Shoan’s Investing Journey Reflection 

I had the pleasure to interview another classmate about their subculture. My partner was Shoan Chowdhury, who talked passionately about the investment and economic world and how it pertains to his personal and financial goals. The procedure was recorded and had pre-drafted questions, which as you can imagine, induced continuous conversation about our own interests, as well as our aspirations in life. 

The main objective was to get to know the interviewee through this particular subculture and understand just what this subculture means in regard to who they are as a person. I intended that the potential audience would be those interested in an investor’s life; what makes him tick and how he balances that with his academics. Although he’s just getting started, it doesn’t take away from the potential in his words. Shoan talked highly about his expectations of the future but he never once rejected failure. He insinuated that failure is expected, if not, inevitable. With confident words, he would be able to reach those interested in investing to talk about the beginning stages, and common jargon to know. However, if they want expertise that went deep into the aftermath of success, this is not for them. After all, it’s only been a few months since Shoan started.  

Those interested in an interview about investing are bound to be interested in various topics regarding financial success and independence. Along with the stereotypes stated in the interview, and acknowledged by Shoan himself, the goal to be financially independent is the main goal when learning about investing. I would say this is an interest that the audience and I share. While we talked about his experience in investing, the interview-style essay helped communicate that I, too, have always wanted to dabble in this field of subculture. In a way, I am a part of the audience. I was the audience’s voice when I asked these questions, hitting all points that a beginner would want to know about investing. 

As for the writing process, recording the interview was the first beneficial step I took toward the essay. If it wasn’t for that, the essay would not have been as detailed. I was able to go back to his reactions at any point in the process. The only taxing part was how long we had talked. I did not imagine that the interview would go for as long as it did, so when I reached a certain topic in the essay and lost my place in the Zoom recording, it was difficult to find it again. The recording was over 2 hours long! However, it still served positively to my writing. 

My initial reaction to this assignment was panic. I am an introvert naturally so to talk to a person about my interests, one I just met, induced a lot of anxiety at first. However, I believe I actually impressed myself with how natural the interview went. I tried my best to not let that part of myself translate onto the writing, as it was more about Shoan than me. When it came down to peer review, Shoan and I talked about how we both wanted to sound. We had several conversations before the interview about what we wanted and after the interview about how the writing process would go. We both referred to interview-style writings in the textbook multiple times to further prove the exact writing style we both were hoping to achieve. I believe this was the most important part because I did not want to portray Shoan in a manner he would not intend himself. Although I am the writer, my goal was to expand on his feelings towards the subculture to further tell his story, and stripping that away, would be a disservice, not only to him but to the audience. Therefore, we shared a lot of what we wrote about each other so we could make sure what we wrote was accurate and could not be negatively misconstrued by the audience.

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