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How a transplant from Houston found his place in Tulsa.
I am among the youngest of the “Young” in Tulsa’s Young Professionals (TYPros). Little more than 10 months into my career as a budding lawyer, I can’t provide any perspective on where life as a professional takes you. What I can offer is insight into how a young professional from Texas ends up in Tulsa to lay down roots and build his career, from the ground up.
Happenstance brought me to Tulsa. I grew up on the outskirts of Houston and ventured not more than 100 miles from home to attend Texas A&M University in College Station. Without a concrete career path in mind, I found myself one year out of college recognizing that it was time to make my entrée into the legal profession.
Unfortunately, because I had missed the application cycle, it looked as if law school would be yet another year off. However, in a remarkable twist of fate, I managed to short-circuit the application cycle and was sitting in my first class at The University of Tulsa College of Law in less than a month.
All of this is to say that I have no familial ties, no lifelong friendships, no sentiments or memories — i.e., none of the intangibles that motivate an individual to situate his/her life in any given place — associated with Tulsa that predate law school. As I approach the conclusion of my fourth year in Tulsa, I now have all of the above.
Nevertheless, embarking on a career in a city where you feel like an “outsider” in a profession where you need to be an “insider” is a bit daunting. So what did I do? First, I took full advantage of another remarkable twist of fate. My mother-in-law (my wife was a law school classmate and native of Muskogee) ran into a co-worker at the Muskogee Walmart, and their conversation revealed that the coworker’s brother worked for a Tulsa law firm that was looking for attorneys. I promptly applied for a position with the law firm — GlassWilkin pc — and within three days I was hired as an associate attorney.
Second, I got involved with TYPros. Because my professional interests lie at the crossroads of business and law, I got involved with TYPros’ Business Development and Government Relations crews. In yet another remarkable twist of fate, the Business Development Crew was, at the time I joined, forming a Business Policy and Advocacy subcrew, intended to bridge Business Development and Government Relations. My background and interests were perfectly suited to assuming leadership of the subcrew, and I immediately found myself the designated subcrew leader.
My involvement with TYPros — and my firm’s support of TYPros’ business incubator, The Forge — also afforded me the opportunity to provide the legal assistance required by The Forge in its final push toward its grand opening on June 23, 2010.
So what is to be learned from my experience? First, when opportunity comes knocking, answer the door. Second, become a member of TYPros. Third, become an active and engaged member of TYPros. It is only through involvement with TYPros that you will begin to recognize the countless opportunities available to young professionals in Tulsa.
Discover for yourself.
