Stevens recently launched Duck2Duck, a new series of events that brings back alumni to discuss life after Stevens. The first event brought back Marques Brownlee ’15, an online content creator known for his tech-review YouTube channel, MKBHD, boasting over 16 million subscribers. He is also a semi-professional frisbee player in the American Ultimate Disc League. He also is widely considered to be one of the best tech reviewers online. What many people don’t know is that before all the success and fame, Brownlee was just another Stevens student attending classes and playing on the ultimate frisbee team. Brownlee was one of the first graduates from the School of Business. He majored in Business and Technology with concentrations in marketing and information systems.
Brownlee has been making videos for 13 years now. Whenever he wasn’t doing homework or playing frisbee, he was making videos, even during the summer, when most students will take up internships or go on vacation. Although he never intended to make a full-time career out of his passion, his dedication to content creation and love for technology paved the way.
Brownlee is no stranger to interviews. He was just a teenager In December 2015 when he interviewed professional NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant. Since then, he has gone on to interview high-profile personalities such as President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. In December 2020, Brownlee was listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 for the technology section.
Brownlee has grown his brand beyond the at-home tech reviews we’ve all come to know. He has a podcast, Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast, and a new car-focused YouTube channel, cleverly called: AutoFocus. He now has a production team and studio that help him create content.
At the end of the event was Q&A session open to the attendees. It was at this point that he revealed his interest in creating technology in the near future. What that entails, we don’t know as he didn’t reveal any more information on the matter. He also advised students to have a digital fingerprint, specifically having their own YouTube channel or website so as to display their skills and passion to prospective employers. A lot of attendees asked him tech-related questions.
Brownlee really showed how humble he is when an attendee asked for a photo. He came down from the stage and took a BeReal selfie alongside the attendee. Marquees Brownlee talked a lot about his life after graduating, and the tech industry, but he also imparted some wise words of advice: “finding something you’re passionate about often requires trying a lot of different stuff, but once you find that thing it kind of becomes a no-brainer.” For Brownlee, that no-brainer was technology and content creation. We should all aspire to be a little bit like Marques Brownlee, but this shouldn’t be confused with imitation. The event was a success and the Stevens community looks forward to the next Duck2Duck event. The full event can be accessed on the Stevens YouTube Channel.
Be First to Comment