Jad Abumrad
RadioLab
New York, NY USA
"There's a feeling of dread and a feeling of anxiety that you have at this point, and there's a tendency to want to curtail the uncertainty…but premature certainty is the enemy-it's always the enemy."
Career Roadmap
Jad's work combines: Music, Radio, and Being Creative
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Take Roadmap QuizSkills & Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Creative Writing
Oberlin College
Bachelor's Degree
Music Theory and Composition
Oberlin College
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Went to school to study music composition and specifically wanted to write music for films.
2.
Eventually realized he just wasn't good enough to do music professionally.
3.
His girlfriend pointed out that while he might not be great at either, he was good at both writing and music; pointed him towards radio.
4.
He was making no money, couldn't see a career ahead, but had fun, felt immediate satisfaction when he did interviews.
5.
Now produces/hosts the show Radiolab and says he's stunned by how closely it resembles his original dreams.
6.
Says he constantly faced fear and dread, but he'd be more worried about young people who don't feel uncertainty than those who do.
7.
Uses the "adjacent possible" as a metaphor for building a passion or talent; ask, "What is possible right outside my border?"
8.
When he started doing the show, he received hundreds of hate-calls; says he's come to terms with that, part of his job is to "ruffle feathers."