About Mario
My name is Mario Schulzke and I am the founder of CareerSparx. I am originally from Germany and came to the U.S. as an exchange student when I was 16 years old. What I was envisioning to be a year of sunshine and beach life turned into living on a ranch in rural Montana. But I loved it, and ended up going to the school at the University of Montana. Upon graduation, I immediately took a full-time job with an advertising agency. The pay was good, but the experience wasn’t. I wasn’t learning enough, and there were no great people for me to learn from.
So, much to my mother’s dismay, I quit and moved to Seattle, where I spent the next six months sleeping on a friend-of-a-friend’s floor. Why? To be able to do an internship at a company that I absolutely dreamed of working for. I reported directly to the president of the company, and my pay was limited to a free bus pass and whatever leftover lunches were available after client meetings.
I went from a comfortable job to an unpaid internship. I had nothing – no car, no cell phone, no girlfriend. Yet, it was the smartest decision I’ve ever made. Because that unpaid internship was the perfect spark to what has been a pretty successful career so far.
At 29, I am now a senior director at that very company. I sit on the board of advisors at the University of Montana, started instructing college students at the age of 23, published a book that was featured on “20/20” and am the founder of IdeaMensch. Along the way I also received my green card, bought my first home and picked up a pretty lazy cat named Otto.
Later this year, I am going to attempt my first Ironman.