Last month, Class 12 students attended a special panel addressing a central question they had developed this fall during workshops on the application and interview process for internships and jobs: If, on the path to my academic or professional dreams, I reach a moment in which I realize I will be the first, the only, or one of few people who identify with a marginalized group, what will I need to succeed?
The panel, called "First in her Field," brought together three distinguished professionals to engage with this question and share strategies for success. Denise Bailey-Castro '05, a director in the Leadership Rotational Program at Viacom with prior experience in finance and in the film industry, emphasized the importance of finding mentors in the workplace. "Find diverse advisors and role models. They can be of any gender, race, age, or religion, but they have to be people who you can speak openly with, so that you can leverage each other and lean on each other." She added that, in any new role, one should expect, and embrace, challenges. "You will not know everything— it's okay to ask for help! Always carry a notebook and pen with you, so that you can write down everything that you learn."
In her remarks, Kimberly Drew, founder of the popular Tumblr site, "Black Contemporary Art," and an Associate Online Community Producer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, focused on her adolescent years as formative for her work. "I love this age group," she said to the seniors. "You guys are so important. All of your ideas are worthy of being heard." For Ms. Drew, experiences such as studying Art History at Smith College and interning at the Studio Museum in Harlem motivated her to use social media to spark engaging critical dialogues on work by and about artists of the African diaspora. As such, she advised students not to wait for the right job opportunity to start doing what they loved: "Build your own things," she exclaimed, "We're in the digital age!"
Megan Hellerer '02, a former business development executive at Google and now a personal and professional coach, said that her advice for someone who was the first in her field was no different from her advice for someone who was not the first. "It's just that much more important," she noted. In approaching their upcoming college decisions, she encouraged students to "go where it's warm," by embracing choices that would make them feel "light" and unfettered to inessential obligations. Like Ms. Bailey-Castro, she advised assembling a "personal board of advisors, of people who elevate you, see you at your core, and champion you." However, she also urged students to disavow themselves of the notion of a job as the be-all and end-all of their success as a person. "You are not your work," she stressed. "Throughout your professional career, you're going to encounter people that you can't work with and jobs you might not like. It's just as important to learn how to let go, give yourself permission to fail, and fail forward."
If there is truth in the Annie Dillard quote with which Ms. Hellerer concluded her talk – "How we spend our days is how we spend our lives" – then students' lives were certainly changed for the better by a morning spent absorbing the wisdom of great women helping to pave the way for their future "firsts."
Click here to view more pictures from the event.