John Preston Corbin

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

I realized I wanted to become a professor after I began attending college. Not only did I enjoy debating and writing papers, I enjoyed helping others, tutoring people in my spare time, and lecturing about the importance of language or literature. The career is perfectly suited to me, as is my major. Another big help in deciding was the multiple times people told me (and continue to tell me) I seem like a professor. I'll never forget the day I walked into a class before a teacher and everyone thought I was there to teach the class. In other words, I've had a lot of positive reinforcement.

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

My mother was always very fixated on the idea that I should go into business, like my dad. What kind of business she never specified. She insisted I take golf or tennis so that I would be able to play the sports that CEOs and other wealthy members of society seem so partial to. I relented and took the more active of the two, tennis. She encouraged me to pursue a degree in school, any degree, so long as it made me hireable to companies. Meanwhile she discouraged any ambition to pursue creative outlets, such as music, painting, and comedy for fear it would distract me from what she still believes to be truly important. Over time I've learned to block her out and go for what I want, which isn't always easy. You have to keep reminding yourself "It's my life, not anyone else's. I should do what matters to me." No one else decides your life but you and it'll all pay off in the long run. Remember that.

When did you get your first Big Break? How did you get it? How did it go?

My first big break came when I was a Sophomore. I had started working on the student-run newspaper that semester and one of my friends who worked with me mentioned that a small newspaper publication was looking for writers. I got the number for the paper's editor and called asking if I could help. This resulted in me covering my first news story and led to getting paid for writing for the first time in my life. I went on to become one of their top writers, even filling in as editor for a while (which was a disaster in and of itself). Eventually the paper was sold after nearly bankrupting itself and I left. Overall it was a positive experience, even if I learned that journalism wasn't for me. Still, it gave me something to put on my resume that led to more jobs and has proven to be invaluable to me after I quit working there.