TED-talk-style event connects USC student-athletes with successful alumni

‘Success in a New Arena’ welcomes former Trojan athletes to share their experiences at Fertitta Hall.

By James Bao

November 16, 2023

Published on Annenberg Media

Photo by Drake Lee | Exposition

Six former USC student-athletes gathered Wednesday evening at Fertitta Hall in a TED-talk-style event to speak on how they transitioned from collegiate sports to professional workplaces.

“Success in a New Arena,” the name of the event, was set up for professional development and was hosted by student-led media organization Exposition and the USC Athletic Department to show both obstacles and victories achieved by former student-athletes in their careers after USC.

Exposition’s goal is to “elevate the student-athlete voice, telling their stories and cultivating the student-athlete community here at USC,” junior communications student and COO of the organization Carly Rieger said.

A packed room of students and student-athletes from many different sports awaited with anticipation before the event started at 6:30 p.m.

“I knew there were some pretty cool guys talking that I knew beforehand and kinda just hearing how to network,” USC football’s sophomore quarterback Gage Roy said on why he attended the event.

Guest speakers of the evening featured a wide range of professions, including athletic footwear entrepreneurship, sports agency management, Microsoft technical expertise, commercial real estate and music industry marketing.

The theme of failure was a common thread throughout the event, as speakers shared their personal experiences of setbacks and rejections.

"My professors told me it would be a massive failure." Ryan Goldston, the co-founder of Athletic Propulsion Labs, said during his speech.

APL was initially a business proposal from Ryan Goldston at the college’s entrepreneurship program and was rejected by investors. Now, they are “the second largest independent athletic footwear company in the world,” Ryan’s twin brother Adam Goldston said.

“There was a whole group of venture capitalists who said ‘This will never happen,’” Ryan Goldston said. “We proved them wrong.”

The experience and interpretation of failure can vary drastically from one person to another. For some, they may pose temporary obstacles, while for others, they may turn out to be catalysts for change.

“I’m not from the camp of failures lead to successes,” Adam Goldston said. “I’m from the camp of if you find yourself in hell, the only way through is through.”

For Farren Benjamin, a former Trojan hammer thrower who now works as head of sports partnerships at Tagboard and as an NFLPA-certified sports agent, career opportunities came to her from the networks she made in four years at USC.

“All of these doors that opened have come to me because of someone that I met here on campus,” Benjamin said.

The importance of networking was a recurring theme of the evening. Former USC track runner Kira Soderstrom is now an artificial intelligence and machine learning senior technician specialist at Microsoft, and she emphasized networking as one of the key takeaways of her speech.

“Network, network, network,” Soderstrom said near the end of her speech. “Find mentors, people in the field you’re interested in working with, and learn from them.”

Former Trojan quarterback Max Browne and tight end Randall Telfer also shared valuable insights on their transition out of football. Both of them experienced non-linear career paths and eventually settled down in jobs they enjoy.

“The journey’s been absolutely incredible,” Telfer, now working as the director of digital marketing at Warner Records, said. “I love working in music so much, it doesn’t even really feel like work.”

Browne is now a real estate advisor and college football analyst for the Pac-12 Network.

“If you can at least gather up enough warm contacts, when you do get to that transition point, you can then reach out to those people,” Browne said, furthering the topic of networking.

Following the speeches, students were given time to engage with professionals and each other. The atmosphere was energetic, as present and former Trojan athletes held conversations and exchanged contacts.

“It was really cool listening to all the different speakers, their different experiences and how they got to where they are today,” redshirt sophomore baseball pitcher Eric Hammond said. “They brought up some really insightful points about continuing to consistently work hard each day in order to achieve what you want.”

For those who want to learn more about Exposition, they can visit their website or Instagram page. The website also contains an interest form for those who are interested in joining the organization.