PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT
I always imagined that one day I would be a role model to young girls across the globe. Always having someone to look up to today is difficult because of social media and the impact it has on youth today. Social media usually gives people false perceptions of other people’s lives. As a person who wants to use media as a base for a career, I want to make sure youth have the opportunity to find new ways to use it, other than feeling bad about themselves. To be a role model and public figure for young girls, I want to create content that I know I would have appreciated when I was younger.
Each day I wake up with a goal to become a better me. This may sound cliché but it is true. I know that I have the ability to make each day better than the last. I think about the privilege I have to be able to attend the University of Michigan, and realize that I can use this privilege to help others one day. I strive to be the helping hand for people that I was once like. For a while, I knew I wanted to go to college but I never imagined applying somewhere like Michigan. When I was accepted, I realized anything that I wanted, if I worked hard enough, had the possibility to be mine.
I know that some people do not want me to succeed. As a black student, I know that there are people here against me. As a black person, I know that people everywhere could be against me. I know that I cannot let the color of my skin stop me from succeeding in life. My skin color will bring me obstacles and challenges, that is why I will continue to set myself up for success. I have to work hard and achieve my goals for me, but also for the people who want to see me fail.
Not only does being a person of color try to create barriers for myself, but being a black woman has its own obstacles. Even though the world should have a different outlook on women by now, some things are still the same. As a black woman, I know that there are other black women hoping for my success. I want to succeed in ways that people believe black women are not able to. And not just succeed but help other black women with similar goals. The most important thing to me is to better myself and share my knowledge with others. It would not make sense for me to succeed and not uplift my community as well.
One of the biggest factors contributing to my success is my family, they push me and make sure that I stay on track. I do not want to let my family down because they have given me so much to have the opportunity to attend college. I want to be able to give back to my parents for all they have done for my now eighteen years of life. My parents are the ones who make sure I’m coping with the stress that college brings. They also believe that I deserve to be here and I deserve to succeed, I want to show them that they are right. They believe in me, therefore, it’s important that I believe in myself and become the person that we all can envision me to be.