Donovan's Blog

  Gloria Steinem’s book, My Life on the Road , is a deeply insightful book full of impactful stories and advice. The book is an autobiography of Steinem’s nomadic life in which she tells of traveling around the U.S. and the globe and learning lessons about feminism, acceptance, and activism. She recounts a plethora of her unique experiences with people from different cultures and occupations, all of whom taught her valuable lessons. She starts the book with stories from her childhood, telling how her father’s “go with the flow” attitude inspired her to embrace the unknown and live life freely. One central theme that she reiterates throughout the book is how beneficial meeting new people and experiencing new cultural practices is. Her second chapter, “Talking Circles,” highlights the power of women-led groups and movements and inspires activism and involvement. Probably my favorite chapter of the book, though, is the third, titled Why I Don’t Drive. It was incredible hearing about h...

Why Golf Isn’t As Boring As You Think Have you ever been at the edge of your seat watching a game? Imagine this. It’s the final play of the game, time is running down, and what happens in this moment distinguishes winners from losers. You’re so glued to the TV that even if the kool-aid man himself busted through the wall, you wouldn’t take your eye off the screen for a second. Now, if we stop and think about which sports can produce these nail-biting, adrenaline-inducing experiences, golf would probably be at the bottom of most people’s lists. Golf has a reputation in popular culture for being a boring game. The monotonous announcers, slow pace of play, and relatively high barriers to entry make the game seem inaccessible and unexciting.  Nevertheless, there is much more to this game than “old white dudes” knocking around balls and smoking cigars. To understand the beauty of the game, you first have to understand how playing it can be an activity to test your competitive spirit whi...

  The book I chose was “My Life on the Road” by Gloria Steinem. I chose this book because I’ve been wanting to experience the kind of life that the author writes about. So far, in the book, she has given reasons for why she travels and talks about how her dad inspired her to do so. In the beginning of the book, she points out how the identity-finding main character in most narratives is male and that most females are shown to want to stay home. She outlines how her travels break this convention and hopes they can inspire other women to do the same.  The first part of the book is about her father. He showed her what a nomadic lifestyle was and raised her on the road. She uses a great metaphor in that chapter to describe her dad which made me a bit introspective. About her dad, she says, “He was a sailor, not a sailmaker. He wouldn’t stay behind in a port or an oasis while ships or caravans passed by. He was always moving on.” This quote made me think about my life and my plans....

My Commercial Real Estate Internship Real Estate Debt Originations Intern The Company Over the summer, I had an internship at a real estate debt financing company in Los Angeles. In essence,  the company makes loans to real estate investors, and I worked on the team that helped find and execute the deals. That group is called the originations team, and a few of the team’s responsibilities are as follows: Bring in deals by establishing connections with brokers and other industry decision-makers.  Perform due diligence on a prospective investment (analyzing or assessing the risk).  Present the analysis of the deal to an investment committee before closing. Debt originations The debt side of the real estate business is all about assessing the risk of an asset and determining if it fits the company’s desired risk level before investing. It’s like assessing how likely it is that you’ll get your money back when you lend it to a friend. If the friend has a job, has paid you bac...