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PODCAST

The Pre-Made Podcast

Matthew C Collins

In this podcast, you"ll hear stories primarily from my Amherst College Class of 1994 classmates as we reflect on life 30+ years removed from graduation day. What have we been up to all these years? How has Amherst and a liberal arts education impacted our lives? What college memories have stayed with us? How are we thinking about the next 20 years?

society & culture performing arts

All Episodes

63:26

Russ Hanser Seized Opportunity Where – And When – Law...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/02/24

Russ Hanser arrived at Amherst as a self-described nerd with big ambitions: maybe law, maybe journalism, maybe even director of the CIA. His liberal arts education sharpened his thinking and ultimately launched him into a career shaping telecommunications and technology policy at the highest levels.Today, Russ serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Legal Officer of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association. In this episode, he reflects on how early interests in politics

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56:26

Elizabeth Doyle Shows How An Amherst Degree Can Lead...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/02/17

Elizabeth Doyle is one of the proprietors of Doyle & Doyle, a purveyor of antique and vintage jewelry based in New York City. We talk about her wonderfully serendipitous path from Amherst College to the Gemological Institute of America, and then into building a jewelry business that has now spanned decades. Her journey is a delightful example of the good things that can happen from saying 'yes,' learning by doing, and staying open to whatever unfolds.Elizabeth also gives a window into what

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80:10

John Haskell Chose Russia, And One Forged Signature...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/02/10

John Haskell has spent over 20 years living in Russia, a decision that began as a calculated professional bet in the post-Soviet 1990s and became, almost accidentally, a permanent life. John walks us through what it has meant to build a family, a business, and a sense of home in a place most Americans only know through headlines, and why the reality on the ground often looks very different from what we imagine from afar.We talk about the moment that anchored him there: a near-surreal episode

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51:17

Ricky Quinones Has A Grammy, And Yet Still Approaches...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/02/03

Ricky Quinones has spent his life exploring and expressing music across genres, geographies, and stages, from Amherst to New York, including Broadway, and Grammy-winning collaborations. Ricky opens up about his musical evolution, the artists who shaped him, and why the blues remains the emotional and structural foundation of everything he plays (and, surprisingly, what he sometimes hears in the music of JS Bach).We talk about the lessons learned from proximity to greatness, playing alongside

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44:26

Sonia Nagorski Reads Earth’s Past To Help Predict And...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/01/27

As a very amateur geologist, I've been looking forward to catching up with Sonia Nagorski ever since my podcast project started. That's because she's a geologist whose work focuses on understanding Earth’s history and what it can tell us about the world we humans are shaping today. Perhaps not surprisingly, she and I share a sense of wonder about the mind-bending qualities of Earth time and the pleasures of connecting to the geology right under our feet.We talk about her two decades living and

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46:50

Mike Gold Makes The Case For Big Swings That Lead To...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/01/20

Mike Gold has built a life defined by range. He ran an art gallery in New York. He scaled an animation studio to nearly 200 artists. He has built backend systems for massively multiplayer online games, collaborated with DARPA on next-generation engineering tools, and even mined gold on a beach in Nome, Alaska. Mike traces the throughline that unites these pursuits: he loves learning, assembling strong teams, and building systems that improve the human experience. Today that compass points to two

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50:50

Asim Ahmed Reflects On Caregiving, Infectious Disease...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/01/13

Asim Ahmed has three passions: the detection and workings of infectious diseases, sports (especially his hometown St. Louis teams), and music, and in this wide-ranging conversation, he shows how each one has shaped his life.We talk about his one-of-a-kind custom jerseys (clever mashups of teams, players, and music references), his journey from pediatric infectious disease (ID) in academic medicine to metagenomic diagnostics in biotech, and the “detective work” mindset that drew him to ID in the

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53:22

Mariela Rexach Learned To Stop Following The Script

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2026/01/06

Mariela Rexach's life reflects a combination of steadiness, self-knowledge, and humble assertiveness. From Amherst to Penn Law and back home to Puerto Rico, Mariela has raised a family and built a nearly three-decade career at the same women-owned labor and employment law firm. She shares the thinking that has helped her make decisions that align with her values rather than conventional expectations.Mariela reflects on the mentorship of a federal judge she credits with giving her more than any

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49:10

Kensei Nishikawa Champions The Humanities In A...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/12/30

Kensei Nishikawa arrived at Amherst as a transfer student from Japan already holding a degree from the University of Tokyo, carrying with him two languages, two cultures, and a deep love of literature. What he didn’t yet know was how profoundly Amherst would shape not just how he reads and writes, but how he listens.We explore Kensei’s lifelong devotion to the humanities, especially poetry, and the role they have played in his life as both a student and a teacher. Now a professor of English and

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51:22

Parke Lutter And The Art of Becoming Who You Already...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/12/18

Amherst isn't known for launching fashion designers and entrepreneurs, but that's just one of the reasons why this conversation with Parke Lutter was so much fun. This talent has been building inside of him since his childhood in the Midwest, where he made clothes for one of us stuffed animals, his friends, and even a prom dress for his sister. Still, Parke hadn't awakened to that interest as a professional possibility when he arrived at Amherst imagining a Wharton-bound career in business. His

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41:27

Deb Thalheimer Long Listens Her Way to a Life of Meaning

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/11/20

Deb Thalheimer Long's career and life since graduating with me from Amherst College have been marked by subtle yet profound transformations. From Wall Street to academia, from the Baltimore public schools to the hospital floor, Deb has navigated big career pivots with intentionality. Now a nurse specializing in wound care and infusion therapy, she brings to her patients the same attentiveness she has offered students, colleagues, and friends: an ability to read people gently, listen deeply, and act

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52:47

Matt Sawyer Has Found His Forever Team

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/11/13

Matt Sawyer has built a career rooted in one place: the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Mass., where he’s taught English, coached baseball and football, and served as ninth-grade dean for more than three decades. In a world that celebrates mobility and reinvention, Matt’s story is one of steadfastness and the value of deep community attachments. This conversation explores how teaching has changed since the 1990s, why he’s finally stepping away from coaching varsity baseball after 30

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53:27

David Young Finds Hope and Purpose Amid USAID’s...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/11/06

When I started the Amherst College part of this podcast, I wanted to capture the stories of my 1994 classmates who’ve navigated big pivots in their lives. Few stories embody that better than David Young. He joined me from Mozambique, where he and his husband make their home.David’s career has taken him from Amherst’s ROTC program to the Air Force JAG Corps, then into a remarkable 20-year run with USAID. His tenure ended abruptly when the agency was dismantled earlier this year. His reflections on

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54:41

Zack Henry Has Mastered The Art Of Connection

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/10/30

Since our freshman year in Morrow (“Psycho Ward”), Zack Henry has built a life that’s taken him across the globe. He’s lived on four continents, worked on six, and led projects ranging from energy dialogues in Saudi Arabia to business development in New York and São Paulo. But at the heart of his story is something simpler and deeper: a belief in what he calls “the hidden pass.” Borrowed from soccer, it’s his metaphor for the unexpected connections between people and ideas that unlock

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47:21

Jessica Smith Sent Climate Instruments To The Edge Of...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/10/23

Thirty years ago, a Boston Globe classified ad launched Jessica Smith into a career at Harvard, where she built bespoke instruments and launched them on NASA’s converted U-2 aircraft, flying at 70,000 feet to read the chemistry of our stratosphere. In this conversation, she traces the improbable path from Amherst’s machine shop to equipping these delicate high fliers for experiments over the Arctic winter, tracking ozone recovery, and measuring changes in and storm impacts.After a federally funded

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54:36

Erin Cowhey Designs Spaces That Tell Her Clients’...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/10/16

Erin Cowhey is an Amherst College classmate and architect whose profession is awfully interesting its own right, but it interests me more than ever now that my daughter works as an interior designer. Erin runs her own firm in Brooklyn but wasn't always destined for the field. She enrolled at Amherst with every intention to go pre-med before pivoting to architecture. In this episode, she talks about how personal tragedy reshaped her career path and how she’s balanced running her own firm with raising

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59:30

Brian Clark Heals Others – And Himself – From Trauma

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/10/09

Brian Clark transferred into our Amherst Class of 1994 having emerged from a childhood marked by instability and deep family pain. Today he serves as Director of Partnerships in Technology at the Spiritual Life Center in Hartford, where he helps others find healing through faith, psychology, and honest self-examination. Brian talks about growing up in a home dominated by an abusive father, the moment he chose to break free from the cult his dad started, and what it means to be both a healer and

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29:53

Update: Justin Neely Reflects On The Fire That...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/10/02

On September 17, a 19th century warehouse located in Red Hook, Brooklyn, went up in flames, resulting in a five-alarm response that was unable to spare Justin Neely's art studio home of over 12 years. He's facing the loss of every painting he has ever made, photographs that chronicle his life, computer equipment, and a treasured collection of sports jerseys.In this episode, Justin demonstrates remarkable generosity of spirit, acknowledging that others have it worse and that authorities who are

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43:31

Jason Spero Is Learning From Both Endings and Beginnings

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/10/02

Jason Spero is going through a lot of change. His father recently passed away following a years-long battle with Alzheimer's. His youngest child is in the back half of her high school years, and after nearly two decades helping to build Google’s mobile advertising business, he is stepping away from a big job to chart a new path, one shaped by family, community, and the lessons of mortality and loss. In this candid conversation, Jason opens up about caring for his father during his battle with

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48:36

Bonus Episode: Will Dix ’77 Helps Families Navigate...

The Pre-Made Podcast ·

2025/09/25

I published this episode about getting into college with my friend and former Amherst College Associate Dean of Admissions Will Dix (Amherst '77) a few years ago, but it has aged well. As teens and their parents explore and apply to colleges, I wanted to share it once again. It covers most of the major considerations: how to select colleges for application, the importance and pitfalls of campus tours, what to do if a college has an optional step in its application, essay writing, financial aid, and

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79 results

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