It was the summer of 2008. I was a rising college senior at Villanova University doing a summer internship for an investment management firm. I was working in downtown San Francisco and commuting from my makeshift attic room in a Berkeley frat house. My floor served as a kitchen table where breakfast and dinner often comprised cereal.

Unbeknownst to me, the world was teetering on the brink of the worst global financial crisis in over 90 years. Life was simpler yet distinctively different back then. Without an iPhone, my connections to friends were maintained through AOL’s AIM, and my use of Facebook was a far cry from today’s norms.

Amid these times, I was about to graduate into an economic turmoil unprecedented in recent history. Studying finance and economics, I was unwittingly preparing for an era shaped by financial upheaval.

Yet, amidst this impending downturn, I was unknowingly laying the groundwork for a future endeavor: securing my second paying client for PathSpark. This was a path the 2008 version of myself would never have envisioned.

During that internship, I was part of a small team, quickly learning that finance was synonymous with Microsoft Excel. My tasks involved collecting, organizing, and analyzing market and economic data for one of my managers.

This manager, always supportive of my career aspirations, would often share valuable advice over coffee or lunch. I vividly recall an end-of-internship lunch where she imparted some final wisdom about the journey ahead.

Flash forward nearly fifteen years later, her nephew is my second client. She will be his coach, the first person to coach other than me.

The point of this story?

You never know who is listening, so put yourself out there.

You never know the impact of your presence, so always make an effort to engage.

My manager was aware of my PathSpark endeavors through LinkedIn, which reconnected us years later. Reaching out to her on a whim, I discovered she was mentoring her high school nephew. She related to my work at PathSpark, having sought a mentoring framework online only to find confusion instead of clarity.

This story underlines a vital truth: Every social interaction or experience with others is an opportunity to create a connection or relationship.

Say hi, be a good person, do your job right, and stay in touch. You just never know how things will turn out.