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Margot Lee’s parents encouraged her to find a niche during her first year at Syracuse University, but none of the spaces Lee explored felt like the right fit. It wasn’t until Julia Haber, a junior at the time, dropped in on one of Lee’s classes that a potential career path, entrepreneurship, piqued Lee’s interest.

Haber created spaces for ambitious students, but Lee wasn’t quite ready to start a business without a clear vision. So, Haber took Lee under her wing.

“Not only do we have an amazing business relationship, but we have a deep, long-lasting friendship from that too,” Haber said.

Lee, Class of 2020, and Haber, Class of 2018, returned to their alma mater Wednesday evening in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium for a panel discussion. The event launched “In the Margins,” a prompt-filled journal to guide students through career-readiness and pivoting professional trajectories. “In the Margins” is offered at the SU Campus Store, debuting with a chat with Haber and Lee on Thursday.

SU students and professors gathered to engage in the discussion. Robinson dedicated the first 45 minutes of the panel to Q&A between herself, Lee and Haber, then handed the microphone over to the crowd. Questions ranged from the art of cold calls to introspection and professional life.

A student chimed in to ask for networking tips, and Haber bluntly responded, “It needs to be validated that networking is scary.” It’s a process that requires a young professional to approach outreach as a long-term relationship that shows their worth overtime, she said.

Haber is the co-founder and CEO of Home From College, a digital career platform that offers students opportunities at the ground floors of their professional journeys. Once an advertising major, she gained background as a sales intern at both Spotify and Snapchat during college, helping the brands navigate the student demographic.

In her roles, she was exposed to many companies’ difficulties in finding motivated students to promote the brands, especially when many students are already juggling uncertain futures.

As a junior, Haber bridged this gap by founding WAYV, a venture that hosted experiential activations for brand partners to connect with student influencers. The start-up lasted until May 2020. Two years later, Home From College was born.

Lee also graduated as an advertising major and now works as an entrepreneur, content creator and digital brand consultant. She shared her input on networking, especially relating to Gen Z. Lee learned the significance of being a good person and understanding professional outreach as a two-way street during her time as a WAYV intern in her senior year, she said.

Lee tied these ideas to her current role as the founder of No Particular Order, a brand that creates journals to help people “reflect, plan, remember, manifest, and play.”

Margot Lee advised young adults to be aware of who is in the room and focus on professional outreach at the panel discussion she participated in on Wednesday. Lee also promoted the launch of her journal, targeted to emerging professionals, “In the Margins.” Eli Schwartz | Contributing Photographer

“In the Margins” was a collaboration between Haber’s Home From College and Lee’s No Particular Order, created through personal experiences and gathering insight from students and mentors, Lee said. When a student asked Lee to share her favorite “In the Margins” prompt, Lee reached for a copy of the journal and opened it with a smile and laugh.

“It’s like picking a favorite child,” she joked.

SU senior Lauren Holdmeyer, a broadcast and digital journalism major, was one of many students to attend the panel, but only one of a handful to ask Lee and Haber a question. Holdmeyer said she has followed Lee on social media and related to her content for as long as she can remember.

Last spring, Holdmeyer studied abroad in London at the same time Lee was in the city. Holdmeyer remembered Lee’s social media posts about the struggles that can come with adapting to a foreign country.

“(Lee) made me feel comfortable in places that I’ve felt uncomfortable at first,” Holdmeyer said.

A couple of Haber and Lee’s past Newhouse professors also stopped by to hear the panel and reconnect with their former students. Corey Takahashi, a magazine, news and digital journalism associate professor, taught both alums in COM 117: Multimedia Storytelling and other communications courses. He admires them for being unconventional and breaking new ground, he said.

“We encouraged them to take risks and they were students who really seized on that,” Takahashi said. “I’m glad they get to inspire students now.”

Lee was adamant about accepting the unpredictability of your path. “In the Margins” can help play a role in students’ understanding of themselves, inside and outside their careers. In a culture that often pushes toward wellness and transformation, it’s easy for people to lose themselves, Lee said.

“Helping you get to know you always grounds me when we’re coming up with new products,” Lee said. “(I want to) make sure it doesn’t feel like it’s a departure from who you know yourself as.”

Published on September 4, 2025 at 1:58 am
Contact Savannah: sfstewar@syr.edu