five to 10 years I guess let's say even from when I was a kid I mean when I was a kid I was thinking of of joining the UN and first when I was reading about it and W seeing what it would take to get there I was and now that I'm here I'm like wow I can't believe that I'm actually doing this to be honest now that I'm here like I have no idea what what to do next so professionally living in the moment yeah yeah yeah a little bit about that yeah and just I think I've given up trying to plan I used to always plan so much plan so much and then I realized that planning made me less flexible to see opportunities that would come up in the future that would make me you know better just because it didn't go with the plan that I had in my mind um so I think I'm I'm learning to sort of take it more Alano as the Italians say and try to be more you know flexible when things like that come up that's an interesting approach yeah that's a very interesting approach I I like this was a job interview I would give you a different answer no I really like what you said planning can limit your opportunities that you might possibly have so yeah I maybe I I I should think about it as well what about your strategy been different the whole journey has until now and it's still ongoing journey to find out what I would really love to do what my really passion is and I think I'm still kind of exploring so everything that I've done in my life I always felt like this is not the destination like I I'm still figuring out what I would love to do and these are the tools that I'm using to figure it out so doing the PHD or even the job that I have or the one that I had before it was immensely useful but I knew that I need to understand through this job what I really need to do it's always been a journey so doing this podcast is also part of that journey I always wanted to do that so I thought there's only one way to find out by doing it any influential figures that that have inspired you or still any people that you look up to this is a good one definitely my mom I've got a lot of inspiration from her my mom and grandfather my grandmother too of course but I think especially my my grandfather my mom I think and this doesn't have much to do with with career unfortunately but personally my mom has been a big inspiration for me and how selfless selfless she is with so many people and how I mean just fantastic of a parent she was and she definitely has uh inspired me quite a bit in in my life and I'm only able to do the things that I want to do in life and that I like to do which is a privilege in itself just because of her and the hard work that she's put in in in her life and doing things maybe sacrificing things that she would have liked to do but didn't because you know she's raising a kid three kids so I owe the world of gratitude to to my mom for that and I think my grandfather helped me to understand what it's like to move and inspire me I think to to what it's like to live in another country move in another country and what different cultures are like what different languages are like getting that sort of exposure as a young kid changes really really physically changes you I think um especially growing up in the US in a relatively conservative State I'll say extremely conservative state where there's not much in terms of diversity I think there especially when you compare it to a place like Europe where people are speaking different langu and are constantly exposed to different types of people Texas is just such a big place that it's hard to come across anyone from a from somewhere different than you and so having someone like my grandfather who is Swiss speaks perfect Spanish speaks German you know all these different languages has lived and worked across the world as a grandfather is was super influential to me and super really really useful in terms of me getting inspiration from from some because never felt like I fit in much when I was in Texas for a variety of reasons but I think having that sort of family background helped me to feel you know a part of something bigger and when I moved out away I was always felt very supported in that decision I think it's difficult when you come from a family that's maybe quite conservative they aren't so willing to like let you go which makes a lot of sense right so having not having to deal with you know that side of things and having complex a complex family uh has been really really nice it's a luxury to have and it's it's amazing how having such Role Models within your own family can can shape your path and have immense influence on you you talked about having lots and lots of failures what kind of failures you had and what lessons did they teach you so many failures I can talk about some maybe a few I mean I consider my decision to study engineering to be kind of a bit of a failure and the fact that I studied it for two years and was getting pretty poor grades uh for such a long time was was a failure on on my end and I think I failed and looking back now I could say this I didn't fail academically I don't think I was you know not academically capable I think it was just somebody I didn't like I was forcing myself to study something I didn't like because I thought it would be cool and I thought that I would make a good living because of it I didn't want to make you know like crazy amounts of money I just wanted to have like a stable life right and from when I was a kid people would tell me that being an engineer was or having a really stable life it's the best way so I didn't really question that until I figured out that I don't like engineering and it's super important I mean of course I'm not criticizing in any way that it just really wasn't for me and so I remember deciding to move to economics was like the biggest weight was just lifted off of my off of my shoulders and in that sense I guess it didn't feel too much like a failure although I had just put in two years of studies into something that then wouldn't be useful so from that perspective I guess a waste of time maybe but I learned a lot I learned how to listen to myself and listen to my feelings about what's in front of me and how to sort of change my own situation to make it better because no matter where you are no matter what you're doing your situation can always change I mean you're completely in charge of yourself and and your life so I think that was a big uh failure that I had to go through to learn I always look at failures in a way that failure is is a feedback so yeah whatever you fail at it's a feedback that you're receiving from that failure and that feedback can be used as knowledge to overcome the next hurdle that you might have right so so failure is feedback feedback is knowledge and knowledge is power that's exactly that's yeah so I think failing is amazing and everyone should fail at everything that they do so that they can become a better version of themselves in a way like you get to know yourself better if you had to give advice to 18-year-old Mark what would it be 18-year-old me what was I even doing back then my God God God knows I would say what is my advice I would just say be less afraid probably I think it was a really a scared teenager to be honest those years were quite difficult um and I think that I don't know I just lived in a more scared away scared to fail scared to you know even to like socialize this is the period that I was talking about when I was just reading books all the time I wish I had lived less scared yeah that would have been good advice to get myself but I mean these things these are things you learn with failure and you learn with with age so I don't like knock myself for not having done this but I wish that I had lived with more courage probably yeah that's that's an excellent advice you what advice I would give to 18-year-old Mark oh yeah or that and advice to myself when I was 18 years old I would tell myself that you are no less than the guy sitting beside you so be more confident in who you are and just be more confident that's what I would also I would also add that to my list of advice the podcast is called professional Spotlight series and this is something that I ask everyone if you had to put three spotlights on your journey so far one in the past one in the present and one that you would like to see in future kind of pivotal moments of your life what would those be nice Question Time wow that's a deep one three spotlights on my professional career interesting I have to Spotlight on my the second failure that I was going to talk about for my past I guess looking back yeah I still considered quite a bit of a failure um when I was interning for wfp and at the same time going to graduate school I thought it'd be much easier to get a job job after IID graduated than I could have ever possibly imagined that it would be it was super difficult for me to get uh a full-time job and out even outside of of wfp outside of the UN I wasn't looking just for those types of positions I was looking for anything I was quite desperate at this point and I was still interning um making really low you know intern salaries and just trying to survive and I was at the same time you know doing all the job applications which as you know take days and days and days to to complete and then going to the interview process which takes a lot of time and preparation and separate rounds of interviews which is super draining and I think I I mean you have to be so vulnerable when you're in a job interview I think it's super difficult to be so vulnerable for so many different people and uh Zoom meetings and different like analysis tests and personality tests and all these different things uh and I remember you helping me a lot actually with this all these different types of processes I mean just dealing with rejection I was rejected all the time last last year two years ago and I did I think the final count was like 28 job interviews wow which is a lot in the period of like four months oh my gosh was yeah such a brutal way to go I mean so much more to your life is there something that you would have done differently in this tr8 job interviews that you did I keep asking myself that and I don't think so I think I actually did well it was just bad luck in a lot of ways because they had someone that was more qualified which is totally fair maybe they were looking for someone more I rejected a couple interviews as well just because it seemed like a little bit too you know entry level than what I was looking for but I think I mean the fact that I was just honest about with each of these job interviews there were several questions that I didn't try to make up a response I just like I have no idea you tell me some of those worked out and I ended up passing to the next stage but never you know beyond that but I appreciate I mean I was much less nervous at going into job interviews and much before much better when I just knew I was going to present myself in the way that I am and not in the way that you know people want me to be not right right right the perfect way that that this job or this company wants that was super helpful I I know someone with which is kind of crazy what he does is he he has a perfect job but once in a while he just goes and applies to jobs just to see if he's if he's still able to get a job outside if he decides ever to switch so he just randomly applies to positions gives interview does everything until the end and then goes up actually I'm happy with my current job interesting but he just goes through this recruiting process and wow that's fascinating that would that's good advice actually I wonder what that and I guess with that you have he said with this attitude that he has where he has nothing to lose because he already has a job which he likes he's just kind of he has Fearless approach and more often than not he gets the offer and to reject right absolutely yeah it's such a mindset change I think but it's really important Spotlight on the present I think I probably probably the spotlight I'm trying to think outside the box more in my in my role I think once in any job if you do the same thing daily it can get really mundane and I think something that I want to take more into now that I've you know done a year in the same position I can go this year and sort of create a bit more and get involved in more things and I'm trying to increase I we see if this works out but I'm trying to work more with the private sector in terms of partnering with with different companies for for wfp getting both not just funding but also you know knowhow and expertise that's available in the private sector that exists and through all these different ESG and social impact strategies these companies have priorities that align very much with ours um and so I think this sort of idea has brought me to think of different ways of how to establish different Partnerships with with companies you know some of these companies are enormous I mean they have massive amounts of resources that they're willing to en able to spend on on you know social impact projects that make a big difference in in the world and so I think I'm trying to you know develop some skills and talk to the right people that are already doing this type of thing both at wfp and across the UN to see what what can happen because I think we're really at a inflection point I think in terms of we can it can either get much much worse or it can it can get better I mean there's and I'm an optimist and I think that it's going to get better but I want to be at least part of you know think this thinking outside the box thinking is what we need right now and I think that I would like to at least challenge myself to do what I can in my role and in my part to to move things forward interesting interesting and future if you have to put Spotlight on yourself in the future I I'm very happy in my life and career right now so I would say looking forward to the next not even the next phase just this is so far in the future that it's not even relevant but retirement to me is but I think I don't know retiring well and and be able to provide for for your family and I always had this dream of like running a Airbnb not Airbnb what's it called aiso here in Italy where I'm Farming and know cooking all the different type of like natural native ingredients and um you know a family there and I don't know I think that sort of life that really sort of appeals to me I can I can imagine you doing that we can have another episode when when you do that I hope so yeah I hope so I can talk about failures and bringing up my farm this this has been really really terrible you and me both are going to regret doing this I don't I don't know why you signed up for this no but I I really enjoyed it this was really fantastic and thanks a lot for taking your time and being so gracious with it this was cherry on the top for my start of the week so thank you so much thank you Tommy these questions have been fantastic it made me think reflect on a lot of different things so much appreciate I think it's going to be a very successful podcast for sure maybe not not this episode so much but the podcast in general will be fantastic thanks thanks a lot for supporting my little project of course to of course anything and that's a wrap for this episode of unboxing stories professional Spotlight series I hope you found today's discussion as inspiring and insightful as I did if you enjoyed this episode Please Subscribe rate and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform your feedback keeps our passion alive and helps us reach more incredible listeners like you thanks for listening I DK and I look forward to having you join us again for our next episode where we will feature another fascinating professional until then keep striving keep thriving and keep unboxing your story until then goodbye [Music]