Nicole DeBlois Greene played hockey at Boston College the first year the womens team was in Division I in the 1990s -- an experience that she says couldve been a huge failure.?Now a senior global relationships manager at a financial services technology company, she said shes learned that every potential failure is a stepping stone to the next opportunity, and that finding a work-life balance has been critical to her happiness. Shes become a dedicated endurance athlete and volunteers to help current BC student-athletes connect with alumni and members of the community.?We talked to Greene, a 1999 graduate, about her transition from being a student-athlete to working in the professional world.This interview has been edited for length.espnW: How did you feel when you were about to leave college and (essentially) your athletic career? What was going through your mind? Nicole Greene:?I had a decision to make when I was a senior in college. I had the opportunity to go internationally and play for one more year; I had a number of friends who were doing that. Or I had to decide if I wanted to go into the workforce. And honestly I had a great four years at BC, but I was ready to hang up my skates for a bit and really decided that I wanted to make some money.And so I started my search really early. I had my job in October of my senior year, so honestly I was psyched, it was awesome. I knew I had a job going out of school, I was entering into my last year playing, and I was taking it all in, just, This is it. And Im going to take this time and make sure I really enjoy it and get everything that I can out of it.I was looking forward to putting a close on where I was and going into something new.espnW: How did you come across that job, and what did you do to put yourself in that position?NG:?I was thinking about it early, and I do think kids today are thinking about it as early, but people werent saying as early as their junior year, Okay, how am I going to get a job a year from now? I had been thinking about it, but even before that, I was really trying to stack up my resume.I held a job, even though it was a job on campus, I held an unpaid internship that I worked in between. It wasnt this big long-term thing because I knew I couldnt do that. So I found something that I could put on my resume that was literally two hours a week.It was these smaller things so that at least I could put some experience on my resume. And then when I went into my career search, I talked all about the fact that I had done these things, and I was a Division I athlete. I think it was a game-changer in what I could offer because I could clearly show that, one, I could take on many hats and, two, I had time management.That whole idea of having a story to tell was my biggest thing: how do I do all of these things and do them well? How do you take these small chunks and make a story out of them?espnW: How did your first couple of years out of college go? What did you do? NG:?I was a management consultant. It was a great first experience. I got into it because my dad sat down with me at the end of my junior year and was like, What do you want to do? And I was like, I have no idea. The idea of consulting was, let me go out there, Ill be able to see a bunch of different companies, do a bunch of different roles and figure out what I like. That was how I decided to pursue management consulting.What was so crazy is, I was literally working 100-hour weeks. Like, Friday night, 2 a.m., Im going home, fighting with the people who are leaving the bar for a cab to go home.It was awesome in the fact that I did get that experience. But I also went from skating and having the time to invest in working out to like, Oh my gosh, now Im sitting behind a desk from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. That was probably the hardest part of working, not being able to find that balance my first two years out, and it took me some time to figure that out.espnW: Since college, what choices have you made to set you up for where you are now?NG:?One of the big choices was to get a life outside of work. Since college, Ive become an endurance athlete. Ive run more than 47 marathons, Ive done an Iron Man, Ive climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Ive run a marathon two days later and won my division, Ive done a 130-mile, six-day run around Ireland. If you know me, you know that Im passionate about being able to push my boundaries, even outside of the workplace.Finding a balance for me was hard, but I came to find out that it was critical for me being happy.The other thing I do is, Im a significant volunteer at Boston College. I wanted to be able to stay involved in sports, so I got involved in BC. The whole idea of, how can I give something back to the students, specifically the athletes at BC.espnW: What lessons did you take from being an athlete that have applied to your working life? NG:?I have this famous quote that I hang above my desk, and its all about how you dont live inside the gray, and you go for it. And in everything that I do -- even though there are times when I go for things and I might fail completely -- it always leads to something else, and theres a stepping stone.I will tell you that I learned that from being an athlete. I learned that you just give it your all, there are times you are going to fail, but at the same time, youre just going to keep going. It allows for some really cool things. I always say that, when youre living outside the gray, youre uncomfortable, thats when the magic happens. Thats when you get to meet really cool people, thats when you get to do really cool things. Those are the times you get those butterflies in your stomach, and I learned that from being an athlete and pushing forward through the failures.When I went to BC, we were the first year in Division I. They were recruiting, and they said, Youll be our first recruiting class in Division I, itd be really cool, and Im like, This will be awesome! Of course my dad in the back of his mind was like, This is going to be a lot harder than you think.So we show up on the ice Oct. 1, we get on for captains practice, and three people show up in figure skates. And I remember being like, What did I just do?. We maybe won four games of my freshman year, and I just remember being like, Oh my god, oh my god. But honestly, just sticking with it through that and the experience, and now I see where the team is, and its just such a cool thing to be a part of and to look back on 20 years ago.You couldve looked at it as a failure, but at the same time, when you look back over the span of it, its great to see what theyve accomplished.espnW: Whats unique about BC thats helped you in your professional life, or what advice would you give to your college-aged self? NG:?I do have the advantage that I stayed in the Boston area. But I will tell you, people who have gone to BC bleed maroon and gold, and I have taken that and leveraged the crap out of it -- from a networking perspective, from a volunteer perspective, you name it. And I have just met the coolest people by doing that, by saying I went to Boston College and being involved. And I believe that is semi-unique about Boston College, that people who went to BC want to talk about the fact that they went to BC, and it really has opened up some doors.espnW: What do you wish you knew before graduating that you know now? NG:?To trust myself a little bit more. To trust that I know who I am and that I wasnt alone in that. If I just couldve spoken up a little bit more -- not in the sense of I didnt talk in the classroom -- but I really was trying to figure out who I was.When I think back now, the things that Ive learned over the last 20 years is that I do actually know myself and that there are people going through anything that youre going through. And speak up about it, rather than take it all in and wonder, I dont know if this is right. Cheap NFL Jerseys CHina . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Wholesale Jerseys China . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. http://www.wholesalejerseyschinaauthenticstore.com/ . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move.BOSTON -- Claude Julien doesnt pay much attention to compliments or criticism. And hes had plenty of both. Just give him a pair of skates, players to teach and a spot behind the bench and the coach of the Boston Bruins is thrilled. The low-key Julien says that if he could come to work every day and leave the rink without anyone knowing who he was hed be very happy. BBut its tough to be anonymous when youre three wins away from your second Stanley Cup championship in three years.dddddddddddd The Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks play Game 3 of the Cup finals on Monday night with the series tied at one game apiece. The Blackhawks won the opener 4-3. The Bruins took the next game 2-1. Both were overtime games in Chicago. ' ' '