We asked some of the brightest folks from within the community to reflect back on their days in school and to share with us a story of when they learned a particularly important or impactful lesson. We’ve shared highlights below.

Komal Nambiar

1. The entirety of who I am would not be here without the challenges I went through in school. I went through months of bullying and harassment when I took the leap of faith to start social media activism. When I initially started posting on social media, I was very confident and content due to the fact that it has always been my dream to public speak in some shape/form. Read more>>

Niccole Hendrickson

When I was in school, I had a massive amount of anxiety around writing timed essays. Anytime I was faced with the task, my perfectionist mindset would create a block and my mind would just be blank. Combined with my fear of sharing how I felt with anyone who could help, I struggled year after year — until highschool. Read more>>

Mindy Binderman

I attended law school at American University in Washington, DC, and one of the things that drew me to the school was its location in our nation’s capital, I loved the energy and idealism of Washington in the 1990’s and hoped for a career in civil and human rights law. Read more>>

Mônica Lakey

My journey wasn’t easy since I had to face many challenges. However, I am grateful for each one of them, because my rocky road has given me the maturity needed to persist and never give up on my dreams. Read more>>

Andrea Morris

The most important lesson I’ve learned while in school is a lesson I learned during my time in undergrad at Bradley University. The lesson I learned is: my best effort may not meet someone’s expectations but that doesn’t mean I should not celebrate trying my best. Read more>>

Prem Advani

I earned my real estate license while I was studying for the Ca State Bar to become an attorney. At the time, I was following my passion of real estate and didn’t completely understand what a career in real estate really meant but I knew I wanted to follow my dreams. Read more>>