Mind of Migg

When I was a freshman in college, I had an internship that I walked away from because I was unsatisfied.  The internship was through an organization dedicated to placing talented minority youth in business positions.  I walked away because I felt it was training interns in how to be middle management, instead of truly successful leaders.  I wanted more.

The interns themselves made the decision easy for me.  At one point during one of our group training sessions, I sat in a classroom while we went one by one talking about what we wanted to be when we grew up.  For more than half the room, the answers ranged from, “I like what I’m doing now” to “I like what my manager is doing.” I left stunned.

“How could so many people be willing to settle for so little?” I thought.

Looking back now, I realize how naïve and arrogant I was.  Keep in mind most of those kids were the first in their families to go to college and most had to buy their first suits to meet the dress code requirements at their internship.  I know I did.  It was a big step just to have the internship for most, and a huge opportunity to have a solid job after college.  Considering the times, anyone who has a well paying job, or any job at all for that matter, has to be happy.

The main thing I’ve learned in the years since is that it’s not so easy being a grownup.  There are serious choices to be made, serious bills to be paid, and different definitions of what makes a happy life.   It’s a lot harder to achieve more than I realized back then.  Those interns that wanted a job that paid well, offered security, and gave them a chance to settle down had the right idea.  Maintaining that alone is hard work, and I applaud them for doing it.  They can be proud of their accomplishments.

But there’s something else I’ve learned.  I’ve learned that to move up one level, say from a family scrapping by to a college grad is one thing, but to move up even further is exponentially more difficult.  It takes a lot of work – more work than most can even imagine.  It also takes a special person.  It often leaves others wondering why someone who is living comfortably can’t just be happy where they are.  Taking a leap of faith into uncharted territory is often simultaneously applauded and mocked.  It’s like watching a person walk a tight rope – you are impressed by their skill and expertise, but wonder why they don’t have a normal job where they’d make more and risk less.

From 2006-2007 only 3.7% of all Master’s degrees were conferred to Latinas (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72).  If shooting for that isn’t a leap, I don’t know what is.  Isn’t it enough to be the first from a family to get a Bachelor’s Degree, and find success at a job?  Nope, not for the crazy ones.

I always thought I was a hard worker – juggling multiple jobs to pay the bills while trying to write and make movies.  That is nothing compared to Violet’s work ethic the past two years.  She could stay up later than I could when there was work to be done and wake up earlier than I could when she needed to be somewhere.  No matter the obstacle, whether it was financial or academic, she would plow right through it.

Some people are more determined than others.  They have a will to succeed and are inspiring to watch.  It doesn’t matter where they come from or what their odds are.  They blaze a trail and prove that things can be done, no matter ethnicity, social class, or size.  They don’t settle for moving up a few levels on the mountain – they want to see what it looks from the top.

Violet is one of those people.  She motivates me to work harder and be a better person.  She continues to dispel conventional wisdom, percentages be dammed.    Pepperdine Master of Public Policy Class of 2010, and she’s not stopping there.