Northwestern University Alumni

Transcript:

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Welcome to Northwestern Intersections, a Northwestern Network podcast where we talk to alumni about their careers. We'll hear what they've done right, what they've done wrong, and the stories behind both. I'm Cassie Petoskey with the Northwestern Alumni Association career advancement team.

Today, I'm speaking with Daniel Flores. Daniel is currently a growth projects associate at the Chicago Public Education Fund where he helps manage strategies to support Chicago's principal pipeline and execute projects that ensure strong recruitment, development, and placement of aspiring school leaders. Thanks so much for being here with us today, Daniel.

DANIEL FLORES: Thank you so much for having me.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: And we're so excited to hear more about what you're doing now at the Chicago Public Education Fund. But before we get into that, I always like to start us off with where you first started. What was your first job?

DANIEL FLORES: Like, first job in life?

CASSIE PETOSKEY: However you want to interpret that.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. I guess first time I actively sought out money, I think I want to say with that, I was actually a youth referee. So I think I started in seventh grade refereeing games-- a lot of them which were age groups that were actually a lot older than me. That and a paper route I think.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah. And what sport were you?

DANIEL FLORES: It was soccer.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Soccer. Great. So I'm guessing you played as well?

DANIEL FLORES: I did play. Yeah, I played until I aged out of the little league of the neighborhood. And then like, all the other teams were too expensive. So I just had to wait till high school to play again.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah, do you still play for fun or is it something you gave out back in high school?

DANIEL FLORES: When it's not frigid outside here in Chicago, I do love to play.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah, we have a few more months before you can start doing that again.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: And so what was your first roll out of school? Because I know you graduated and then you went to Kellogg soon after that for your MBA. What was your first roll out of Kellogg?

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, so my first role was actually an internship at United Airlines. So I was in their marketing operations department. And I was really working with all the data and kind of making sense of the information on the loyalty programs. So the different premier levels, and trying to make sense and kind of create tangible deliverables of how to utilize it and how to best kind of target these and use all the information they had. So to kind of create more opportunities from use cases for the airline.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: And what really drew you to this internship in the first place? And was the role what you thought it would be?

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. It was a really interesting role. I had actually gone to United Airlines because I had previously interned there. As a junior, I was kind of in the worldwide sales department doing kind of strategy for some of their corporate programs and products.

I really, really wanted to go back to the airline because I really enjoyed my time there. And the internship was a great experience. At the time, it was a little bit harder to get in just kind of right out of school. So I took the internship, which then turned into my first kind of full time job in the pricing and revenue management division.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: And so then from your internship, you transitioned into full time work there. And what was that transition like? I feel like a lot of alumni come to the Alumni Association at these points of transition and want to know more about what it's like. And I just want to pick your brain around that time when you were still interning, but trying to get that full time work.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. I mean, it was nice to know that I would be an internal candidate. And a lot of it-- through the program they really encourage you to apply to full time roles. And it was nice to just have the visibility and being able to kind of meet with different people across the company, learn more about what they're doing, and potentially if they have an opening.

The ability to do that was really helpful. I think it took a lot of stress, because I knew I wanted to be at United. Yes I was interviewing with other places, but I really just wanted to stay within the company. And getting my first role there and starting out was nice. I think the interim was just kind of weird, because I think I interviewed towards the end of my internship was over by like September. So I think a little bit before I was given an offer. And I got the job.

But I did have-- it has later start dates. So I kind of started at the end of October. So I had these weird couple in-between weeks where I kind of overstayed my sublet and kind of slept on the couch for a little bit. But yeah, I think I know a lot of people take a lot of trips in between their first job.

I was working for an airline, so I wasn't going to spend money on a plane ticket. So I was just like, you know, these next three weeks were pretty boring in Evanston I have to say.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: That's so interesting that you really wanted to get into the next role. And you got it, but then you had to kind of hurry up and wait--

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, basically.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: --to start. And so what was different about this next role? Obviously, a full time role-- more responsibility, but what were the aspects to the work.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. So I was on the pricing side. So I was on the domestic pricing team. So I had a kind of a caseload of like 40 routes. So basically optimizing the inventory and the pricing to make sure we're basically making as much money on these flights as possible.

My job essentially is if you've ever overpaid for a flight, that was me. Sorry. So mine was kind of Chicago short haul to anywhere in the Midwest you probably would want to go. It was about over like a $1 billion a day.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Wow. Very interesting. So I remember the first time we talked, you had mentioned that you were gaining some really great skills at United, but you also wanted to have broaden your skill set and do something different. Talk us through that next transition after United when you started looking for something to get better at something different.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. I think United was just-- it was really interesting to get with the airline industry in terms of especially my role with domestic pricing. Things change every three hours. So to make a long story short, any changes or any price fluctuations happen 5 times a day every 3 hours.

So in between those times, you're just kind of like trying to reverse engineer what the competition is doing and how you're going to adapt and what the next steps are. That being said, after a while, you were constantly working because there's a lot of that going on. And just the market is always crazy. And airlines like Spirit and Frontier are really annoying and always under cutting--

CASSIE PETOSKEY: They were annoying for you too?

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, they were annoying for me too. But it was just like, it just became-- the days started to kind of look very similar. Like, yes, different actions happened, but at the same time, I was basically doing the same thing. And I started out there because that's kind of like the bread and butter of the airline outside of just the actual flying up of the planes-- just a lot of where the revenue and where the money is made.

So it's kind of like entry level financial analyst for the company and just airlines in general. What I saw was I really liked what I was learning. I saw the role-- kind of the importance of it. But I really wanted to do anything else but what I was really doing. And I really tried to like lateral into the company to other divisions and things I was more aligned in-- maybe like strategy, marketing, the loyalty programs. But it was really difficult to do so.

I mean, what I noticed was that a lot of people would go to another company, get other experience-- a more general experience-- and then come back and do something that more aligned with their interests. So I realized that I had coming up on a year, and then I saw that to get a promotion, to be qualified for a promotion, you had to stay an additional year.

So I just started seeing that you know this was a very niche job. Although pricing revenue management exists for a lot of different companies, the way we're doing it with the airline was just so focused on this one role. And what I saw with other people that kept staying after a while is they would probably have to end up working for another airline.

Not to say that working for an airline is horrible-- like free flights are nice. But some of the other airlines aren't in the most kind of desirable locations. I didn't want to go to Dallas. I didn't want to go to Atlanta. So I really just wanted to kind of do something that we just brought in my skill set.

So that naturally kind of got me looking for other roles. And what I saw would've been a good fit was I was a good at consulting role over at KPMG. It was interesting to even be considering it, because I think a year before, I was just so against-- even right before grad school-- I was just very much-- I feel like a lot of things that people did at Northwestern, what everyone else was doing, it made me want to do it less. Because I really just don't want to conform to all these kind of like mindsets that sometimes are kind of blindly following other blind mindsets.

And I was just very against it. But I saw at this point in my career, it was just like, this made sense. Consulting was going to give me a very broad skill set. I would go in as an experienced hire, not necessarily just like out of school. And you don't have to do that a whole rat race of campus hire. And also KPMG didn't actually recruit out of Northwestern very heavily as compared to other consulting firms did.

So going through, I just kind of seen the different [? works. ?] I was really interested in project management based off just like my extracurriculars, things I had done in undergrad. And just getting that skill set and being able to apply to different industries on different projects was really I think a big draw, and it just made a lot of sense. So I decided to make the switch over.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: And thinking back to when you realized you wanted to find that next role, thinking about this transition, you were currently working-- how much energy did it take to find what you wanted to do next, and then interview for it, like apply, interview for it, and then actually start at KPMG?

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. I think it did take a lot of just personal honesty and reflection to realize that. Besides the fact that my job was niche and it was time to make a change. Just the personal and just general vibe with my well being at United was being compromised like every day.

I think a big part of what also made me want to switch from a company that I loved and that I had internship experience from that I really enjoyed, all the benefits and what that meant for me and my family and my friends was that the workplace environment was just so against I guess anything that I would kind of say would be self respect to myself.

And my co-workers for whatever reason were just extremely rude, so condescending, disrespectful. Problematic in the things they would say, just like things that kind of went along the range of like, LGBTQ rights, elitism, kind of like subtle micro aggressions. There was no shortage of things that I wouldn't have to deal with on a daily day that would be said in the office. A lot of it was just like a very collaborative team-based. But a lot of times-- personal life, things were just being said out loud.

And a lot of those issues were just so egregious that I was just like, I can't believe this was a corporate setting. It was more specifically to my own team. And that just kind of came to a point where it was just like, I can't be here anymore. I literally can't stand hearing what these people have to say-- their kind of outlook on life, or the way they kind of would go about it. And I just really needed some place that can tolerate that.

I think in life you know I've had no shortage of experiences where people have been intolerant or just problematic about the way they say things. But for whatever reason in the corporate space, I saw it was just much more of a challenge, especially that you're kind of fighting against the norm. Because in that space, a lot of it was, of course I was one of the few people of color in that group.

I was also like one of the few males of-- I think I was one of the only male of color. I think what the really big thing was that I just really needed-- I didn't understand how intensified issues of just kind of like, tolerance, appreciation of other cultures, appreciation of people across the socio-economic ladder were in a corporate space.

I think that during school, during undergrad, while I wasn't perfect, I still feel like myself and my peers had a platform to be heard and to be kind of respected. Whereas in the corporate space, it's like, no, you're here to do the job. Everything else doesn't really matter. Everything else is secondary. If you really have a problem, just go to HR.

And a lot of these things were not as tangible things to kind of just be made an issue. So it was kind of tough to deal with. And some of the people around me that I had to [INAUDIBLE] a daily basis were honestly some of the worst people I've met in my life. And I've met a lot of people, especially a lot of people [? have ?] been not the greatest.

So I just realized I couldn't stand the space much less another year. The day to day thing was just such a grind. So I kind of just like continued on. And I think one of the big things that I look for in other places was the type of work, everything aligned professionally, but also what aligned inter-personally.

I think I had another close friend who was working at KPMG at the time and he would not stop raving about how much of just like a diverse place and how much diversity was valued in this organization. He was saying so many of the business resource groups-- how the Latino group was so strong and how that was so valued. It was just interesting how like participation of different affinity groups was kind of measured into your career trajectory. So they would see, have you attended events from the cultural groups, whether they had a military, race, ethnicity. They had an LBGTQ. They had all these different groups that cared about underrepresented or marginalized groups. And your participation in [? them ?] really helps your career role.

And I was just like, wow, I hadn't really heard of that before. That's really interesting that they do that. That wasn't the main reason for me to do it. But when I was asking questions about what are the opportunities, how do people get involved? A lot of people, especially those that didn't necessarily like align their backgrounds and align with these groups, they could speak very candidly and very extensively on the different work that they did. And it just kind of seemed like the norm at the company, which was something that was very surprising. It was just almost exciting to hear that diversity isn't just a buzzword. It's something like a tangible action. [INAUDIBLE] that the company is giving and employees are taking [? partner. ?]

CASSIE PETOSKEY: And that they're supporting the personal aspects that make you and that make you unique, and what you bring to the job. It's so interesting that you said some of those participation in the affinity groups definitely helped your professional career versus detracting, right? It seems like one organizational culture that would have been like, well, no, stop. That doesn't help the ROI. Why would you be a part of that. And then this organization had actually helped your trajectory.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah. And so interesting to think about your most recent transition. It just seems like another transition that has to do with your values and what you truly care about at the Chicago Public Education Fund. So before, when you and I did our pre-interview phone call, you were still at KPMG. And so I am so excited to hear more about your transition here and how that came about.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, definitely. I think what I really enjoyed about KPMG-- it was a great work experience. I think I was learning quite a bit. I think it just came to kind of another crossroads where I could see forward, where this was going, it was kind of the same direction. And I just wanted to do something more aligned finally kind of with what I wanted to do.

I think with the job I was doing, there was kind of this new standard by the FCC to kind of like make companies abide by how they disclose profit and loss. And that was making a lot of money for my division. And they had all these projects lined up that everyone was doing. And they were going well, making money. But then, basically there was more subsets of the standard-- kind of essentially the same thing.

And the same work was going to be sold for the next two years. And basically, it was going to be hard for me to be staffed on another project. And although the skill set I was learning was interesting, the subject material was not necessarily aligned with what I wanted to do. Again, I was trying to lateral to another group that was more interesting, but it just wasn't working out.

So I just kind of realized that either I have another chance to do something different. I think I have a really great skill. Just put me in a position to now being in a place where I could choose what I want to do.

And I think just overall, the goal had always been to start out in the private sector, and then maybe transition to a non-profit or the social impact space. And this role kind of just came around. And it was opened, and it just seemed really interesting. And I realized that like, I remember just reading the job description. It was so much of what was going to be asked of me to do was basically what I was doing before, but with subject matter like I definitely cared about-- serving a lot of students that are a high need, or schools that are underfunded. And just kind of changing directions, and at the end of the day, trying to make as big of an impact to students in the city of Chicago.

And it was just kind of like-- at first it was just like I was trying to make up excuses to why I shouldn't do it, or maybe I shouldn't do it now, maybe I should keep waiting. But then through support from my friends, my girlfriend-- it was just so funny to see myself putting all these doubts and just almost not even going for the opportunity for them to be like, what are you thinking? And like, this is exactly you. You might as well get paid for doing something you're really interested in and you're really passionate about.

I mean, of course, I did so many other steps. It was funny because when I saw the position initially, it got me thinking [INAUDIBLE] public education. Well, that sounds familiar to me. I do remember, because I had one of my peers-- a friend who graduated the same year as me from Northwestern-- she had initially made the switch. I know she was doing consulting for a while. And then she switched over to the Chicago Public Education Foundation and was just like so surprised. I was just like, that's really interesting. I didn't know she was passionate about education.

She was the first person I saw of anyone who graduated with me that was going into the nonprofit so sooner, or even going from private sector to nonprofit. And I was just like, wow, that's interesting. It's funny because I think-- so she is now my manager right now, so I report to her. Her name's [INAUDIBLE]. Brilliant. She was a student athlete. She played tennis. We actually lived on the same floor our freshman year in the same dorm, at Elder.

Yeah, I remember just messaging each other and asking about it. I mean, she was so helpful and very supportive. And she obviously did her due diligence in asking why I was interested in the role. And she kind of was very candid about what's great about it, but also what might be different from coming from private sector.

And yeah, I think she was also very refreshed at how excited I was about the role in education and how much investment I had in that. It was just kind of cool to see that she did it for the reasons kind of similar to mine. I wanted to do something that I was passionate about, that I cared about, and do something that really mattered to me.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. The doing something that really matters piece is so important. Caring and being passionate about your work-- you really dive into it. And it was so interesting hearing you describe, this was ultimately the goal down the road. You just didn't know it would happen so soon. But now that it has, how long have you been in this role and what have been some of the surprises to you?

DANIEL FLORES: I do want to say one thing before-- that was I forgot to miss.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah.

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah. So it was really surprising to see Belinda go from doing strategy consulting and coming into the nonprofit space. I think it's interesting because I remember she was just so very involved in consulting from the get go. She did consulting for nonprofits. She went straight into consulting. And just seeing her just transition out into a nonprofit space was so surprising.

I mean, she was actually my TA at one of the classes I took. It was like consulting for nonprofits. So she was my TA. I think in the back of my mind, that was also a thing-- just like reporting to Belinda, like I've already done that before. So doing it again-- and she was such a great TA and she's such a great boss, it was just like, I think this would also be such a great opportunity to work with someone who I know is so intelligent, so driven and accomplished that there's so much I could learn from her.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Absolutely. And thinking about the Northwestern Network, obviously it has impacted your path. How has the network Northwestern network more broadly impacted your career journey?

DANIEL FLORES: Definitely. Overall, my career journey, I think it's having so many students in undergrad, in grad school, obviously reaching and trying to attain the best opportunity possible has really been a huge benefit for me. I think given my background, my parents didn't go to school here in the States. I grew up in an area where my neighbors weren't necessarily professionals either. One of them painted houses. The other one drove a bus. And the other one sold drugs.

So from an early age, I didn't know too many professionals outside of my personal doctor and teachers. When I wanted to start out in school, I kind of wanted to be a teacher. And then I realized hearing other people's career aspirations-- there were so many other jobs I just didn't know about.

And I think when it came to applying to jobs, it was just kind of another cycle again when I had learned about all these things. But it was just like, there's so many different roles you can consider. And everyone knew that there were going to be-- I guess the mentality of people-- these jobs would be lucky to have us [INAUDIBLE] Northwestern students. That was kind of like a foreign idea to me, because I didn't feel like I came from a family of professionals or people with a network.

I remember in grad school, it was funny because we were sitting in our first career development session in Kellogg, and one of the career advisors were like, this is the first step to finding a job. Talk to your parents. Ask them to ask their friends if they know anyone that's hiring. And I was just like, I don't think I really want to ask my neighbor who deals drugs if he's hiring, or the bus drivers or the painters. I just don't think I'd be a good fit for that.

So it became very apparent that I needed to find ways to kind of see what career paths would align with me or things to do. And yeah, I think along the [? stuff ?] of the way, Northwestern has very much been present. It's so nice to see I wouldn't be in this job right now if I didn't know Belinda, I didn't see her career trajectory, how much she's enjoyed this opportunity, how much she's really-- like this role has been great for her.

I think I had another peer when I joined KPMG, I had a friend from grad school who was working there and he really enjoyed his time there. He said it was a great opportunity. At United I had other peers that had been working there, had talked great about the role, what they learned and how it worked out for them.

Even now in the future, I think now it's finally become-- I'm really excited to see what the network can bring and excited to reach out. Because I feel like before-- not to say that you can get written off, but I just don't necessarily-- some people are proactively looking out sometimes. Especially with the private sector, consulting, it's not like people are looking at like, oh hey, you're a consultant. Let me make sure you're even a greater consultant.

If you reach out, you'll definitely get it. But I think in the nonprofit space or the educational space, people are just genuinely interested. This is things that are actually passionate about and they want to talk about. I've had so many of my peers or other people that went to Northwestern with me or just in my general network just reach out and be like, your job sounds really cool. Please let me know what you're doing. Or just kind of different synergies or collaborations like, my company is doing this. Please let me know how we can collaborate or help out. We'll work with you, or hey, these are certain fellowships based on this new path that you're taking.

And it's just really exciting to know that I can reach out to different alumni and peers in this space that came from Northwestern. And they're going to be so helpful. They're going to be so insightful. And it'll just help me do my job that much better. And whatever my end goal is will be because I'll be able to have so many people willing to help.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah, and the Northwestern community has clearly impacted in a variety of ways your journey. And what other networks or communities that you're a part of have really influenced you personally?

DANIEL FLORES: Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the biggest has to be my scholarship program. I think the quest for a scholarship. I think they've invested in me since the moment they accepted me when I was like 17 years old. When I finished my freshman year and I was kind of unsure of being at Northwestern, wanting to stay there, what my role was going to be, and assigning me to be the liaison in charge of the entire chapter. And that led to creating the quest for college [INAUDIBLE] Northwestern that led to helping advocate for student enrichment services, which served first gen low income students at Northwestern over 1,000 students a year.

And that's invested in me to become the founding chair of the Chicago QuestBridge Alumni Association. And creating a space for low income and first gen professionals here in the city of Chicago and using that as a vehicle to not only take up space, support one another, but also see each other succeed and celebrate each other.

So that's a community has meant so much to me. I think I'm just really excited for-- in May, we're going to do our first QuestBridge graduation. So we're going to have-- all the current alumni in the city are going to host students graduating QuestBridge scholarship seniors from the University of Chicago and from Northwestern.

And I had an idea. Why don't we invite the students that just got into the scholarship from high school that are here from Chicago to be there. So just kind of like a cross generational event-- the alumni, the soon to be alumni, and the future alumni. For me when I got to school, I had no idea what I was going to look like a year later outside undergrad, outside of grad school, even what I was like a professional. Now having these students that have the same background as me will have all those steps, have all of those people along the way, and see all of these different phases to their future has been something that I'm just so excited about. And I'm just glad that we're kind of changing their lives.

I feel like a lot of communities that are marginalized or students that come from high schools that they might not see a lot of people, or a lot of people might not be going to schools like Northwestern. It really does make a huge difference meeting people and talking to people that you can relate with and you can see yourself being.

Outside of QuestBridge really-- I think LANU has been such a great things for Latino Alumni of Northwestern University. I think from an undergrad, I went through a mentorship program where I was paired with a Latino-- it was a Latino MBA association. So he was part of LANU. He had graduated from Northwestern. He was doing Kellogg at the time. He grew up in Cicero, which has a lot of parallels to San Antonio-- predominantly Mexican-American community, underserved.

I remember one time, he was just-- I was really bad with emails. And he was just like holding me accountable. He was like, you know, man, you need to be a lot better at this, because you can lose job opportunities, you can do this, you can do that. And you need to just take this seriously, because if you don't take it seriously, they're not going to take you seriously.

And that really stuck with me. He gave me a lot of other advice. He was just like, maybe don't cut your hair the way you do. I was a barber, so I cut students hair on campus. So that didn't really change, and thankfully it hasn't really negatively affected me. But the 99% of everything he told me was very much true.

It's really funny because-- his name is [? Saul ?] [? Andrade. ?] Amazing guy. And the funny part was after I finished grad school and I was at United, he had just joined United. So we were both working there. It's really funny. And when I was doing my internship right out of grad school, I remember at the orientation, I look at this kid that's across the room-- I just look at him-- his name's Kevin-- and then I was just like, I can't believe. And then I looked at his name tag, and his last name was [? Andrade. ?] And I went up to him like, you're [? Saul's ?] brother. And he's like, how did you know that?

So yeah, I mean, I work with him. We're actually still friends. I saw him the other day. He came to my birthday. And during our time as interns, we went to Japan together, we always hung out. We still keep in touch now.

So it just kind of seemed crazy to see that Northwestern network continue on here. But yeah, and now I'm currently taking on the co-chair position for LANU continuing to grow the alumni community, especially here, not only in Chicago, but across the country. We have so many different alumni spread around different parts of the United States just kind of creating more satellite affiliate chapters, and just kind of broadening LANU's scope and family across.

Recently, this past year, we've had tailgates over the year, but this one we just took it to the next level. We had like-- it's called a [INAUDIBLE]. So basically we had one of a student's parents that we know-- she's actually doing the same Kellogg program I'm doing. And her parents volunteered to basically make unlimited tacos for students for a couple hours.

And we had a lot of different-- invited alumni and especially invited students to have a homecoming tailgate for Latino students. And we had I think it was over 100 students show up. We had Spanish music, we had the reggaetron, we had-- there's a specific line dance that's popular Mexico-- it was called [INAUDIBLE].

So it was just crazy to see over 60 students all doing in synchrony a dance and just something completely different from my experience as a freshman and my experience during undergrad. I didn't know a Latino homecoming. I didn't know a space where Latinos would get to come back together and spend time during homecoming. And now this is what they're going to know for their entire Northwestern experience.

So just being full circle and just kind of creating the spaces you wish you had when, in the past, I think it's just something that's been kind of a recurring trend and it's been a goal for me. And it's so nice to see-- it's so fulfilling to see just the joy and the memories that will be created and how different someone's experience will be from yours.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah. And you're clearly leaving a legacy at Northwestern with supporting and advocating for SES and for these students who, like you said, get to have this experience right when they first get to school and that shape their experience at Northwestern, which is just awesome. And I know you brought up a number of different aspects to your identity, but I'm wondering how have your identities impacted your career more broadly.

DANIEL FLORES: In a lot of different ways, they have made an impact whether I decide it or not. I think for a lot of things I just knew-- I think it was a lot of different lessons. And I think a few identities do stick out. I think as a male of color, as a Latino male, we've read articles, and I think for better or for worse, my team was predominately white women in my first job at United. And I was just having such a hard time.

And it took one of my friends really telling me-- another Northwestern grad and she's brilliant-- [INAUDIBLE]. She told me, she was like, you know why you're not getting along with your teammates, right? And I'm like, why? Because you're a male of color. And in that space, there's a lot of like misalignment and distrust amongst those groups. And I don't think this is going to work out for you if you have these problems. And you need to realize just to be careful about the way you carry yourself in the workplace, because as a Latino male, study shows that that's the group that people see as the least intelligent.

So you need to be very careful in the way you phrase your questions, ask them. You need to not only-- it's like you're not asking a question. You need to show how much you know, make sure that you have said everything you possibly can, you've done all the due diligence to make sure you have the most profound answer. And then you ask your question, or else people are going to knock you for that. I mean, not everyone. But in general, unconscious bias is a very real thing, and being tolerant of that is very important.

I think in terms of just my background-- I came to the United States when I was 5 years old, my dad has worked every single job imaginable. He's been a janitor. And he's always-- even without formal schooling, I think he's one of the smartest people I know. And I always remember in his jobs, he really didn't have vacation. I don't remember him taking vacation days or days off.

And as [? Hamish ?] said, with my first job, I never took a vacation day. I never took a day off. And it was just like very much to say, you gave so much to our family and supported us and put us in an amazing situation. We've tried to make you proud. And I just want to make sure that I can pay homage to that.

And I think obviously you should take vacation days. You should kind of space that out. But at the same time, realizing and doing that was very much something like-- I don't mind staying late at work, I don't mind prioritizing things or getting things done. I mean, obviously in some roles, management [? would ?] take advantage of that. But for me, I'm very much am hesitant to complain about my job or complain about how much I'm working.

A lot of times my friends have been like, you're pulling long hours. I'm just like, no, this is how the job is kind of thing. And that's definitely affect-- I mean, understanding, that's another conversation of me just making sure to make a work/life balance, taking time for myself, de-stressing, not stressing myself out. But that immigrant mindset that my dad gave me-- it will always be with me and everything I do, whether that's at work, whether that's working with students, whether that's in mentorship roles that I take on, whether that's in volunteering, just always working for other people and investing as much of your time, because there's thousands of people-- millions of people across the country that would love to have these opportunities that we have.

The luxury of working in an office-- you get to sit at a desk for long hours. And some people are in factories, some people are doing heavy manual jobs. Just realizing that so many people have it much worse than you. And this is the privilege to be quote, unquote overworked.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah, that shift of mindset for folks with recognizing that privilege. But it's really fun chatting with alumni about these different experiences and how it really influences them and has impacted their outlook not only on life, but on the professional world, right? You hustled, and did great at Northwestern and left a legacy, but that wasn't it. You went into your next job and did your best there, and then found transitions to get new skill sets. And you've done so many really cool things already in your career to be proud of. But I'm curious, what are some of the things that you're personally most proud of.

DANIEL FLORES: That's a great question. I think two stand out to me. One has to do with-- I think for the things that really struck a chord with me, like anything questions related always strikes a big chord. So I was the like the only student from the city of San Antonio my year. And it was such a foreign place. And I remember my bio was put on the QuestBridge website-- my story.

And I remember very candidly that my senior year, a girl from my side of town-- I mean, San Antonio unfortunately is really economically segregated. So she was also from the west side of the city. She actually didn't live that far for me. And she got the same exact scholarship, a full ride to Northwestern. And before she got in, I obviously went, I got her this huge goody bag with all this southwestern attire or clothing, things that she could feel like a student, because that was something that mattered to me.

And I think we're obviously still close-- [? Abby ?] Suarez. And she's brilliant. She did Northwestern for 3 years, and now she's finishing up her PhD. But I remember from one moment, I can't remember exactly the moment it was, I don't know where we were. But I remember her-- it slipped out. She was like, I applied to Northwestern because I read your bio on the website and I saw you were from San Antonio and I saw that we're from the same side of town. And that made me realize this place is for me. I can also do this. I can also go to this school.

And that was just like such a moment. In the moment I was just like-- it was just like not even a moment to be hit by something so emotional and so impactful. But it was just like, wow, I can't believe I've had that effect on you like. I've had a net positive impact on someone else.

I think my goal was always just in high school you [? need to know ?] to make sure that other students would achieve more and get into more schools. I mean, my picture is in the entrance, they have all the jocks that got their athletic scholarships and stuff like that. But they still have my picture in the trophy case because I did get a Northwestern scholarship.

And ever year students start applying. And 2 years ago, two students got into Northwestern through QuestBridge. And in this past year, 3 girls got my scholarship, and 1 is also coming to Northwestern. And she lives-- I'm not even going to lie-- like probably 4 minutes away from me. We went to the same elementary school. She was at [INAUDIBLE] middle school. We went to the same high school.

So it's just kind of crazy to see so full circle and just kind of see-- obviously all these people were brilliant and Northwestern was such a great school, they would've gone into [? any one. ?] But it's just like, the personal part of it, it means a lot to me. And the second moment that was kind of one of the most I'm proud of is, it's more mariachi related. I think when I started out, the idea of [? Mariachi ?] Northwestern, the kind of story came full circle.

When I was in San Antonio growing up, I remember one year just watching PBS. And they were playing this big mariachi extravaganza. It's like the best mariachi in the world. They have it every year in San Antonio. I can never afford to go.

But I remember one year seeing schools like Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, they were all present. And they were playing, and I was just like, wow, I can't believe these amazing schools have mariachi there. And I made myself, in my mind, I made this promise-- if I ever get into a school, one of those schools or a school [? to ?] this caliber, I'm going to join the group or I'm going to make my own. And I made one at Northwestern.

And the idea was very much at Northwestern to create a pipeline so that students, especially Latino students that took part in mariachi wouldn't have to compromise something that's so-- like music and something so culturally important significant like mariachi when they were considering what type of school [? they gave it to. ?] They could still go to a Northwestern in the world and still continue something that's so impactful and important to them.

And so recently-- I manage another mariachi group. We help UIC start a [INAUDIBLE] group, and we did a performing group. And over the summer, some of the current members of mariachi that I knew a couple of years ago, they were in the city. And I just saw the group was doing well, but it kind of seemed like they weren't performing. And the idea was like, hey, maybe I can just like re-energize them and get them excited and get them paid for performing and doing something they like.

So I invited two of the girls to come play with us. And they're awesome, they're amazing singers and violinists. And they really enjoyed playing with us. And I could just tell they felt so much confidence, they got so excited that every time they came to play with us, it really showed.

I remember one of those days, I think we were just heading back from a performance, and then one of them told me, I applied to Northwestern because I saw that there was a mariachi program. And it was just so crazy, because when we worked with the Mariachi Academy in Chicago, this amazing job and work for students, we were always just like, we really just want to create this pipeline.

And this was literally one of those first people that came through that pipeline. And to see that we were wanting to make sure that we made ourselves prevalent and visible to the Chicagoland area. And seeing a student go through was just so amazing. And to see that effort as well-- those two students came back after the summer and fall just kind of like took mariachi to the next level.

This group-- I think they doubled the membership within a year. The group is doing amazing. Even the legacy lives on. And it's really crazy to see how it will continue. I was in the airport the other day and I was wearing by chance my Northwestern sweater. And this kid was just like, oh, I was just there. And I'm like, oh, cool. I'm like, [INAUDIBLE]. And he's like, I was auditioning.

And it turns out he was a vocal performance major from Austin, Texas, he was Mexican-American. And yeah, I was just like, have you heard we have a mariachi group? He's like oh, yeah, Mariachi Northwestern. I was really interested in this and that. And I was just like, wow. Maybe we'll have a future singer come along. But it's just crazy to see that full circle. And just seeing something that wasn't there that I really missed and I really wanted benefiting so many students and just making it one of their main reasons they're applying to something enhancing their experience or something completely new that they get to have. It just makes me really proud to know that just kind of creating opportunities and things that weren't there.

And at first, maybe [? we're ?] just kind of like, selfishly I did them, or I was trying to make my own space and make Northwestern a little bit more tolerable for me. But now to know that so many people are excited and are benefiting from it is great.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah, and inspiring future generations to be impacted by those two programs-- QuestBridge and Mariachi and you, it's so much to be proud of and really amazing. And I'm sure throughout your time both at Northwestern and in your career there have been both the ups and the downs or the ebbs and flows of a career. What have been some of the most impactful challenges you have faced, either some things we've already talked about or beyond that too?

DANIEL FLORES: That's such a great question. I guess it's good that my career hasn't been easy. I think really one of the big challenges is just being very honest with yourself. And for better or for worse realizing that everyone that graduates from Northwestern has the privilege of the rest of their life walking around with a Northwestern degree. And that will unfortunately the way that works, that will at times sometimes affords you better opportunities or the luxury of doing things that some other people cannot.

And I think just realizing that and I think just being understanding that this is almost a responsibility. And if you have certain talents or insights or experiences in the background to make a tangible difference, you should definitely take that on. I think as a challenge for me to just be honest with myself and not compromising what I care about.

I think in my past roles, I compromised for a short period of time. Well, I was at United. My importance of just tolerance and being in a space that I feel welcomed and I feel like I'm doing something or advocating for people or groups that might not have a voice. And I don't think I did the best job of that. And I think I necessarily didn't even have a voice. So understanding that was a big challenge and understanding that there's some places that you just cannot work well in. And your quality of life will suffer if you force yourself into situations that are not good for you.

I think another challenge has just been really just working in industries and roles that matter to you. They need mean something. I mean, I can't say that revenue recognition in accounting really matters to me. I can't say I'm very passionate about accounting or technology solutions for large scale companies in industrial supply. And realizing that that wasn't something that really gave me much fulfillment.

I think one of the biggest challenges has just really been finding my place, aligning my career goals with my talents and what I'm good at. And that takes time. And some people never find that answer. Sometimes some people for better or for worse just stick it through, even though they're miserable. If it's what's best for them or if they've kind of made up their mind, that's really what they do. And that's not always the best case.

One of the biggest challenges was understanding what my deal breakers were. Understanding when a situation has gone bad, when a workplace environment is toxic, when my own personal well-being is being compromised because I'm working too much or doing something that I just hate and I don't want to be in. Just understanding and setting those up for yourself, because I think if you let those deal breakers go on, they will just slowly eat away at you. And you won't feel fulfilled with your career.

I think on another end, a big challenge has been like finding something I enjoy doing and I will feel comfortable doing and I know it's a clear kind of career path. I think this role has been so perfect and it's given me so much. And I'm learning from it. And I think it's a step in the right direction for me. And I think everyday and just different projects that I'm on are going to work. Even interactions with co-workers I have now are just a reminder that I'm in the exact right place I need to be.

And I've made the right decision. And giving myself credit and not being so pessimistic about things and just trusting your gut and surrounding yourself with people that know you better than you know yourself sometimes is really something that's been challenging for me and I'm just so lucky to have such a supportive family, friends, partner to really believe in me especially in moments that I don't necessarily always have the most confidence in myself.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Absolutely. Having that network of people who are supportive of you in so many different ways is so important. And thinking to your network and also advice that you've picked up along the way-- what advice have you either received that stuck with you or advice that you want to leave with the Northwestern network today?

DANIEL FLORES: I think advice-- I think there's just kind of two quick points. I think you should always try to continuously become kind of the person you wish you always had, always bettering yourself, and always taking the opportunity to invest in other people. I think it's so easy when people are asking for help, or for things that might seem kind of like daunting or inconvenient for you-- just knowing that you can really, really, really change the direction of someone's life, can really impact them and help them go so much further than they could on their own if you take some time out to do that. I think that's really important.

I think at the end of the day-- also I guess the idea for me is just always being net positive in the world. Maybe it's a little idealistic. Maybe it's a little too optimistic. I just like the idea of just leaving wherever your you go-- wherever you're at-- a better place than it was. And I think someone told me recently there-- you've given so much to people, you've done such a great job. But it almost seemed finite, like I can stop now, like I've done so much.

And I'd always say in the past, I've been given so much, like how I have so much to give back. I owe the world so much. And thinking about it recently, it's not really you don't give back to the world what you think you owe it. Give back to the world kind of like, what do you think it deserves.

I think we should always constantly be raising the bar about volunteering, giving back, investing in other people, investing in communities to make sure that they are not only where they need to be, but transcending that. And I think there's just-- I guess I'm living proof there's so much inequity in the world. And it does take a lot. It takes time. It takes moving mountains. It takes a whole village to get people to different places from where they started out.

But just understanding that the work is never done and we just always need to be investing in other people. And that's really what's going to make our careers better. It's not necessarily the margin of-- you can't really tell a person's success by how well they did. It's really the sum of the people they have around them.

CASSIE PETOSKEY: Yeah, and it's such an inspiring place to end our conversation with. The work continues. And like you said, you've done a lot of amazing things to leave a legacy. But you're still going to be at it. You're going to get the world what it deserves. So Daniel, we just want to thank you again for joining us today for this conversation. We appreciate you sharing all of the different insights, so thank you again.

Thank you for tuning into today's episode of Northwestern Intersections. To find more information about the podcast, please visit Northwestern.edu/intersections. That is Northwestern.edu/intersections. Have a great rest of your day and go Cats!