My Interview with Peter Stephens

What’s up, world!  Hope all is well and that you are enjoying the beginning of your week.  This week I decided to depart from the typical accounts of everyday life in order to focus on my informational interview with international trade specialist Peter Stephens.  For those who are planning to come to The Washington Center, you'll have an assignment to interview someone in the DC area who is in a position that you would like to have at some point in your professional career. 
        
Ever since I was in high school, I had always wanted to attend law school and pursue a career in international trade law.  As an undergraduate at the University of San Diego, I chose International Relations as a major and Economics as one of my minors (the other in Spanish) as potential precursors to my future studies in international trade law.  Therefore, I felt it would be fitting for me to interview someone like Peter Stephens, a man with 19 years of public policy experience in international trade law.  The opportunity that I had to interview him has helped shape my future career path.

Peter Stephens is currently the vice president for the National Council for Community and Educational Partnerships (NCCEP), an organization devoted to helping to provide education for the students that, according to the organization’s website, are “most often left behind”.  However, he also has extensive public policy experience especially with regards to international trade.  He was the director for governmental affairs at the Council of the Americas, where he served as the U.S. private sector representative to the free trade area for the Americas, worked on Trade Promotion Authority and the official North American Free Trade Organization (NAFTA) annual report card.

We first talked about the amazing opportunities that Washington D.C. can provide for my professional career as an international trade lawyer or as someone interested in public service.  He alluded to how amazing it was that so many prominent contacts around the DC area are more readily accessible than one may believe.  From all of the lectures, seminars, and other events that I have attended all semester long, what he mentioned seems to be very accurate.  What I also noticed about Washington is just how diverse the population is, mainly because so many public service officials, whether they are working at the local, regional, or international level, work in the D.C. area and come from so many different parts of the world.

From that point on, our discussion revolved around several different topics, among them relevant economic schools of thought in today’s global economy and their implications, the importance of opening up trade opportunities with more countries and the merits of going straight to law school after college versus taking time off to work.
  
We both seemed to agree that governments on the whole have grown, yet at the same time, the growth of nation’s governments and economies have meant a greater interdependence on other countries.  As a result, Stephens argues, more countries need to open up their markets to help spur growth within their own economies. When he mentioned that subject, I specifically thought back to the Pakistani Military Seminar that my internship at NESA held, when a Pakistani Air Commodore once asked in one of the discussion panels about the possibility of the United States opening trade relations with Pakistan.  I then turned that question over to Mr. Stephens. He emphatically supported opening up trade and saw it as important because of Pakistan's ability to produce goods and distribute them at low prices.    
 
While I didn't resolve my internal debate about whether or not to go directly to law school post-college by taking with Mr. Stephens, he did give me some great advice. First of all, he suggested that if I ultimately take time off, I should not let myself get sucked into the thought of working and making money, which could prevent me from advancing my professional career.  I also greatly appreciated his candor when he mentioned that I will never really know what the “correct” decision to make is until I jump into a particular situation and see how it plays out.
  
I greatly appreciated the opportunity to chat with Mr. Stephens about his career path and how my path could potentially be shaped. With all of what I have learned at the interview in mind, I feel confident that I will be able to make good decisions whenever that time comes. 
        
Next week, I plan to discuss my trip to the NEWSeum and the Senior Executive Seminar that NESA held a little while back.  Until then, take care, and hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.  Peace!