A few years ago, Mallory Mortillaro was a 22-year-old college graduate and middle school English teacher putting her Art History degree to good use doing part-time archival work. One day on the job, she discovered, tucked in the corner of a town council chamber, a lost Rodin statue. So began a one-year journey to officially authenticating the marble bust of Napoleon, a path that led to lots of media and international attention and to Mallory delivering a commencement address to Drew University’s graduating class of 2018, just five years after she and I graduated from Drew.


In this episode, Mallory and I not only talk about her discovery of the Rodin and what she learned about trust and hard work, but also discuss our experiences of college as two introverts who found the extroverted social scene pretty overwhelming. We also explore ways that we’ve remained committed to continuing our education as post-grads, learning through experience and continuing to follow our curiosity and pursue our passions outside of a formal academic setting.


You can learn more about Mallory and today's episode by visiting the Shownotes page.