At age 28, Farnoosh Torabi's No. 1 priority is work, a lifestyle decision that has allowed the 2002 Penn State graduate to journey from State College to the big city and establish herself as a journalist in New York. She'll be returning to her alma matter from March 26 to 28 to discuss her success and offer advice to students.
"It's been a fast track," she said. "It's been a lot of work ... It's the time to climb the steep learning curve."
Although Torabi graduated with a degree in finance and international business, journalism was the career route she took.
"When I was graduating, Enron was imploding. There were all these scandals at all these companies we trusted. I wasn't so interested in the number crunching, but in the stories behind the companies," Torabi said.
Torabi is known best for her business reports on TheStreet.com television, where she covers news ranging from personal finance to changes in the stock market.
"It's not the glamour of being on television," she said. "I do my own makeup. But it really opened the doors to bigger challenges. Before I was working locally, but now I'm working nationally."
Torabi attributes her first internship to the fact that she and her employer shared an alma mater. She also feels that Penn State is a fantastic training ground for the real world.
"It's an amazing alumni association around the country and really around the world. You high-five people on the streets of Manhattan when they're wearing a Penn State T-shirt. I never thought that Penn State would have so much value in my life," she said.
She went on to explain that she is overwhelmed with the support from Penn State since her graduation.
"If you're someone who can strive at Penn State, you can strive in real life. It's kinda cliché, but it's kinda the story of my life," Torabi said.
After attending Penn State for undergraduate school, Torabi went through the fast-track journalism program at Columbia University.
From there, she went on to work at NY1 News, and since then has been featured on programs on channels such as CNN, MSNBC and ABC, in addition to being published in numerous magazines.
"I was just excited to be in New York and to be doing what I loved. You just have to be persistent and invest a lot of your time in your job," she said.
The best advice Torabi has for college students is to work hard and to be persistent.
"What you learn in school is only a fraction of what you need to know for your job. Never say 'no' to work. You have to be a busy body not in an obnoxious way, but be constantly helping people because it will be returned to you in the future," she said.
Though she worked hard herself, she acknowledges that timing and being street smart in general had a lot to do with her success.
"It's luck in knowing great people, taking chances, and being in the right place at the right time, which is what TheStreet.com was for me," she said. "You never know when someone is going to give you a name of someone who will go on to write a book."
Torabi's first book, You're So Money, will arrive in stores April 15.
She said that her book is about how to live rich even when you're not.
"I don't really get into the technical stuff about finance but more the smart things to do to help you invest, to be a better leader and to be in charge of your every dollar and cent," she explained.
The concept behind the book is to help readers establish priorities and a hierarchy of wants and needs, she said.
"I ask people what they really want with their lives. Not like I want an iPod, but like core values. Do you want a family? Is work your No. 1? Do you want to live in the city?" she said. "If you just spend some time putting things in order of importance, you can see your spending in a new way."
One of Torabi's goals for the book is to have it create open discussion about money.
"I want this book to be a launching pad for how young people think about money," she said. "I'm not here to tell you how to run your life, but I'm here to ask you how you want to run your life. It's the first step to managing finances."
