Interview #21 with Farnoosh Torabi

THE APPETIZER QUEEN

From an early age, Farnoosh Torabi was what she referred to as an “appetizer queen.” Farnoosh was the kind of person that really enjoys learning a little about a lot. Instead of being drawn to one topic, Farnoosh was constantly diving into new topics and found excitement from learning about a variety of fields.

For many of us who choose the route to attend college, we have to pick one thing to study. For myself, and for Farnoosh, this was no easy task, having always thrived on a diversity of learning. 

Farnoosh’s uncertainty and difficulty with picking just one thing to study in school often sent her into what she referred to as “analysis paralysis.” But what Farnoosh did know was that she wanted to graduate and get a job that would pay her bills, a value instilled in her at an early age from her pragmatic and hard-working father. So Farnoosh eventually settled on studying finance and international business at Pennsylvania State University. She knew that studying finance and business would be broad enough to apply herself in different ways and she would be getting a good financial return, in terms of employment, for her investment of time.

ONE OF THESE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

One aspect of Farnoosh’s decision to study finance intrigued me far beyond the other pragmatic reasons.

Farnoosh explained to me that she wasn’t initially drawn to finance because of her talent or passion for math, but rather because she noticed there wasn’t anyone else studying finance that looked like her. Instead of being deterred from this, she embraced that she stood out and made it an advantage.

Farnoosh further explained how advantageous it can be to bring your unique perspective, background, and experience to your schooling.

“The path less taken is often more exciting… your fresh face can truly make a splash!”

FINDING HER NICHE

Farnoosh is an incredibly ambitious woman so it was no surprise to me to hear that she applied to hundreds of companies to find her first internship experience while in college. 

Farnoosh relayed the story of her process to applying to the plethora of business and media companies when a woman from CNBC offered her an unpaid internship on their sales team in marketing.

So at just 20 years old, Farnoosh flies out to New York and spends her summer surrounded by incredible storytellers and business experts. It was here that Farnoosh realized she didn’t want to do finance… at least not in the conventional sense.

THE POWER OF MANIFESTATION

After spending enough of her lunches sitting just a hundred feet from the set of the Today Show and walking past stars like Conan O’Brien, Farnoosh realized how she too wanted to work in media; She wanted to “tell stories on business and finance.”

**Side note/fun fact: just 7 years later she was on the Today Show and had her own bit on CNBC.

“I felt a pull to these areas and I listened to that pull. I knew I wanted to tell stories.”

As fall came back around and Farnoosh returned to Penn State for her third year, she laser focused on finishing her major despite it not completely aligning with her newfound interest in media and storytelling. She was ready to graduate, get out, and start “living her life.”

Her last few years of college gave her adequate time to plan and strategize how to weave her newfound interest with storytelling into her structured experience with business and finance. 

“I want to work in news doing journalism but I have a finance degree… what are the dots that I have to connect to get there?”

She reverse engineered what she needed to do to get to where she wanted to be.

So her first move was to use her last year of college, her thesis, as a means to explore and gain experience within media studies. 

DOING THE WORK

Farnoosh quickly got to work to equip herself with the knowledge and skills she needed to get into media: skills she wouldn’t be getting from her coursework at school. She started by researching and trying to find experts that had a similar path to her. Looking at what they did, tweaking it and making it work for herself.

“If you don't know the path, look at those who have crossed the finish line.”

“Of course no two paths will be identical,” Farnoosh explained, but using others as a guide or means of inspiration allowed Farnoosh to feel confident and not alone towards this new and unfamiliar journey.

Spending the time to observe others and really understand how they made the shift that you're looking to make, can greatly increase your confidence and sense of direction when starting out on a new path.

DON’T FORGET TO BE YOUNG

As Farnoosh and I reminisced on her stories of spending her Friday nights in college working and learning instead of partying she reminded me to not only apply myself in school, but to also take advantage of my time in college by studying abroad and allowing myself to have fun!

“Friendships and parties are just as important… don’t have the fear that you will mess up your life taking the risk of having fun. Give yourself permission to enjoy being young!”

A DREAM COME TRUE

One of Farnoosh’s dreams was to go to grad school at Columbia University. Farnoosh jokingly commented on the perspective of the Columbia recruiters looking at her application...

“A finance student wants to go to grad school for journalism. This student is throwing away a quite possibly lucrative job with finance to instead become a writer and risk ending up broke. Either she’s crazy or she’s really serious…”

Farnoosh and I agreed… she’s both!

A NEW (SCARY) PATH

Farnoosh found much of her confidence and authentic voice as she began to create content and practice telling stories, both written and verbal. However, she also explained that she had to push through many fears of not everyone liking what she had to say. 

“Bravery is something that you learn and get better at the more you are willing to expose yourself to the scary things.”

To Farnoosh, courage is not the absence of fear but rather acting on it. 

(Hmm I sense a new book coming…?)

Farnoosh further explained that one of the greatest skills she ever learned was the ability to make decisions quickly and decisively. Even if it’s the wrong decision, the skill is about figuring out you made the wrong decision quickly and adapting as best you can! 

“I'd rather move ahead and make a mistake than not move ahead at all. To not move forward is failure.”

ON HER OWN

Farnoosh is now the definition of a thought leader. She’s a bestselling author (I most recently read When She Makes More…), has her own podcast, So Money, where she interviews amazing entrepreneurs and money makers like Tim Ferriss and Sophia Amoruso. Farnoosh is fostering meaningful conversation around wealth and our well-being.

I asked Farnoosh how she is able to handle all that she does and how a student like myself might get into content creation, interviewing, and storytelling. (Although I can’t get Tim or Sophia to answer my relentless messages despite my efforts…)

Farnoosh explained that her key to success is dedication and consistency. If you want to reach people with impact you have to continually show up. Doing so creates a sense of trust between you and your audience.

FIND YOUR STYLE

Farnoosh also shared with me that in order to be consistent you need to understand yourself and what work strategies are best fitting for you. What’s going to allow you to be consistent? How do you best communicate with others? For example, if you are a writer, you might focus more on written content, as opposed to if you are more verbally-intelligent, you might record and publish your conversations. (I am quickly discovering how I am more of a talker than a writer…) Make it easier for yourself by doing the things you like to do!

And, of course, “take your audience on a journey,” Farnosh points out. Your audience actually wants to know about YOU, not just the advice you may be giving.

“Be transparent, likeable, and relatable. Always show up when you say you're going to show up.”

FEMALES AT THE FOREFRONT

Oftentimes, young women, myself included, mute ourselves from being leaders and speaking out because we lack confidence. Farnoosh reminded me that good leaders are not only those who listen to their audience, but also understand that their voices matter.

If you want to be a leader of a big company, write your own content, or have a podcast, you need to, as Farnoosh best put it, believe in yourself and have confidence that your opinions are valuable.

I don’t have a lot of work experience (or life experience for that matter...) but that doesn't mean I don’t have things to say! I hope to empower other women to believe in themselves just as Farnoosh has done for me.

“People need to hear what you have to say.”

I am incredibly grateful to have had this meaningful conversation with Farnoosh and I have no doubt that she will continue to inspire, educate, and impact young ambitious professionals who have things to say. She is a model for so many young women who strive to fortify their own financial futures.