Bryan Baste | Staff Writer
In 2024, Jayson Read, a master’s student who graduated with a dual major in International Business and finance was finishing his master’s degree in the International MBA program and a Master of Science in Finance when he had a brilliant idea.
Read had already gained experience in student media, participating in the university’s student radio station, WRGP 95.3 The Roar, and starting his own show, The Copacetic Communion Blues Show. At the same time, he was a sophomore in undergrad.
The Copacetic Communion Blues Show was the longest-running show on FIU’s student radio, with 100 episodes aired, each episode being 2 hours long.
“I’ve always, of course, been kind of the odd man out, one of the only business students in the radio station or just in student media generally.”
This gave Read an idea: what if he did a podcast or radio show related to FIU’s College of Business?
Around the same time, Baran Pourtahmaseb-Sasi, another student studying an MBA in business analytics, who started in 2024, was looking to get more involved with the School of Business.
“I was like, okay, I’ve kind of got down this rhythm of studies, and I’d like to start applying the theory of what I’ve been learning in some sort of productive, academic, educational way,” Pourtahmaseb-Sasi stated.
“So I decided, hey, let me see about starting a podcast, maybe with the support of the university colleagues, whatnot, and give something back to FIU in that sort of way, I spoke to Irene, who was the program coordinator at the time and she said, there’s a particular person that I know of who is already plugged into student media and this kind of stuff his name is Jayson.”
Soon after the Panther Business Briefing podcast was born, the podcast had an emphasis on being a strictly FIU podcast, only having professors, industry leaders, and specialists who are affiliated with FIU, as well as using FIU equipment.
Cover for Episode 9 of the Panther Business Briefing| via Spotify
“My favorite angle, like the angle that we always like to bring up, is that we only have FIU-affiliated people, you know, that’s like the badge of honor, it’s an FIU through and through endeavor right.”
The show was structured by having each episode belong to a series of episodes surrounding a specific topic. Whether it be their series on Oil and Gas or their series on residential housing, in the first episode, they are joined by Dr. William G. Hardin III, Dean of FIU’s College of Business.
Each series is made by first preparing the guest with a series of questions, briefing the guest on these questions, and asking them which ones are more tailored towards their area of expertise. Based on those questions, they choose which ones to include in the episode that most completely covers a topic.
The show even went live when the pair were invited to host the MSIS Special Topics in Emerging Tech panel discussion on artificial intelligence.
Dr. Pouyan Esmaeil Zadeh, Ziyang Zhang, Baran Pourtahmaseb-Sasi, Jayson Read (from left to right)| via Gianella Zumaran on Flickr
Joined by Dr. Pouyan Esmaeil Zadeh, associate professor in the department of information systems and business analytics, and Ziyang Zhang, Ph.D candidate in business analytics, they held a discussion panel in front of nearly a hundred of FIU’s top graduate students about AI, followed by a Q&A.
Baran Pourtahmaseb-Sasi, Ziyang Zhang, Dr. Pouyan Esmaeil Zadeh, Jayson Read (from left to right)| via Gianella Zumaran on Flickr
Read and Pourtahmaseb-Sasi’s dedication to the furthering of business knowledge and dedication to their school has not gone unnoticed. On May 1st, 2025, both men were given the Distinguished Engagement Award from FIU’s Chapman Graduate School of Business for their outstanding dedication and engagement with the school.
Distinguished engagement awards post with Jayson Read and Baran Pourtahmaseb-Sasi| via LinkedIn
Both men have now graduated, with Read graduating in fall 2024 and Pourtahmaseb-Sasi graduating this past semester; however, both men hope the next generation of business students can pick up where they left off since they feel like the podcast can be a real tool for knowledge and learning for business students.
“If anyone wants to pick this up or make a club, please do because this is something that is beneficial to any business student wanting to really get in the nitty-gritty, learn, and be in the conversation; something to keep in mind for members of the audience or people that are going to be reading this is to believe in yourself and then other people in time, they’ll believe in you and they’ll support your project,” Pourtahmaseb-Sasi told me emphatically.
The show’s final episode with Jayson Read and Baran Pourtahmaseb-Sasi will be recorded and released in the coming weeks.
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