Career Paths

By the time that he was 24, Thomas Mickens had at least 20 luxury cars, 20 properties, a 38-foot yacht, a series of businesses, and 50 employees. By the time he was 26, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Mickens was released five years ago, with an entrepreneurial spark just as bright. No longer the...

There's been much debate as to why women only make up just 4.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Is it discrimination? The high-pressure atmosphere? Women's failure to "lean in"? A new study suggests another possible explanation: business can be dirty work, and women would rather stay clean. Past research has found...

Donna Read never planned to spend the rest of her life working at a grocery store. But the decent wages and great benefits kept her there for 12 years, until she was fired last summer. At age 58, Read fell into poverty, and into a depression that kept her in bed for three months. But now Read is going back to...

Warrior Spirit Band band members Paul Delacerda, King Burton, Sean Foster and Levon Ingram at Rock 4 Recovery. Paul Delacerda has had a long road to his current job as the drummer for a touring rock band composed entirely of wounded military veterans. When he left the Army in 2009, he faced a difficult...

In Troy, Michigan, an affluent city just north of Detroit, there is a 14,000-square-foot warehouse full of hemorrhoid creams, vaginal tighteners, anal bleachers, home enema systems, lots of vibrators, and a special room, where those vibrators undergo what may be the most scientific testing in the world of sex...

Only six weeks after Justin Constantine left his job as a lawyer and arrived in Iraq, the Marine reservist was shot in the face. It was a sniper attack. Stopping to inspect an Iraqi police station that had been shot out the night before, he cautiously exited a vehicle and a bullet entered behind his left ear,...

By Tony Manfred Joe LaCava might be the smartest man in golf. In May 2011 LaCava was hired by 25-year-old Dustin Johnson. Johnson was widely regarded as America's Next Great Golfer, and it seemed like an ideal gig for the veteran caddie. That summer Johnson won the Barclays and finished in the top 10 three...

By Aaron Smith Guns and ammo are selling briskly these days, and that means weapons makers are hiring. Some manufacturers are scrambling to find enough workers. Mike Weddle, head of maintenance at Dynamic Research Technologies, an ammunition manufacturer in Albany, Mo., says he is adding 10 new hires to his...

By Susan Donaldson James When Philip Wiederspan began teaching first-grade at age 25, he was the only male, except for the gym teacher. His former New Jersey college friends would look at him in shock when they learned his profession: "How can you do that? You must have a lot of patience." "It requires a lot...