Katherine Schwarzenegger, She Just Graduated, Now What?

It was so much fun interviewing Katherine Schwarzenegger, the eldest daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver at Barnes & Noble at Huntington Beach. She was sharp and friendly during the interview. We talked about her latest book, “I just Graduated, Now what?” I thought this book was only for college and high school graduates but as I was reading it, I realized it is also applicable to everyday life. Katherine mentioned in her introduction the idea of pausing. She got this idea from her mom Maria who gave a commencement speech at Katherine’s graduation from The Annenberg School at USC in May 2012. Maria offered the advice to the graduates, “Pausing allows you take the beat- to take a breath in your life.” As a mom, this advice I will surely pass on to my three boys.

Going back to the book, if you are currently working or looking for a job, this book has helpful tips to be a notch up, no matter how old you are. Through her interviews, you’ll learn how successful people like Anderson Cooper, Eva Longoria, Andy Cohen and Jared Eng found their success in their career. And because I’m a pop culture buff, my favorite interviews are of Andy Cohen, Top TV Executive of Bravo/Host of “Watch What Happens Live” and Jared Eng founder of JustJared.com.

As she arrived at Barnes and Noble in Huntington Beach, I noticed Katherine’s warm yet elegant smile. She was dressed in blue skinny jeans, a white shirt and a black sweater with two layered necklaces, Katherine exuded confidence.

I was able to ask a few fans some questions while eagerly waiting for her. Lisa from Huntington Beach said, “I’m here because I’d like to find out how she compiled her book, the people she selected and why she selected them, and just her experience writing the book.” Another fan named Pamela from Hacienda Heights mentioned that, “I’m here because I want to see her in person and I’m also intrigued by her book and get her prospective why she wanted to write the book and it’s nice to know why she wrote it because there are a lot of people who don’t know what to do after graduation and not a lot of us go to the field we graduated with.”

Katherine Schwarzenegger Interview follows. Special thanks to Megan P.

Popbuff: Who or what was your inspiration to write your latest book?
KS: My inspiration for writing the book was graduating college and having a ridiculous ton of anxiety about not knowing what I was going to do next. I graduated from USC almost two years ago and had no idea what I was going to do. I was really nervous, anxious, and scared about what my next chapter in my life would be and I realized that my friends also felt the same way. So I kinda wanted to speak to that anxiety and I decided that when I graduated, it would be really helpful for me that I had something like this book to kinda ease my mind and ease the transition from college into the real world so I decided to do this book and interview over 31 successful people about their anxiety, their time of struggling and feeling lost and how they got to where they are today.

Popbuff: What do you like most about book signing events?
KS: What I look forward to the most is meeting people and hearing their stories. With my first book I love being able to go to the book signing and having people talk to me how happy they were that I wrote this book. With this book also it’s been a very similar response of “That such a good idea, I wish I had that one when I graduated.” The idea that I would have worked on for a year and a half and people really enjoying it definitely is nice to hear.

Popbuff: What is your favorite thing to do aside from writing and reporting?
KS: I would say my favorite thing is to do anything with my family. I’m a huge family person so anything that I’m able to do with them is number 1 on my list. Also, I have a lifestyle website so I’m doing that full time and that is something I do everyday which I absolutely love doing because I’m obsessed with everything under the umbrella of lifestyle.

I’m not one who likes to rule things out before trying them but coming from a family that was involved with politics; I can go ahead and rule that out.

Popbuff: Who do you admire or look up to?
KS: Obviously I really look up to and admire my mom.  I’m able to ask her whatever is on my mind. I really admire her career path and everything that she had done in her life and the journey that she had. I also admire and look up to and have slight obsession with Beyonce. I really admire her for being who she is. I also admire her for how she chooses to live her life and conduct herself in her relationships, her personal life and also her public life. She’s also someone who makes incredible music that I listen to all day long.

Popbuff: Do you have a city that you’d like to establish your career someday?
KS: I would think of moving to New York but I’m pretty set of living in LA and I am born and raised in LA. I love LA with all my heart so I think LA is definitely the best city for me but I will be open to spending some time in New York.

Popbuff: How do you see yourself 10 years from now?
KS: I hope I am doing something that I love and that I am surrounded by my friends and family and most importantly that I am happy.

Popbuff: Do you have any plans of entering showbiz or politics?
KS: No, absolutely never doing anything in politics I can definitely tell you that. I’m not one who likes to rule things out before trying them but coming from a family that was involved with politics; I can go ahead and rule that out. Whatever else comes my way I think I would deal with it then.

Popbuff: What is your advice to your generation who are starting their careers?
KS: I think the biggest take away from doing this book would be that when you graduate college, you’re young, this is the time where you can make mistakes, you can enter the real world, you can dabble in different career path but also know that there is no specific way that you can take to be successful. There are so many different journeys that people take now, so different paths that people take to get where they are and I think the difference between people graduating college today that there are so many different opportunities out there so don’t think that because you’re doing something different that you’re not going to be as successful as people in this book.