Embracing a Non-Linear Career Path with Mo Simmons

In this episode of See Yourself IN, host Casey Harrison sits down with Mo Simmons, Program Manager at Purdue Innovates. Mo shares his unexpected journey to Indiana, starting with his studies in video broadcasting at Butler University, through his diverse career in sales, property management, and eventually into tech and higher education. Emphasizing the importance of seizing opportunities and embracing a non-linear career path, Mo discusses how his experiences and failures have shaped his professional growth and dedication to fostering inclusion and community support within the tech industry.

Key Takeaways:

Embrace Non-Linear Paths: Mo’s career journey, which took him from broadcasting to property management, and eventually to tech and education, highlights the value of embracing diverse experiences and being open to change.

Importance of Mental Health: Prioritizing mental health is crucial for personal and professional growth. Mo underscores the impact of mental well-being on achieving career success and maintaining healthy relationships.

Taking Risks: Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things can lead to significant growth and unexpected opportunities. Mo’s willingness to take risks played a key role in his career advancement.

Advocacy for Inclusion: Mo is passionate about creating opportunities for underrepresented groups in tech and higher education. He emphasizes the importance of diversity and the need for more inclusive practices in the workplace.

Talk Your Stuff: Be confident in your abilities and experiences. Mo advises that effectively communicating your skills and achievements is essential, and encourages companies to recognize and take chances on diverse talent.

For more resources on the jobs, companies, and opportunities in Indiana, visit
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Learn more about Purdue Innovates 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Casey Harrison: In this episode, I'm joined by Mo Simmons, Program Manager at Purdue Innovates at Purdue University. Mo didn't plan to be in Indiana. However, his story illustrates the importance of seizing opportunities while learning and leveraging every lesson along the journey. Mo, welcome to See Yourself IN. 

[00:00:16] Mo Simmons: Thank you so much for having me.

It's an absolute pleasure to be here. It's an amazing opportunity to be honest. 

[00:00:21] Casey Harrison: Oh, well, we cannot wait to get into your story today. We start every episode by talking about how our guests landed in Indiana, or if they've been in Indiana, why they're still in Indiana. So I'll ask you, why Indiana? 

[00:00:33] Mo Simmons: Very short and simply, I had an amazing opportunity, I went to Butler for video broadcasting, wasn't originally planning to be in Indiana, but it's funny how things work themselves out.

And so I was here from 2012 to 2016 studying news broadcasting, ended up leaving to live with my current wife in Virginia. So, shout out to Kathleen. We ended up living in Virginia for a couple of years and decided that we wanted a better opportunity. And so when we decided to move back up here in 2019 it was between here, Pittsburgh and Columbus, and the way we end up coming back up here we were like, all right, whichever one of these cities offers us more job opportunities and we get callbacks, that's what we're going to look at. And Indianapolis ended up being the city and now we've been here. Wow. 

[00:01:13] Casey Harrison: And when was that? 

[00:01:15] Mo Simmons:Came back in 2019. So if you add up all those years, I don't want to do the math, but it looks like we it's been around nine years.

[00:01:22] Casey Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. Lots of opportunity here. So let's even talk before your time at Butler. When you were in high school, were you thinking about life after graduation and what your pathway was going to look like? 

[00:01:34] Mo Simmons: Oh, for sure. I'm a very futuristic person. And so what makes this kind of crazy is my future absolutely did not go the way that I planned. Who would have thought? So what ended up happening is when I was in high school, I was originally looking to go into computer software engineering. That's what I was really interested in. And I was like, Oh, I'm from Ohio. So diehard Buckeyes fan. You know, I'm like, I'm going to Ohio State. Got my, credits, got my grades.

Like I know I can do it. This is where it's very important to make sure you have the right people in your ear, make sure you have some good mentors that surround you, a good community. I did not have that. One of the people that out of my entire amazing network, one person that was in my ear about the field I want to get into did not give me the best advice and it kind of deviated me away from it and I had to restart my entire plan my first quarter senior year, which my mom was not happy about. So, that's how I actually, how I ended up at Butler because I switched from computer software engineering to news broadcasting and Butler ended up being the best option for me to go. So that's how I actually ended up in Indiana.

So it's kind of crazy how life works its way out. 

[00:02:34] Casey Harrison: Well, and I love hearing that too, because I think the best laid plans, right? And then we start executing the plan and maybe the path changes. And the whole purpose of this podcast is really focusing on the fact that it's a nonlinear path and that's absolutely okay.

There's a lot of opportunities along that. Okay. So. What I really admire about your path and hearing you talk a little bit about already, how you started college and then where you finished college, you've really embraced diversity along your career journey. So I'll have you talk a little bit about just how you got into the workforce, and maybe your intentionality behind it.

[00:03:08] Mo Simmons: It came from a bunch of failure, if I'm just gonna be honest with you, the reason why I say it like this is because when I graduated, I wasn't able to find a job in news broadcasting, even though I had experience with it, it was a lot harder to get into it. And so I ended up transitioning into a sales role and I worked for Verizon for a little bit and then realized I wanted to do something not as heavy in direct sales, so I ended up doing property management for four years. And so, along the way, ended up getting promoted during that time, but I realized I really, really wanted to change my direction. I was very interested in getting back in the tech community. I realized I was like, I wanted to help people more, and I wanted to be less commission driven.

And so when I ended up moving back to Indianapolis, I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. Like, this was really affecting my life. And I was like, I wanted to make a bigger impact outside of just selling goods to people. I wanted my skills that I learned throughout these different industries to be utilized rather than, I don't want to say manipulated, but more so just like taken advantage of them.

 And so I went up looking around, looking to try to get a tech industry from the coding end again. But ironically ended up being the helping end, the nonprofit route. And so luckily I had a shout out to Joe Parent. He told me about an opportunity at TechPoint and I took my risk with it. And I was like, Oh, okay.

This is something I could really do. And during that time I was able to really grow my skills. They took a risk on me. They knew I didn't have program management experience, but they saw the skills. They saw what I brought to the table and they really took a big chance and it paid off dividends. It paid off dividends for me, the company, the community.

Like, I really love the fact that I was able to transition out of that. And now that's I end up being a program manager in Purdue. 

[00:04:51] Casey Harrison: Let's continue that path. And so you're starting with retail management?

[00:04:55] Mo Simmons: Correct. 

[00:04:55] Casey Harrison: You're moving into tech, which is at the time booming in Indiana, and then you slowly transition into higher education. So today you're with Purdue innovates. What is Purdue innovates for those listening who may not know? 

[00:05:08] Mo Simmons: Purdue Innovates. So we are here to help the entrepreneurial spirit of all Boilermakers. So we help all Boilermakers from undergrad, grad, even faculty and staff. So if you're just associated with Purdue, you can use our options no matter what.

So pretty much they are at no cost to anybody. You come in, if you have a startup idea, we have different teams that can work with you to figure out and get you to that next level. So our goal is to It's to help make sure that to de risk, well, my side of things, I work on the incubator side, so I'll be a little bit more specific.

The incubator side, we help de risk your startup. So we have programming that we have. We have community, support that we can use, and we tie all that together to make sure that you have an opportunity to get your startup off the ground so it won't be part of the 95% that fail in the first five years, if that makes sense.

[00:05:55] Casey Harrison: Yeah. Oh, that makes a ton of sense. 

[00:05:57] Mo Simmons: And depending on which, 'cause we have our venture side, we have our OTC side, we have multiple sides to it, to make sure that you have the opportunity to use your resources to help grow your business and your idea. 

[00:06:08] Casey Harrison: That's incredible. I mean, how amazing that that's right here in Indiana and that you're leading that work.

[00:06:12] Mo Simmons: It's an incredible opportunity. And once again, they definitely shout to my team, Doug and Justin, Matt, they really, they liked what they saw. I really liked the team and you know, it's just been really amazing so far. So I really appreciate them. And it's an incredible opportunity. And once again, I've never been afraid to take a different path.

As you can tell by my resume, I've never been afraid to take a different path. I've never been afraid to take a challenge head on, whether I like it or not, there is always going to be a challenge. So I will, might as well get my head up and push through it and learn as much as I can about these industries.

[00:06:41] Casey Harrison: Well, and let's lean into those challenges a little bit and maybe the things that help you navigate them, because in both technology and education, your leading companies forward, but you're also in a lot of ways acting as a beacon to help companies be more inclusive in their practices and across the organization.

So how do you personally navigate that advocacy work that you're doing for greater inclusion and equity as a black man? 

[00:07:05] Mo Simmons: Yeah, if I'm just gonna be blunt, there's not enough of us. Not enough black people, not enough women, first of all, in these fields, like, it's just flat out. There's so many times where I'm the only black man in the room.

It's one of those things that it's still jarring if I'm being honest with you, but what I really want to do and what my goal is because of like, how tricky my path was of getting to this point. I'm okay with like trailblazing right now, but I don't want other people that need to do that. You know what I'm saying?

And the only reason I'm able to even go in distress was because of other people before me that came open up these opportunities and doors for me. Now I talk about the one person that was in my ear when I was younger, but I had a great support system. I had a great community. I had great, strong black men in my life.

And you know, they helped me overcome adversity. It helped me push through a lot of the challenges. And, you know, I take those ideas and I'm like, I want to do that for myself so I can create an opportunity for other people. I did that when I was at TechPoint. I want to do that again here at Purdue. And I personally, what I want to do is to learn all the methods, learn all the ways of how to do my job properly.

And then, once I take that next step, then I'll see, look at like, all right, how can we be more inclusive here? What can we do differently? Who are the groups we're talking to? Who are the people that we're meeting with? Like, are there people that don't know these opportunities exist? And so that's what I really want to do is that yes, I did not have a linear path, but all because I didn't, doesn't mean you should.

Like, I want things to be smoother for other people. I don't want people to have to be in these situations where they're the only ones in the room. I don't think that's a fair future for everybody. And I feel like you don't have to be the person that be in the front, but it takes a community of support to make sure that everyone gets involved, to make sure more people are represented in these rooms.

[00:08:45] Casey Harrison: You're exactly right. I'm curious. You have so much passion and it really radiates just when you start talking about the work that you do. And what's fascinating is that your work, again, it has been in technology. It has been in higher education, but that steady theme of people and inclusion and community are core pillars and sounds like your career journey.

Why are you so passionate about this work? 

[00:09:09] Mo Simmons: I'm very passionate because of the things I've seen and experienced. And the reason why I say it like that is because it was not always sunshine and rainbows. There were some things that were really roadblocks to me getting to these positions. There were some real challenges that I faced.

And the thing about it with that is I know how that feels. And I know how difficult and hard to get to a position like this. And so in the beginning, when I was first getting into like, obviously not getting into news broadcasting was very tough. Realizing I didn't want to do sales was very tough.

Spending four years in a field and you're like, I don't want to do this. These are all tough. And then each one of them has their own different situations and challenges that I face in them. And I saw different parts of all. Shades, dynamic, levels, income, socioeconomic. I saw all different types of people and talking to them, especially this is where I will call a property manager in particular, talking to people, you will be very surprised, like who all has experienced what and how they got to their certain points.

Cause I worked all the way from people who are on section eight and welfare housing, all the way to like lawyers and doctors and property. And getting an opportunity to talk to so many different people. And then we throw in Verizon, everybody has a cell phone. So you don't know who you can be coming in.

But talking to them and really getting to know people, I'm like, people need help and I'm always big on like helping others and helping communities that are in need. I'm all about equity, not equality. Like people need opportunity and they need programs. They need things in place for them to take that next step up.

And so when you see that for years, you're like, okay. At some point, you're like, do I want to be part of the solution or do I just want to watch and see things go like pretty much keep to continue as things are. And personally, I'm like, I want to make a difference. And so that's what ended up giving me the passion to be like, I want to be out here.

I want to be making connections in the community. I want to be able. to help people. And I was like, what is my strength that I can use? And that's those years picking up those different skills. I'm like, all right, I'm good at talking to people. Okay. I don't care about commission sales, but I like to talk to people and make sure they get to the right spot.

Okay. I like being able to create programming. I'm like, okay, what, what are these things? Like, what are these skills? And then when TechPoint came, I was like, Oh, okay. These skills, these are the skills I have, but I couldn't figure that out before. And that's how I ended up getting down that path. And it's just like, okay, my skills, my interest is in tech.

I have very high passions in education. I have very high passions in helping people. Is there a job for me like that, that I could use all of them? And so that's why I'm in the positions that I'm in right now. And so that's why I'm so passionate about it is because it's like, yeah, I learned a hard way to get these skills.

I had to learn a hard way to really figure that out. But at the same time, I don't want other people to do that. If I could give you a map, I would, you know what I'm saying? That's the type of person I've always been. 

[00:11:58] Casey Harrison: Well, and that's like, listeners, we're talking directly to you. Your career journey is very much a process of trying things and getting data points about what you like and you don't like, and then leaning deeper into what you like and leveraging those tools.

And that's exactly what your journey illustrates. I think our listeners are going to agree with me that we could listen to you talk for hours, but our time is almost up today. So before we close, we ask every guest of see yourself in to provide our listeners with three things, pieces of advice or activations or things that they can do right now that maybe you've learned along your career journey that it would really benefit them from knowing sooner.

So I'll ask you, what are three recommendations you would give to people listening about creating opportunities or plugging into opportunities here in Indiana. 

[00:12:41] Mo Simmons: My number one thing, and this I feel like is the most important thing, no matter what, take care of your mental health. I'm a big mental health advocate.

I have personal experiences with depression. I have anxiety. You know what I'm saying? These are things I learned later in life, but you don't realize how much they affect you as a person on your relationships with your family, with your relationships at your job, with you trying to get out of your situation.

Mental health is not necessarily the easiest thing to access, aka mental health options, such as like therapy, things of that nature. Obviously there could be cost barriers. We understand that. You still got to take a chance, you still got to take care of it. You know, you still got to take care of this is the most important part of yourself.

And if this is not strong, nothing else around you is going to be. And so I had to learn that lesson later on in life. But when I noticed when I started to care about mental health, started prioritizing up here, that's when things started getting better around me. I was like, okay, I had to start inward before I started making a difference outward.

And that's when I really started to get more confidence in myself, realize what boundaries I had. What careers I was not taking anymore, make sure I was more ambitious. It's a lot and it takes a lot when you are trying to navigate these certain fields, jobs, demographics. So I always say like, take care of your mental health, have a community surround you to support you.

Make sure you're talking to somebody, someone, whether they're professional or just reaching out to a close person. My second one, it sounds so cliche, but really don't be afraid to do something different. Like really, like I swear on everything, like everything that's happened to me is because I went out and I tried something that I was not used to.

I got out of my comfort zone. Your comfort zone can be one of the worst places to be because you're content. You're happy. Nothing pushes you so you don't want to grow or you just want to stay where you're at. And sometimes it's fine depending on your situation. I understand some people are like, that's my goal to get into a comfort zone and that's completely fine.

But just know if you see something more, try it, take it, take these risks, fail a couple of times. Failure is the biggest lesson and that's the way that you grow your skills. That's the way you learn from all these different industries. That's the way you find different people. I didn't find all these people because everything went right.

I didn't get to know these communities because everything went right. I didn't meet all these wonderful. College students, people in higher ed, people in tech, because things went right. So many things went wrong. But how you adapt is what really makes you a stronger person. And not just in a job, but just as a personal sense.

Like really try to step out your comfort zone, be different, and really try those things. And you said there's a third thing, right? 

[00:15:04] Casey Harrison: There's a third one. 

[00:15:05] Mo Simmons: Oh, right. This one is actually, it's a little bit double sword. And I'm gonna be honest with you. My third thing is to always talk your stuff. You are your biggest brand.

Know your boundaries. Be confident in who you are. And so, a lot of times I tell these college students, I tell people all the time, it's like, I'll look at their resume, and I'll be like, Man, I was like, okay, this is a good resume. And then they'll tell me this wonderful story about how they created this app, or like, Oh, I went and worked at this store, and I'm like, why ain't that in here?

Like, why, why are you selling yourself short? It's very easy to, because you're like, I don't want a long resume. I don't, you learn all these guidelines. I'm like, those guidelines don't matter if you're not telling your story. 

[00:15:42] Casey Harrison: Yeah. 

[00:15:43] Mo Simmons: Like, I don't know you from Adam. Like, you got to tell me who you are. Talk your stuff.

Tell about the skills you had. No skill is too little. Every skill can be beneficial to a company. This is why I say it's a double edged sword because I want companies to listen to me right now. There are plenty of people like me out in this industry. There are plenty of people in this field that may be working at a Kroger right now or maybe working at a Huntington Bank.

And they are like, I want to make this next step in my field. Give them a chance. You will be surprised how many skills transfer over into the next field. And all my skills I learned that people praise me for did not come from the tech field. They did not come from education. They came from my retail fields.

They came from my property management field. They came from my broadcasting when I was an RA in college. It came from a plethora of skills that I built up that I was able to make an impact at TechPoint and now Purdue. Because TechPoint took that risk, they have dividends. And TechPoint, and I want to shout out to the team, they have taken risk on other people.

They have taken opportunities. I should say, stop taking risks. They have given opportunities to people that deserved it. Yeah. And you know, and that's one of the biggest things too. So why I say talk your stuff and companies step up is because both of the things are a wonderful connection that can change a person's life. And I'm here to tell you about mine. 

[00:16:53] Casey Harrison: I love that. It also reminds me of Kristen Lampkin's episode where she was teaching some of the best practices for developing a personal brand. So if you don't have one yet or you're not quite sure how to talk your stuff, go back and listen to that one. That's, there's some great tips in there.

Mo, thank you so much for joining us today. 

[00:17:08] Mo Simmons: You can always call me if you ever want me to talk more, I can take another hour of your day if I really wanted to. 

[00:17:16] Casey Harrison: We would love that. We would love that. We're so glad that you were able to join us today to learn about Indiana's advanced industries and how you can start or enhance your career journey.

Until next time, we hope that you'll be able to see yourself in the unlimited opportunities right here in Indiana.