"The call." You know what I'm talking about. The call that makes or breaks a deal, a heart or something else very important. Sometimes "the call" is unexpected. I received one of these earlier this spring when UCLA called out of the blue, inviting me to be a panelist at Alumni Day. The panel was to be called The Good Life, and my co-stars would include a VP/TV judge from The Food Network (Susie Fogelson), a Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic from the LA Times (Jonathan Gold AKA @thejgold to his Tweeps), a food radio maven/resto-preneur hottie (Evan Kleiman, like myself hailing from both UCLA undergrad & the Anderson MBA program) and a lovely culinary book/TV impresario (Amy E. Goodman). I must admit I practically shouted "YES" to the folks on the other end of the phone. It was a totally un-cool moment, one in which I completely geeked out and gushed to excess - and one in which I knew that, well, I'm in love with UCLA. And UCLA loves me back.

Posted by Courtney at 12:47 PM •