Did you begin your graduate program hoping for a career shaped around your core values, intellectual curiosity, and vision for a more humane world? Has that possibility come to seem increasingly remote? In fact, your advanced training can open many doors than you may have imagined. Join Erica Machulak, founder of the social impact startup Hikma and author of Hustles for Humanists (Rutgers UP, 2025), for an exploration of entrepreneurial pathways extending far beyond a traditional academic career. We’ll consider how the skills and passions that brought you to graduate school can become the foundation for meaningful work that you design – whether that means full professional self-employment, an income-generating side venture, or a creative complement to paid work within or beyond the academy. This program invites you to imagine, and begin building, a professional life of greater agency, purpose, and possibility. Bonus: attendees can enter a drawing for one of 5 copies of Hustles for Humanists! 

Get to Know the Speaker:

Interested in learning more about Dr. Erica Machulak before the event? Listen to her recent conversation on the Syracuse University Gradcast podcast about founding Hikma Collective, her career journey, and her book Hustles for Humanists.

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

Click HERE to register for the virtual event.

Co-organized by the Corridor working group, Humanities Beyond the Academy: Cornell University, Syracuse University, and the University of Rochester.

Co-sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor.

To request accommodations or for inquiries about accessibility contact mm2478@cornell.edu. We ask that requests be made at least 3 days in advance.