Juwan Blocker is what many people would call a go-getter, and at the age of 28, he already has a long resume.
Blocker, who grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, became involved in local politics as a teenager, lobbying the Hyattsville City Council and serving as a student member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education.
He graduated from Bowie State University and went on to land the title of deputy legislative director and special assistant to former Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot.
But when Franchot announced his retirement, Blocker said, “I was left to figure out what I was going to do next.”
It was more than the loss of a job, Blocker said, it was a loss of identity.
In the D.C. area, and especially in politics, he said people often default to introducing themselves by using their titles.
“When we start off with the title … we believe it signals some form of authority or that ‘I belong,'” he said.
Without the title he’d grown accustomed to, “I crumbled,” Blocker said. “I felt like broken glass once I no longer had those positions and no longer had that access.”
After leaving politics, there were several detours — and some fiscal challenges — before he went through a weight-loss journey and entered the police academy.
Blocker had already been given his police uniform when, at week 19, he failed to pass the emergency vehicle driving course.
“And I had to leave the academy — so what did that mean? That meant that I lost the stability that I thought I had,” he said.
It was a devastating blow: “I broke down in tears and I felt like I let my family down and I also felt like I let my agency down because my agency paid for me to be in that academy,” he said.
Once again, he was confronted with the loss of identity and a need to reconnect to a sense of purpose.
But not for long.
Blocker said he had been contemplating launching a podcast for young people for some time. At first, he thought he’d focus on something health-related given his own path to fitness.
But then, he decided to take his own experiences to offer a forum for other young professionals dealing with a challenging job market while they work to determine their own sense of self.
Considering the job losses experienced by tens of thousands of federal workers of all ages, Blocker knew he’d include those voices in his podcast as well.
On “The Meet Up Podcast” launching May 1, he interviews a range of guests about their own experiences, touching on the topics of mental health, faith, careers, identity and more.
The focus of the podcast, he said, is “to not only talk about these issues, but to let other folks know that they’re not alone.”
Blocker said it sounds cliche to remind people that others may be in the same boat, but, “it’s something different when everybody says it out loud: ‘Hey, I’m also struggling and trying to figure out who I am or I’m nervous and I’m scared because I don’t know what’s going to happen to me once I no longer have this job or this position.'”
Blocker already has one season recorded, and for the next season he’ll feature, “experts in job-hunting … that can hopefully provide practical skills and not just inspiration to help folks out.”
At the same time, Blocker said he’s still on the job hunt.
“That’s why I put my all behind this podcast, because it’s based upon my current and personal real lived experiences,” Blocker said.
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