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Rock Band to Real Bands: Damon’s Encore in Finance & Life
42 Plays2 months ago
In this episode of Valiant Talks, host Frank Furbacher sits down with longtime friend and fellow Manhattanville alum Damon Obijiski for a nostalgic and insightful ride through college memories, career pivots, and life lessons. From concussions on the quad to coffee-fueled internships, Damon shares how a love for math led him into the niche world of financial services—and eventually into the cutting-edge realm of blockchain tokenization.
Along the way, we hear about his unexpected musical side, a live wedding performance, and the importance of saying “yes” to new experiences. Whether you’re a current Valiant, a finance nerd, or just here for the beanbag stories, this episode is packed with laughs, wisdom, and a reminder that nobody really has it all figured out—and that’s perfectly okay.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:14
Frank Furbacher
All right. I'm here with my very good friend, Damon Obijewski. Damon, how are you today?
00:00:20
Damon
Good, man. Thanks for having me on.
00:00:23
Frank Furbacher
Thanks for coming on.
00:00:24
Damon
Yeah, I'm a big fan. I've listened to to every episode so far. so
00:00:30
Frank Furbacher
That's awesome, man. That's awesome. i'm glad you Glad you're listening. Hope you enjoy it.
00:00:34
Damon
Definitely.
Initiatives During COVID
00:00:35
Frank Furbacher
We...
00:00:35
Damon
Yeah, thanks for for putting it together.
00:00:35
Frank Furbacher
we um
00:00:37
Damon
I know you know during ah COVID, you were you're the one kind of keeping us connected and doing random Zoom calls on a ah Thursday night. So I'm not surprised you're doing this.
00:00:48
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, yeah. I wonder if we recorded those. I can't remember. But um
00:00:52
Damon
I'm sure somebody has one. Yeah.
00:00:55
Frank Furbacher
we're here to chat about you and your background. um We'll go through.
Niche Role in Finance
00:01:02
Frank Furbacher
um But before we start at the beginning, um what are you doing today?
00:01:08
Damon
What am I doing? Um, it's funny cause that's like, I'm sure you get this all the time too, but like, you know, when you meet new people, right. It's like, Oh, what do you do? And it's, it's always, it's hard to find the right answer for that.
00:01:21
Damon
And, um ah you know, the short answer is like I work in kind of a ah pretty niche, like, segment of the finance world, right? So like if, um if you remember the whole like Madoff situation with the, you know, the Ponzi scheme and all that, um you know, that situation is like a reason why a company like mine exists.
00:01:42
Damon
So it's basically like kind of, um you know, books and records and kind of doing back office, but you know, keeping tabs on ah like hedge funds or or venture capital funds and things of that nature.
Understanding Tokenization
00:01:53
Damon
um so my company now actually just recently got acquired um by ah sort of a crypto based company um and i've always kind of been sort of adjacent to that in the last like seven or eight years um but they what they focus on is like what's called tokenization um so it's like bringing kind of real world assets onto the blockchain um and simplified version of that is like, if you think of, um, you know, it's making like stocks, for example, more accessible to people.
00:02:31
Damon
Um, and using like a crazy example of I know, like Berkshire Hathaway. i don't know if this is still the case, but like they did at least have a class of shares at some point that were like $700,000 a share or something like that, which is like,
00:02:47
Damon
Most brokers and exchanges are only selling, you know, full shares. So like that is not accessible for for normal people. um So like bringing stuff on the blockchain allows them to kind of fractionalize shares and, you know, it's a bunch of other things too, but.
00:03:02
Damon
that's a big benefit to it. um So they've been working with like BlackRock and a bunch of other huge kind of companies like that to do a lot of that stuff, which is probably more interesting than what what I'm doing. But um that's kind of it in a nutshell.
00:03:15
Damon
um But it's like, to my point, it's like, you know, you don't know how much somebody knows about finance when you start talking to them. so I'm like, oh, I, you know, I work for a financial services company. And then if they don't know anything, they're like, oh, you know, Damon's a stockbroker. he you know, he's a financial advisor.
00:03:31
Damon
That's the farthest thing from from what's happening, but yeah, we'll go with that.
00:03:35
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, that's the easy way to make the conversation continue.
00:03:39
Damon
Yeah, exactly.
Early Life and Education
00:03:40
Frank Furbacher
So tell me about, you know, i know you're from near Manhattanville, but tell me about growing up where you where you grew up. And ah eventually, i know you knew a few of our teammates and college classmates beforehand, but tell me about that whole journey.
00:04:00
Damon
Yeah. um So I grew up Mayapack in New York, which is ah so Manhattanville is in Purchase, which is in Westchester County. Mayapack is kind of the first town ah north of Westchester in Putnam County.
00:04:15
Damon
So I grew up there, um you know, my whole life went to kind of elementary school through high school with a couple of our classmates ah from Manhattanville or teammates from Manhattanville, I should say.
00:04:29
Damon
I ended up going to another small school in Rockland County across the river for my first semester called Dominican College. And ah I guess long story short, I was going to play baseball there.
00:04:45
Damon
One of the coaches that recruited me there ended up like leaving between the recruiting ah process and like when I showed up. So Um, it kind of sucked because I, I was like going in imagining I was on the team there. And then like, i I, showed up and, um, you know, the coach that was there kind of didn't really like me and not that I was a great player anyway. So that probably had something to do with it, but, um, you know, it ended up not working out.
00:05:09
Damon
And then I was kind of like, well, you know, what, what happens now? Like I, I still wanted to play baseball in college. Um, so I started just reaching out to some, some of my buddies, um,
00:05:22
Damon
you know, kind of equivalent level of of play. ah And, um you know, some of them brought me over, you know, said, come visit in Manhattanville. um And actually our head coach, ah which you may know, ah went to my high school. So like he kind of was in the recruiting process with with our high school, had seen me kind of peripherally um play. And he's like, you know, i remember seeing you play, you know, showcases and stuff like that.
00:05:50
Damon
um So just come see if you like it. And if you do, you know, join our team, basically. So um it was kind of ah an easy way in and, you know, somewhat comfortable experience.
00:06:00
Damon
of a situation, you know, coming from, from where I was into a, to a new place.
College Experience at Manhattanville
00:06:06
Frank Furbacher
So you get to Manhattanville, you transfer in, um you come right into the spring semester, right?
00:06:14
Damon
Yep.
00:06:15
Frank Furbacher
And tell me about, ah well, tell me about just the whole, you know, second transition you have to make into college. And what did you make of of ah of the school when you got there?
00:06:30
Damon
Yeah. um So I guess just starting with the school, like I thought it was awesome and it was, it was a bit more comfortable just because it was similar size to where I was coming from, like similar size to my high school, to be honest. So like, it wasn't a huge, like, it wasn't like I was going to UCLA or like something crazy like that, or it was just a complete, you know,
00:06:51
Damon
change an environment. Um, so it it definitely helped that it was smaller. and that's kind of what I was going for at that point. It definitely helped that I knew some people and like, I was able to be introduced to, to the rest of the team and, you know, I had couple of friends built in.
00:07:07
Damon
ah so that made transitioning a lot easier. I think if that wasn't the case, it would have been much, much tougher. Um, but I thought, I mean, Needless to say, anybody listening to this podcast you know knows the campus is is beautiful.
00:07:21
Damon
um It's kind of like a gem in the middle of of Westchester County. with ah With everything going on, it feels like a little bit of you know a piece of relaxation. um trying to think. Do you remember the ah the dude's name that worked at like the gate?
00:07:38
Damon
They would always say, like, welcome to paradise when you showed up.
00:07:41
Frank Furbacher
Oh, I don't remember his name, but I remember him saying that.
00:07:43
Damon
Yeah. Yeah. um which is like, it's kind of fitting because it's like, you know, a little, a little slice of like, of calm, ah right. And like the middle of Westchester and like, as you get closer to the city. um So yeah, it was awesome. I liked it a lot. It was small enough to, to kind of like be able to get my bearings.
00:08:01
Damon
um Yeah. So I think it made it a lot easier to sort of knowing some folks coming in.
00:08:07
Frank Furbacher
And did you have any idea what you wanted to study before coming to Manhattanville or going to college?
00:08:15
Damon
Yes and no ah So I guess I was always, i was always really good at math, um, in high school. So I kind of like had in my head, maybe i would, um, you know, go into finance, which I ended up going, or was like, maybe what's the other option is like being a math teacher, which I didn't really necessarily want to do. um So I kind of like went in with that mindset. So I guess to an extent, I i kind of like stuck with sort of my my instincts.
00:08:44
Damon
um I ended up being a ah finance major um and a math minor. So it was all kind of, you know, related to that, to that kind of world. um I never really wanted to be an accountant just because I i found it boring. And I think we had to take, I think you were a finance major too, right?
00:09:02
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:03
Damon
Yeah, so I think we we had to take a number of like accounting courses as part of that focus. ah And it was it was super boring. i don't know if it was like part of it was part of the teachers that were we're giving it, but um just kind of the content it was was kind of not for me. So I went more sort of towards the fin like traditional finance route.
00:09:24
Frank Furbacher
Were there any ah classes outside of finance that you found specifically interesting?
Philosophy and Finance Studies
00:09:31
Damon
Yeah. um I mean, obviously, probably a lot of people that you have on here are going to say any of the bowling classes were in their favorites, but um I really enjoyed, i think it was a philosophy class, I want to say. um so I was always kind of like,
00:09:54
Damon
interested in that off to the side a little bit. Um, and that one, I couldn't tell you who the professor was, but it was basically like you would study different philosophers sort of within each segment and you would kind of like have a similar exam basically on there their, their, uh, philosophies at the end of that.
00:10:14
Damon
Um, but yeah, it was, that was super interesting and something kind of like more thought provoking. Um, so yeah, that, that one I enjoyed.
00:10:23
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, I was the same way. There was a sociology class I took freshman year. I don't even i don't know why I signed up for it, but I walked into the class and Ted Rydeski and Mark Burr are in the class.
00:10:36
Damon
Yeah.
00:10:37
Frank Furbacher
So I got to say I took a class with them, which was cool. um But same thing. It was one of those classes that um to this day, I still think back to like what we learned in that class, um which, you know,
00:10:52
Frank Furbacher
I don't know if it really helps with anything I do, but it was just very, one of those classes where you're like, oh, this is just really interesting. And being a Frenchman in college and sitting in a class and saying, wow, this is interesting.
00:11:00
Damon
yeah
00:11:05
Frank Furbacher
It didn't happen all that much. So that's a testament to that professor who I can't remember his name, but ah he
Citigroup Internship Experience
00:11:12
Frank Furbacher
was really cool from Boston.
00:11:14
Damon
Yeah.
00:11:14
Frank Furbacher
But you, um so you've decided you're a finance major. um What, Did you have any internships or anything while you're school?
00:11:24
Damon
Yeah. I was trying to think about that before we came on and I think I want to say you actually hooked me up with an internship at, um, city group.
00:11:35
Frank Furbacher
In Greenwich?
00:11:36
Damon
Yeah.
00:11:37
Frank Furbacher
Did you like that internship?
00:11:39
Damon
No.
00:11:42
Damon
Um,
00:11:42
Frank Furbacher
I think that was the reason why I didn't go into finance.
00:11:45
Damon
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's kind of your yeah stereotypical like internship when you're in college, they just have you doing a bunch of like administrative stuff. And like, we were helping to, to prep financial advisors for meetings. And it was lot of like printing and binding and stuff like that. And I was like, this is not what I thought was going to be happening.
00:12:05
Damon
um But yeah, I think, and I don't know, like, I feel like I, I gathered enough of about like, what a financial advisor did. Like, I didn't think they were printing and binding, like that that's not what it was. But um I think that kind of drove me a little bit away from that path. Like, you know, getting your, your different series licenses and and stuff like that. um i kind of like turned away from that a bit after that experience.
00:12:35
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, I remember not really, ah ah the people were very nice, but the actual environment and what they were doing was just, you know, my thought was if this is finance, then I'm not sure if I want to go this route.
00:12:40
Damon
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:50
Damon
Yeah.
00:12:51
Frank Furbacher
um But it was cool.
00:12:51
Frank Furbacher
I mean, there was like a college, there was a Manhattanville alum who worked in the office with them those folks who were a bit more experienced.
00:13:01
Frank Furbacher
So that was cool.
00:13:02
Damon
That sounds familiar. Yeah.
00:13:04
Frank Furbacher
And I got the job, the internship through Frank Albano. So it got passed along a little bit.
00:13:07
Damon
Right. ah Yeah. I remember the yeah, I remember that being the case. I think that's the, uh, I want to say it's the first time I tried coffee also.
00:13:13
Frank Furbacher
Yeah.
00:13:15
Damon
I was there cause it like, I work in like a fancy office now. So I feel like I have to drink coffee. I think that was the first time.
00:13:23
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, that was that was interesting. But you go through um the finance piece of it. um I know that we had a bunch of Professor G. L. L. classes.
00:13:39
Frank Furbacher
Were you one of his many fans?
00:13:42
Damon
I was, yeah, absolutely. um And that was kind of like, you know, when I think I had favorite professors probably for other reasons, which like a lot of college students probably do like, you know, the classes were easy or you know, they made it interesting that, you know, the, they didn't force you to show up and you can kind of just like skate by, but him for a different reason,
00:14:06
Damon
um you know, especially looking to get into the finance world. And I, I don't even want to say like, I feel like that's a short selling him by saying he wasn't a real professor because he was like an adjunct or whatever.
00:14:20
Damon
um i feel like that's, that's unfair to say, but um because he came with that real world experience, I felt like I learned so much more from him and that's really why i gravitated towards him.
00:14:35
Damon
ah and you know, it it's, it was such a different structure in a different environment than you know, macroeconomics class where you're just reading out of a textbook, uh, and just banging your head against the wall. Like this was, there was so much real world application to it. And it was so interesting to say like, oh, I experienced this today and I'm going to incorporate this into our lesson. Like that was awesome to me.
00:15:04
Damon
um so yeah, i really, really enjoyed his classes.
00:15:08
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, I mean, it helped that he was a cool guy. It helped that he was a sports fan.
00:15:10
Damon
Yeah.
00:15:11
Frank Furbacher
But um I can remember ah him talking about the meetings that he was in all weekend at Morgan Stanley related to the financial collapse that was going on at the time and just being like, wow.
00:15:11
Damon
Yeah. yeah
00:15:22
Damon
Yeah.
00:15:25
Frank Furbacher
And then there would always be like a line of people waiting to talk to him after class because they were like, he's cool, but also who knows, maybe he can get me a job. And it's like, well, he probably teaches like 100 plus students.
00:15:39
Damon
yeah
00:15:39
Frank Furbacher
I don't think get all of us a job, but at least you can ask.
00:15:44
Damon
Yeah, exactly.
00:15:46
Frank Furbacher
So when you um when you're at Manhattanville. um Tell me about.
00:15:54
Frank Furbacher
i mean, I know what you what we all did to hang out and do stuff and pass time and baseball, but like what were some of your favorite things about school or favorite things to do while we were at school.
College Life and Community
00:16:09
Damon
Yeah. um I mean, I always... I like... a lot of my fondest memories are on the quad, like outside of the, you know, the dorm rooms, obviously, um is kind of its own beast, but, um, you know, the quad is, was awesome. Like, i think it it was such a cool, like melting pot of people there. Like when you think of, yeah um, you know, even looking back at like movies from the nineties and stuff, when people are in college, like that's what you think of, right. We're like, you know, there's people playing frisbee or like doing hacky sack or like just,
00:16:41
Damon
random stuff out there. um You just find so many different people, so many different activities going on. um And that's kind of like, right, what Manhattanville kind of encapsulated was like diversity, um being able to like meet different people from different backgrounds with different interests.
00:16:57
Damon
ah It was, that was kind of like a microcosm, right? And it's sort of fitting that was in the center of campus, because that's kind of where everything was going on. So And that's where like I when I envision Manhattanville, it's kind of like the quad, you know, looking towards the castle because that's sort of like, you know, the money shot, if you will, for for the school. oh So, yeah, that that was that was kind of one of my favorite parts, you know, outside of like just dorm life and hanging out with the guys on the team.
00:17:25
Frank Furbacher
Was there any moments while we were in school that you feel like helped to like define who you are?
00:17:33
Damon
Oh, um that's a good one.
00:17:37
Damon
i don't know necessarily. Yeah, nothing like
00:17:41
Damon
nothing specific. i mean, i again, I think it's just kind of a culmination of everything that sort of set us up to where we landed. um You know, just I guess getting there.
00:17:52
Damon
was kind of like that, that moment, right, where it's like all this other stuff had to line up for, for me to get there. You know, knowing other people that went there and things like that was definitely sort of like just getting my foot in the door was probably like what, what led to the rest of it, obviously. But um yeah, nothing, no, like singular moment stands out, I guess.
00:18:15
Frank Furbacher
Now that I'm remembering back to you were basically down the hall from me and Rocco.
00:18:22
Damon
Yeah.
00:18:23
Frank Furbacher
And it was funny because that was my first semester that I lived in that in Spelman because I started out in Founders and it was a very awkward time for me because i was like the only baseball player not in Spelman who lived on campus as a freshman.
00:18:40
Damon
Oh,
00:18:40
Frank Furbacher
um
00:18:41
Frank Furbacher
And then I was able to move over and I can remember... um the The funny thing is, is like... Freshman year so much different than other years, right?
00:18:53
Frank Furbacher
Like, freshman year, you're...
00:18:53
Damon
ah yeah.
00:18:55
Frank Furbacher
Well, most people's doors are open, right? And you're just kind of like looking to hang out, meet people. We literally would just hang out in the hallway.
00:19:04
Damon
Mm-hmm.
00:19:06
Frank Furbacher
I mean, we wouldn't even need like a dorm room or anything like that. But I can remember ah one of the big things freshman year was... um Brendan's big beanbag.
00:19:21
Damon
a The love sack.
00:19:22
Frank Furbacher
The love sack.
00:19:23
Damon
Yeah.
00:19:24
Frank Furbacher
That was a big thing. And the other big thing too is pretty much, I guess, more of the early years, not so much the later years. um But it was always if you needed a car to ask Moose.
00:19:36
Damon
Yeah. or Or don't ask Moose if you're other people.
00:19:40
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, that happens sometimes. Yeah.
00:19:41
Damon
No. Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:45
Frank Furbacher
Now, one of the things, and I don't know why this came to me when you were talking, but um I can remember back um because we were talking about moments, like the defining moments, but there was one story I wanted to share about being in student government, doing all that stuff.
00:20:02
Frank Furbacher
And then um I remember i i just had this like idea of like, we need to have ah white like white Manhattanville t-shirts at a hockey game.
00:20:13
Damon
Yeah.
00:20:13
Frank Furbacher
And I was like,
00:20:15
Frank Furbacher
we're going to do this. And then we went to the person who was in charge of student government at the time. um And she was like, Oh no, we're not doing it. Like you're we're not ah like, you're not allowed to do it.
00:20:28
Frank Furbacher
And I was not going to like that kind of an answer was not something I was going to just like lay down and be like, Oh yeah.
00:20:32
Damon
Yeah. why
00:20:34
Frank Furbacher
Okay. We can't do it. Oh well. um So i I was like, like, there's no reason why we can't do this. Like we have like, funding to do this or whatever, you know, I don't know what it was. It was funding. I, whatever the reason was, I was like, we can find a way to do this.
00:20:51
Damon
Sure.
00:20:52
Frank Furbacher
I'm just not, no is not a good enough answer.
00:20:55
Frank Furbacher
So I wound up like going to, think I went to like, I don't know if it was president Berman or like athletics, uh, the athletic director, but I wound up going to one of them.
00:21:08
Frank Furbacher
i went to Berman, I think first, And I think he said something like, Oh, I thought the shirt was going to say something that it just wasn't allowed to say. And I was like, no, it's not going to say that. It was like, it was literally like, so PG, it was like ridiculous.
00:21:22
Damon
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:21:23
Frank Furbacher
he was like, well, if that's the case, then yeah, I don't, I don't see a problem in doing it. So I got like that green light from all the way at the top. So i was like, Oh, that's cool. And then I wound up, um, going to athletics for whatever reason, or like the athletic director wanted to talk to me. He was the ho hockey coach. And, uh,
00:21:40
Frank Furbacher
He brings me in his office and he's like, hey, I heard you wanted to make T-shirts for a hockey game and it wasn't happening. I was like, yeah. He's like, okay. I'm going to fund it.
00:21:51
Frank Furbacher
Go ahead and make them. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. And then I went, we got to the game, we handed out the T-shirts. We were all there. Just one of those games. And before the game, somebody comes up to me they're like, hey, ah coach wants to see you in the locker room before the game. And I'm like, okay, cool.
00:22:10
Frank Furbacher
So I go in a locker room and he's just like, I just want to say thank you for like doing this. And I'm like, well, thank you for funding it or whatever.
00:22:18
Damon
Yeah.
00:22:18
Frank Furbacher
um And then after the game, couple of the hockey guys come up to me and they're like, dude, do you realize no one is allowed in the locker room before the game, but you were allowed in.
00:22:31
Frank Furbacher
And I was like, oh, that's cool. ah My biggest regret from college is not, taking the hockey guys up on skating with them senior year.
00:22:44
Frank Furbacher
I had like a couple of the guys who were in our, uh, in our hallway senior year.
00:22:49
Damon
Yeah.
00:22:49
Frank Furbacher
They're like, yeah, dude, just come skate, get your stuff. Come skate. like, I don't know. I feel, feel like, i don't know. Not that I'm certainly not as good as all these other guys.
00:22:58
Damon
Yeah.
00:22:58
Frank Furbacher
Um, really should have done that, but what you going to do?
00:23:01
Damon
Yeah. yeah that would have been awesome.
00:23:04
Frank Furbacher
So tell me, What um
00:23:07
Frank Furbacher
do you have like any favorite memories? Any, I mean, your friends, like to this day, your best friends with some some guys that we went to college with, we're all still pretty close.
00:23:20
Damon
Yeah.
00:23:21
Frank Furbacher
We've got our we got our our chat that we keep up with each other in, ah some more than others.
00:23:27
Frank Furbacher
um Tell me, like what what did, what did Manhattanville do for you?
00:23:34
Damon
Yeah. I mean, I think you kind of nailed it, right. It's like in athletics in general, I think in a small school like that, you kind of have that built in family.
00:23:44
Damon
um And you know maybe not everybody we went to school with or played baseball with, like not everybody took that away necessarily. um So ah for for starters, definitely glad that I kind of had that. you know i don't remember what it was, but you know four or five of the guys were in my wedding party and like I've been in several others and been to all those things. And um i I probably don't keep up as much with some of the people I went to high school with, like even my close friends.
00:24:14
Damon
So I feel like that kind of became, you know, my my network and my family and, ah you know, just the people I leaned on sort of after college um is obviously kind of the the the huge takeaway.
00:24:27
Damon
um But I feel like just general networking, because it is. It's a tight knit community. Right. And I think, you know, one of the other people on here said that where it's like, if you, you know, somebody sees you out in public with Manhattanville merch, like it's pretty, pretty easy to spot.
Networking and Alumni Bonds
00:24:43
Damon
And like, you have that bond immediately because it's not, it's kind of a small school, but it's, it's well known and recognized in the community, especially.
00:24:54
Damon
um so i think that kind of having that built-in network or like um you know i've come across various people through like job searches or just like you know through working um and like being kind of you know mutually engaged and stuff with other people that went to manhattanville like um it's just it's a small network but it's like a powerful network i guess is the way to put it so like um you know, if you went to like Harvard or something, like how many thousands of people go there? So it's like, just because you went to Harvard doesn't mean you're going to like necessarily support every other person that went to Harvard, but like Manhattanville feels like, you know, it's so small and, and, and tightly knit where it's like, you know, you have that inherent like, uh, urge to to try to support those people. um and it, we're kind of just like building each other up, I feel like. And,
00:25:46
Damon
you know, things like this are awesome just to kind of see what, what other people are doing and like where they landed. And a lot of people we haven't touched base with in a long time, but, um, you know, I don't think that bond weakened necessarily because of that, which is a huge part of it.
00:26:00
Damon
Um, so yeah, I think just kind of the, the general like family I built from it and then sort of the, the broader connections, um, that I've made and, you know, that you can still make,
00:26:13
Frank Furbacher
i And I remember too now, um because I was going to jump to like senior year getting a job, but I have to mention the freshman year concussion incident on the quad.
00:26:21
Damon
Yeah.
00:26:29
Damon
Yeah. ah Yeah.
00:26:32
Frank Furbacher
That could have been a lot worse.
00:26:32
Damon
was actually going to, sorry, say that again.
00:26:36
Frank Furbacher
That could have been a lot worse.
00:26:37
Damon
Yes. ups Yeah, absolutely. I was going to say that was probably one of my takeaways um was just having, you know, um, cognitive issues probably from that, but, um, no, it was, uh, for a lot, very long story short, um, we had ah practice. So I think we were all there, right. For playoffs. Um, so like we were just kind of one of the few left on campus at the time we had, um it was one of the days right where we had like, uh, separated practices. So like sometimes pitchers would go, and then like infielders would go then outfielders would go.
00:27:17
Damon
So I think pitchers went first that particular day and then I was an infielder. So I was in the second group. So when we finished up, uh, the pitchers were all hanging out on the quad and, um, you know, one of my best friends who'll remain unnamed for now, um,
00:27:35
Damon
He was like hitting fungos. So for people that didn't play baseball, it's like a long, ah longer, thinner bat that you use to like kind of hit, you know, practice fly balls and stuff to people. So it was a wooden fungo bat.
00:27:47
Damon
and I was like coming up behind from where they were, um just to like, come say, what's up? Like, what are you guys doing? And, uh, you know, he throws the ball up to hit it out. And for God knows what reason the bat shatters and splinters in half and spirals through the air hits me dead in the forehead.
00:28:06
Damon
And, uh, I mean, that's what I remember for the next few minutes. Uh, I apparently got knocked out and it had like a huge golf ball on my forehead. Um, So I had a concussion going into that first game of the playoffs. And some, I don't know, somebody cleared me to try to play, which they definitely should not have. And we were playing that first game under the lights.
00:28:29
Damon
And ah that, I guess, kind of like triggered whatever for me. And I remember just like not really understanding what was happening and like trying to fumble myself through ah the first inning of the game. And I think it was pretty apparent that I, i wasn't in the ah the mindset to be doing that.
00:28:48
Damon
So i got I got pulled out and then I think we ended up winning though, at least. So yeah.
00:28:55
Frank Furbacher
We won that game. And oddly enough, I can remember driving to that game on the bus and the bus driver actually. Before before we left, ah coach had said to him, right, you know, we're going we're going to this field.
00:29:11
Frank Furbacher
Guys, yeah, he drove and it was quite a ways away. Right. It wasn't that close. It was like more than probably more than an hour away.
00:29:16
Damon
Oh, yeah.
00:29:19
Frank Furbacher
and we drove to centenary college instead of driving to the field that we were playing at uh i remember coach absolutely losing it um but yeah we won that game we didn't i think we lost we lost the next one we won the next one and then we lost the next one i don't know something like that we didn't win um
00:29:25
Damon
Right.
00:29:28
Damon
Yep.
00:29:36
Damon
Mm-hmm.
00:29:40
Damon
Yeah. Sounds about right.
00:29:41
Frank Furbacher
um So you're getting to your your your senior year. um You now are trying to figure out what you're going to do after college.
00:29:54
Frank Furbacher
Where's your head at and what are you thinking as and what what actually happens? Like what do do you have a job before we graduate? What happened there?
00:30:02
Damon
No, uh, I didn't. So yeah, I kind of just graduated and um, so I was living again, another super weird, long story short, but I was living with one of our former teammates who transferred out. Um, but one of the guys we, I went to high school with that played him in Haddonville for the first couple years.
00:30:23
Damon
Um, I ended up living with him, at his parents' house, I should say in, uh, in May pack for like the first, um, maybe like year, year and a half or something like that after we graduated.
00:30:38
Damon
um But I was, yeah, kind of just down in Mayapack. I was doing like more, um you know, blue collar type jobs, helping my brother paint and like do some other stuff, just trying to figure out, like putting my resume out there for finance stuff, um you know, working with recruiters and all that.
00:30:56
Damon
and was really trying to just kind of get my foot in wherever I could into something that was like relevant to what I wanted to do long-term. Um, and, you know, needless to say, a lot of people, you know, listening to this probably went through a very similar thing where it was kind of like post, you know, 2008, or like, it was just, it was rough out there. so like, if you didn't have something lined up, it you know, it could have taken a lot longer than it did.
00:31:22
Damon
um so you know, I, maybe I was being too picky. I don't know what it was, but I think, so what we graduated in may, um, I got a job in like the middle of July, i think of that year. So like, it wasn't super long, but like, it felt a lot more than, you know, two months or whatever it was.
00:31:42
Damon
Um, just because like, I, I kind of had nothing to fall back on necessarily. And I was just like hoping my friend's parents weren't going to start charging me rent before I got a job.
00:31:53
Damon
Um, So yeah, it it was like two months. I think it was, um I don't even think that one was through a recruiter. It was kind of, um and this was like before the days of a lot of like the, you know, I think Indeed was around, but like it's not what it was today or like, you know, LinkedIn jobs tab, like a lot of that stuff didn't really exist. So it was a lot of like networking. um I'm sure Craigslist was probably a thing then, but like a lot of that type of stuff, ah you know,
00:32:24
Damon
just looking kind of wherever you could at that point. And yeah, I ended up getting a job. So down in in Harrison, kind of like the town next to to purchase where we went to college. um So yeah, that was kind of my first thing. And it, you know, it was ah it ended up being kind of what I stuck with doing um for one reason or another. And it's just, you know, nothing,
00:32:48
Damon
I guess nothing better came along, but like, I wouldn't even say that. Like I really started learning a lot about it and enjoying it and kind of became so well-versed in it where just like made more and more sense to, to stay. um And like I said before, it it is such kind of ah a, niche part of the, the broader finance world where, you know, as I gained more and more knowledge and experience, like I became more and more valuable.
00:33:15
Damon
um But at the same time, it was also like, you know, if I did something and I pivoted, you know, if I pivoted hard, especially, but even if I pivoted not so hard, it would like be starting from scratch again, which, you know, I didn't necessarily want to do, but um you know, i love where I'm at now. And I think really kind of putting in all those hours and, and, you know, years eventually paid off.
00:33:40
Frank Furbacher
So when what how long after graduation did you get that job.
00:33:45
Damon
ah Yeah, it was like, I guess, two months. So yeah, July from May, you know, roughly two months.
00:33:53
Frank Furbacher
And I know that your family wound up moving to Arizona, right.
00:33:58
Damon
Yeah.
00:33:59
Frank Furbacher
And when did they do that.
00:34:01
Damon
ah Basically, when I left for college.
00:34:05
Frank Furbacher
Oh wow. So you left for college.
00:34:05
Damon
Yeah.
00:34:06
Frank Furbacher
They moved to Arizona.
00:34:07
Damon
Yeah.
00:34:08
Frank Furbacher
um And then you had your brother still here or you had one brother in Arizona as well?
00:34:13
Damon
Uh, no. So both of them were so or actually, you know what? Um, at the time, one of my brothers lived down in Wilmington in North Carolina for a bit.
00:34:24
Damon
Um, my other brother was still kind of local. Um, but they both were kind of, so the one that was here, you know, was having kids and was starting a family. So like, I wasn't going to move in with him.
00:34:36
Damon
um So yeah, I ended up kind of just crashing with with with Sager and his parents for a while, but that's kind of how that landed. But um yeah, I guess, you know, my, and very fortunately, like they, Chris's parents were incredible. And like, I consider them a second family at this point.
00:34:55
Damon
um And, you know, oh, oh, a lot of like my figuring it out years to them, like just support. Like I slept on their couch in the basement for wherever it was, 18 months, but yeah,
00:35:07
Damon
you know, just being that kind of family fallback for me, um what was huge, you know, it was just like something i felt like I had a, you know, a spot to come home to after work or whatever it was like, um, super, super thankful to them. But, um, yeah, that, that's kind of, you know, why, why all that happened. Um, then, you know, my, my two brothers are kind of fairly older than me and I'll, I'll let the listeners draw their own conclusions on that.
00:35:37
Damon
Um, about what it says, but the, um, yeah, it was kind of just like, it was more natural for me to to sort of plug in there and just figure my life out from the basement.
Family Music Tradition
00:35:49
Frank Furbacher
And your wedding, I think, I believe, is the only wedding that I went to that had a live musical performance at it.
00:35:58
Damon
Yeah. Um, yeah. So that actually started. So my my middle brother, um he got married first earlier. um and like my parents, ah my parents are like theater people. That's like kind of how they met back in the day from like doing plays and musicals and stuff, which is crazy.
00:36:17
Damon
um So yeah, they like, they performed a song at his wedding. And then um I sort of like fell into the family trade a little bit. uh, like self-taught after college happened. So like, I never really grew up with music, you know, we were, we were all into sports and stuff growing up. So that was kind of the focus.
00:36:38
Damon
Um, but I taught myself, you know, enough after college and then, you know, me and my brother and my parents did one for my other brother's wedding and then everybody kind of did one for mine. So it was kind of became a tradition after that.
00:36:50
Frank Furbacher
Do you still play?
00:36:51
Damon
Yeah. Um, so I was god um, i don't know, this is like mid twenty ten s um Me and my brothers were playing in like a part-time band together for a while um before we moved. And then, um yeah, I kind of just started recently getting back into it again a little bit. I was actually playing, you know, a little bit with one of our neighbors actually um here and there, but it's it's mostly just for myself at this point when I have downtime.
00:37:22
Frank Furbacher
Did you play a live show in Brooklyn?
00:37:25
Damon
A ah couple, yeah.
00:37:28
Frank Furbacher
I had to have come to that.
00:37:29
Damon
I think so. Yeah. There's a few in the in the city and in the boroughs. Yeah.
00:37:34
Frank Furbacher
And we met ah a friend of a friend who was in the podcasting world.
00:37:41
Frank Furbacher
With Hot 97. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:43
Damon
Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:44
Frank Furbacher
yeah yeah
00:37:45
Damon
yeah yeah that's the yeah
00:37:47
Frank Furbacher
And I couldn't believe like I knew who that person was. And ah was like, no way you're that guy.
00:37:51
Damon
yeah
00:37:54
Frank Furbacher
And he's like, yeah, man. ah That was, that was fun.
00:37:57
Damon
yeah
00:37:58
Frank Furbacher
That was wild.
00:37:59
Damon
Yeah, he's a funny kid.
00:38:02
Frank Furbacher
um
00:38:03
Frank Furbacher
Did you like you the the whole music thing? um You got super into it after college. The only music I think you played ah in college was rock band, right?
00:38:18
Damon
Oh, yeah. Yeah, religiously, yeah.
00:38:21
Frank Furbacher
So I... My dad bought me a an electric Fender. i think I was probably in, like, second or third grade.
00:38:28
Damon
Uh-huh. Yeah.
00:38:29
Frank Furbacher
And he had this guy he knew who gave me lessons. And, like, I don't know if it was because I was... It was probably because I was so young, but... um And I wasn't really that into music. um But I stopped taking him after...
00:38:42
Frank Furbacher
like two or three lessons. But one of my biggest regrets was like, man, I should have kept going.
00:38:44
Damon
yeah
00:38:47
Frank Furbacher
But in in high school, we had one friend who knew how to play guitar and he had played in a band in early high school. um So we would have, we had one friend ah that we went to high school with whose parents, say his dad had like,
00:39:04
Frank Furbacher
all the equipment his dad was like a like a moonlight it was like he was moonlighting as a I don't want to say a band person but he was like a band guy so he had all the equipment he would have band people over his house all the time and they would just play so after school we would go there and so my one friend who um knew how to play would tell everyone what to play
00:39:15
Damon
Okay.
00:39:19
Damon
Yeah.
00:39:29
Frank Furbacher
And then we would all jam out um pretty regularly, which was a lot of fun.
00:39:31
Damon
Yeah.
00:39:35
Frank Furbacher
I mean, it was more fun that we were just all hanging out, but ah it was it was cool.
00:39:37
Damon
Yeah.
00:39:40
Frank Furbacher
I mean, it was fun. i got to pull out the guitar, I think, at that point and like bring my amp over and do that.
00:39:45
Damon
yeah
00:39:46
Frank Furbacher
you know i wish I wish I could have done it. I could play a couple of chords, but not it not much.
00:39:50
Damon
Yeah, it's cool. I mean, it definitely is like, if, if nobody's done it before, like there's something to say about like, especially playing with other people. Like it's awesome when you first, like if you're teaching yourself, especially like it's awesome, you know, learning those first chords or like learning a song for the first time, but like playing with other people and kind of like making ah full sound in a room, especially with the amps plugged in. I mean, that may not be for everybody, but like,
00:40:19
Damon
just hearing it loud is like for the first time that happened. Like I, when my brothers asked me to play with them, i had never played with other people before. I was just like kind of teaching myself on YouTube in my bedroom.
00:40:32
Damon
And like the first time I remember like plugging in with them, um in like my brother's garage, I was like, Oh my God, this is insane. Like it just like, there was some weird feeling that happens, like happens to your body.
00:40:44
Damon
Um, but yeah, it was cool. And like, again, to your point of like just being able, like having that time to spend with them and like doing something we all enjoyed together was awesome.
00:40:54
Frank Furbacher
So like who are your three favorite bands?
00:40:57
Damon
Oh man. Um,
00:41:00
Damon
God, there I listen to a lot of stuff that like probably nobody knows about. One of my favorite bands is called Thrice. um They've been around for 20-something years. They're kind of like, we're in like the punk hardcore punk scene for a while and sort of like have matured and grown, which is part of the reason why I like them, because they have so much in their catalog at this point.
00:41:22
Damon
um It's weird because I think back to like, the stuff I grew up with and like probably a lot of us that are like local to the area. um Like Billy Joel was like something I remember listening to ah always like growing up was one of my parents' favorites and had become one of my favorites. Like that's something I could just turn on. Like I'll listen to him, whatever.
00:41:46
Damon
um And the same thing with him, right? we're Like he has these, he has these ballads, but he has these like, you know, more aggressive like rock songs too. So like he has such a wide spectrum. And I guess that's kind of the summary is like the things I gravitate towards.
00:42:01
Damon
um God, I don't, like I don't know if I could pick something else off tough my head. um just Maybe just like generalizing because I get into this debate with a lot of people or, you know, and I'm sure you've heard this where it's like,
00:42:16
Damon
oh, ah you know, Beatles or Stones. And i was like, Led Zeppelin is like in that era. Like, and again, it's the for the same, a lot of the same reason. um And not to say like the Beatles don't have a ton of like diversity, but Led Zeppelin's always been something where it's just like the, the dynamic they can create within even one song is just insane to me.
00:42:39
Frank Furbacher
Is Coheed one of your favorite bands or is it just a song by song thing?
00:42:42
Damon
like that. I, I, they I wouldn't say they're one of my favorites, but I do really enjoy them. I probably haven't dug into like everything, all their albums. um But he yeah, the stuff that I know, I really enjoy from them.
00:42:58
Damon
And they're they're local, too. They're like from Nyack.
00:43:02
Frank Furbacher
I didn't know that.
00:43:02
Damon
Yeah.
00:43:04
Frank Furbacher
So when, want to get to some of the reflections and advice piece of this.
Advice for College Students
00:43:10
Frank Furbacher
um But if you can go back in time to give your 20 year old self at Manhattanville one piece of advice, what would it be?
00:43:18
Damon
Oh, Jesus. um
00:43:21
Damon
I should have more time to prepare for this, Frank. um Let me see. Okay. I have, I know where this plane's taking off and it it'll land somewhere eventually. So maybe bear with me. um So I watched this show recently on Apple TV. i don't know if you've seen it. It's called your friends and neighbors with Jon Hamm.
00:43:42
Damon
So,
00:43:43
Frank Furbacher
I heard of it.
00:43:44
Damon
It's very, very good. um And I think it's actually like supposed to be based in, in like New York and Westchester. um And it it seems very on brand with that, but um you know, he he comes from like a super wealthy background, like works at a hedge fund or something.
00:44:02
Damon
And I remember one of the later episodes, he's talking to his kids, one of his kids. And um it's something, you know, to the sentiment of like, um you know,
00:44:14
Damon
when you're younger, right. You see adults and like, you kind of just assume that they kind of know what they're doing and like have everything figured out. Um, and that is probably the farthest from the truth. And, you know, I'm sure you can kind of parallel with me here where it's like, we have kids and you have a wife and you have a family and you have a mortgage and like all these things. And it's like, you know,
00:44:39
Damon
going back to my brothers where i was like, they were older than me. And I always did. i I mean, I still do. I always looked up to them, but like, I got to a lot of points in my life where like, Oh, if I can just get to where they are, like, I'll be good. Like I was in my, my mid twenties, like trying to figure out my life and my professional life.
00:44:55
Damon
Um, and I was like, Oh, let me, let me just get to 30. Like, you know, everything will be fine. Um, and like, especially now that like, we're all older and I can have more of those mature conversations with them. Like I realized that that's never been the case. And like a lot of people that sort of maybe put up that front, um, are, so are figuring it out just as much as the next person, right? Like, especially the first time you go through things, like you can be as prepared as you think you're going to be, um, and going through something and experiencing it for the first time.
00:45:26
Damon
There's so many variables that are going to happen, or it's just like, you you have to just enjoy it and kind of like get everything you can out of each experience, I guess, is maybe, maybe the takeaway where I'm trying to get down on the runway too. um You know, there was a lot of things where like, i especially coming into like a new situation, right. Where I kind of like reserved myself and, you know, didn't want to like fully put myself out there or like, you know, somebody was like, Oh, and it just using a ah simple example of it's like,
00:46:00
Damon
oh, I live on Long Island, like come out to a house party there. And i was like, ah that's like far away. I don't really know anybody there. um And not to say like you should put yourself in dangerous situations by any means, but like, it you know, say yes to as much as you can within reason, I guess is is kind of the part of the point, right? Where it's like, give yourself as much experience as you can.
00:46:23
Damon
you know, don't be too overwhelmed by the moment to just like shy away from it. Um, and even if it, if it's something you're not fully engaged in, like take away what you can from it as kind of a fly on the wall. Right. Like I I've said this to like, um, you know, some of the, my younger, um like people in my network that I wouldn't even say they consider me a mentor cause that's giving myself too much credit. But, um,
00:46:49
Damon
you know, it's just like, you can also learn from like what not to do in certain situations. So like, even if you're not participating and doing something you think is wrong, but it's like, you know, you see that and you learn from it and you know, not to do this.
00:47:02
Damon
Um, but like yeah take something away from each situation and, and try not to just like kind of completely remove yourself from it. Um, and I think there's a lot of opportunities, especially in Manhattanville to just like do random stuff.
00:47:15
Damon
Um, and like, especially if you're, if you're bored, if you don't have class, like don't lock yourself in the room. Um, unless you have to study, I guess, but, um, you know, don't just like shy away and there's so much opportunity to just like do things and and gain experience.
00:47:32
Damon
Um, And again, you know, similar to that, it's just like, maybe you realize you don't like something or so you kind of like cross it off your list. And it's just kind of like, it's growing as a person, even if it's like addition by subtraction, it's, it's growing and progressing.
00:47:47
Damon
um So yeah, I think a lot of it too, is just like taking advantage of every single experience you can.
Move to Colorado and Lifestyle Changes
00:47:55
Frank Furbacher
So that reminds me that I have to ask you about your move to Colorado.
00:48:01
Frank Furbacher
um When did you move there? And when did you get back? And what led you out there?
00:48:07
Damon
Yeah. Um, so we moved there in 2018. Um, and we, at the time we're living in Danbury in Connecticut actually. Um, and ironically enough, you know, I'll give myself some credit for the foresight, but at the time, um you know, we were kind of like, we wanted to get out of, you know, kind of the hustle and bustle of like the tri-state area.
00:48:36
Damon
get a little bit away from the city. Um, and I was just like, so I was working actually at Morgan Stanley at the time. And, um, that part of that probably drove some of it because of like the type of people I was dealing with on a day-to-day basis, um, is just like, not, it wasn't sustainable for me, first of all.
00:48:56
Damon
Um, and it's like not what I wanted to surround myself with long-term. um And that kind of like, you know, so dovetailed into we need to like move physically away from this. um So like we wanted to move upstate New York, ah which is where we ended up where we are now.
00:49:13
Damon
Spoiler alert. um Or i I had actually a good friend from high school that was out in Colorado um and I had flown out for his wedding. ah and don't know, 2016, maybe call it.
00:49:27
Damon
And, um, I was like, that I love it here. Like, this is, it's such an amazing place. It's such a change of pace from like what where we come from. Um, and like, I was always kind of the person that said, like, if I spend my entire life in like a 30 mile radius, it's just like, it's going to be insane. And like, I'm going to go crazy.
00:49:47
Damon
Uh, so, you know, that was on sort of our short list at the time. Right. Um, I ended up just kind of quitting Morgan Stanley for a variety of reasons. Um, it was right before our wedding and like, I was kind of getting very, very burnt out. I wanted to focus on the wedding and like our honeymoon and all the other stuff. Um, and during that period, so I, I left there in like March, I think during that period, um, I got, I think I had mentioned to a coworker at the time, like, you know,
00:50:22
Damon
Denver's on our list of places, you know, potentially we'll we'll move to. oh And a person from within like the Morgan Stanley network that he worked with before I got there, moved to Denver, worked in a company exactly the same.
00:50:38
Damon
and it's, you know, sort of the company i'm at now. um She was looking for somebody basically in my position, essentially. um And I remember very vividly I was driving up to lake to see Brendan at the brewery and it was Cinco de Mayo.
00:50:58
Damon
And i was in the car and she like, I got a random phone call and she was like, do you want to fly out to Denver to interview for this job? And I was like, what is happening right now? Like that, like I'm, I'm really not like a person to be like, everything happens for a reason type of situation. But like that felt very weird where it was like,
00:51:22
Damon
I had Denver on my list and it like, this is such a, there's not very many companies like that do what we do. So like for those stars to align was one of the few times in my life where i was like, maybe, maybe something's happening. Like somebody's looking out for me here, but, um, it was, yeah, it was, it was crazy. So we were out there.
00:51:44
Damon
2018, obviously COVID happened in 20 and then we had our first kid in 21. And at that point after she was like a year and a half, ultimately when we moved back and through that first year and a half, we were kind of just like, we need to be a little bit closer to like some semblance of, of a network and support system.
00:52:08
Damon
um You know, even though we're, we're kind of a couple hours from home still, but we can see people for holidays still and like a bunch of other stuff. So that was kind of the the thought process there. 2022, we moved back. So it was like, you know, for whatever, four and a half years, something like that.
00:52:26
Frank Furbacher
That's crazy. I remember when the COVID lockdown was about to happen, we were all texting because think the Rangers played the Avs that night.
00:52:36
Damon
Yeah. Uh huh.
00:52:37
Frank Furbacher
They lost it. They lost in overtime. And then it was like lockdown. And then they had to fly back to New York. And I was on my way to ShopRite to gather a bunch of materials before, and not not knowing the next time I'd be out.
00:52:50
Damon
Yeah. Before the, before the toilet paper ran out.
00:52:55
Frank Furbacher
Yeah, exactly. um What advice would you give to a current Valiant who's getting ready to graduate and start their own careers?
Career Advice for Graduates
00:53:07
Damon
Um, yeah, I mean, I think that obviously depends a bit on situation. Like I know a lot of people probably have some kind of things, you know, lined up or, or,
00:53:18
Damon
potential options going. um but I would say, you know, just even if you do, like I would recommend interviewing as much as possible because practice and that is always super valuable.
00:53:30
Damon
Um, like I, I interview people a decent amount now, at my company and it's like, you know, they're super impressive on paper and then you get them on the phone and it's, you know, it's just like, what, what happened? Like, you're not what I was expecting to be talking to you right now.
00:53:48
Damon
um so just like you know and especially especially in a remote environment right where it's like i i guess coming out of college you're a bit less sort of exposed to that um but in a rope remote environment right you're kind of just generally around people less and like you you don't get as much interaction um just generally like that's one of the things i i I love working remotely just because of kind of the benefits to it um personally and, you know, mental health wise and everything else. But um there are a lot of aspects to working in an office that I miss where it's, you know, you build those bonds and you get to know the people um and like whatever, going out to happy hours after work. And I i genuinely do feel like a lot of that benefits um working relationships and and kind of just like productivity
00:54:37
Damon
for companies in general. Um, and it's like, you know, I tried to do as much as I can. We're like, you know, just informally checking in with people and be like, you know, what's going on with your family or, you know, doing stuff like that. And I feel like when you know what's going on in a person's personal life, you can kind of like level with them ah a bit more professionally, right. Where it's like somebody maybe having a hard day and like, maybe you know why, or like, you know, they, they answer a question a little bit differently than usual. And you're like, Oh, well I know, you know, maybe they're, uh,
00:55:06
Damon
their kids sick or something like they're dealing with a lot of stuff at home. But, um, you know, I think i I kind of rabbit hole there a bit, but, um, definitely interviewing as much as possible. Like, even if it seems like something that's not necessarily what you want to do, um you can learn and just like ask, ask a lot of questions. Um,
00:55:29
Damon
and you know, maybe you learn about a different opportunity that you didn't know about before that piques your interest. Um, and you know, i think asking questions as their interviewee is extremely valuable.
00:55:41
Damon
Um, and you know, it actually, I'm thinking of a situation from just a week or two ago, I had to send somebody an email and be like, you know, we're, we're going a different direction with this role. And a lot of times, you know, and even myself, I've 99% of the time I've just ignore it, like read the email and then I move on. Like, I don't even think about it again.
00:56:04
Damon
Um, but this particular person like actually responded to me it was like, um, you know, thanks for, for reaching out. What, you know, do you have any feedback, um, or like recommendations for something I could do for future interviews? Like I want to put my best foot forward.
00:56:20
Damon
Um, and I, you know, I, it was seven o'clock at night. I was sitting out on the couch with my kids and I, like, I, responded to him at the time um i was like i really respect you know you coming back to me and you know a lot of times people are just like they hold grudges or they're just you know they're pissed off at the situation so like you don't even hear from them but like i really appreciated his kind of thoughtfulness around that so like just kind of ah again it's a similar case where it's like take take all the opportunity you can from each situation to grow and to learn um
00:56:52
Damon
And yeah, I think that's it. Like I, in retrospect, I probably, when I was looking and especially given like the, the era that we were interviewing in, I probably should have taken my own advice at the time and like, just dip my toes in whatever, and like talk to anybody I could um just to, to gain more experience. I think, you know, it can never hurt.
00:57:15
Frank Furbacher
yeah we kind of um We hit the remote working ah era at ah pretty much a perfect time based on the fact that we were not you know fresh out of high out of college and we were in the stages of, okay, now we have kids.
00:57:23
Damon
Oh my god. Yeah.
00:57:29
Damon
Yep. Yeah, exactly.
00:57:35
Frank Furbacher
So it's been nice to be home, but yeah, I'm with you. It's commuting to the financial district in Manhattan for you know, six, seven, eight years, whatever it was, ah it was not the best like situation in terms of like coming from New Jersey and taking the bus in and then the train down.
00:57:53
Damon
and
00:57:57
Damon
Yeah.
00:57:58
Frank Furbacher
um But looking back, it was awesome because you had the world right in front of you to be like, okay, it's five o'clock.
00:58:08
Damon
Yeah.
00:58:08
Frank Furbacher
You can literally do whatever you want or you can go home, whatever you want to do.
00:58:11
Damon
Yeah. It's, I mean, it's a cool experience. I like, I don't really have much desire to go into the city anymore unless I'm like going to a Ranger game or something like that. but like, you know,
00:58:23
Damon
knowing the city and like experiencing it at least from like an arm's length is extremely valuable just as like a life experience. Right. Or it's like, you know, if you haven't been to Manhattan, you really can't understand like the magnitude of it and like what, how much is going on all at the same time and like how many different people are there.
00:58:43
Damon
um so yeah, being able to like get in and get out, I think is, is ideal. especially for somebody like me, it's like more introverted. i I think it's, you know, if I lived in Manhattan, it probably would have like swallowed me alive, but it's like having exposure to it, even in like college, I think was was super helpful.
00:59:03
Frank Furbacher
Yeah. So what's final question, Damon, what's next for you?
00:59:08
Damon
What's next for me? um Going to sleep. um No, i um I don't know. So, you know, professional wise, at least like my company is in a super interesting kind of growth period. Um, so I mentioned like we just got acquired by this company, uh, called securitize.
00:59:30
Damon
Um, so like we're still kind of in the point of like integrating with them. So I think I have a lot of personal opportunity to, to kind of be a big part of that, which is awesome.
00:59:42
Damon
Um, so I'm looking forward to, to a lot of that. Um, you know, we have, our, our youngest is like just over a year old now. So that's like taking up so much of our time and, um, like, you know, just controlling her being able to walk around and not like break things or break herself, um, is part of it.
01:00:03
Damon
I know you you're aware of that. And, uh, yeah, I think that's kind of our, our focus is,
01:00:06
Frank Furbacher
Thank you.
01:00:09
Damon
um Yeah, just kind of like growing, you know, professionally and and kind of taking the next step into experiencing new things. And, you know, that's what ah kind of reflecting on my own answer to questions. It's like, I've always, I've looked up to people before that are in my position now and like knowing how I feel in my own position is different than I would have imagined that other person like feeling. Right.
01:00:37
Damon
Um, so like, there's a lot of, there's always going to be a lot of uncertainty. There's always going to be a lot of growing pains with things. Um, but just like being as confident as you can in you know, what you've already built, the experiences that you've had you know, knowing your strengths as a person and as a worker, um you know, you really just have to kind of like,
01:01:01
Damon
find the silver lining and all of it. Understand that you're not going to know everything, but know, you know, the questions to ask, know who to go to, to ask those questions, all that kind of stuff. um You know, just kind of relying on your support system ultimately is, is a big part of it.
01:01:18
Frank Furbacher
Awesome. Well, this is great, Damon. It was great to catch up. Great to hear about your background. Really appreciate you sharing. So thank you.
01:01:27
Damon
Yeah, no, this was ah this was very cathartic for me too. So i maybe i'll ah I'll do like therapy or something after this. I don't know
01:01:36
Frank Furbacher
Great. I'll send you the bill after.
01:01:38
Damon
know. It sounds good. Yeah. All right.
01:01:40
Frank Furbacher
Thanks, Damon.
01:01:41
Damon
See you, man.