I am an outlier...

Malcolm Gladwell, in his New York Times Best seller Outliers, shared the stories of a collection of individuals he refers to as "outliers"—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? He suggests that we focus too much on what successful people are like, while neglected to ask where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. The combination of both, he believes contribute to the unique success of certain individuals. It is not just about having certain skills, but often times about being in the right place at the right time. Based on Gladwell’s criteria laid out in his novel, I also would consider myself an Outlier. I am no Bill Gates, and certainly not Oprah, however, I currently find myself in the most unique situation I could ever imagine. Is it because I deserved it? Well yes, but not more than others who wanted my job.

Let me give you a brief background, and I will try not to lose you in the details. After all, I am in the business world now and striving toward consolidating my thoughts! Summer after my sophomore year of college, I interned at an anti-human trafficking non-profit in Washington DC. I was quickly moved from the grass roots campaign team to the development and outreach team, because the organization thought I had a unique potential to identify creative ways to generate more unrestricted funding for the organization. I was able to organically create unique fund-raising initiative, however, in doing so I was constantly frustrated with the disorder in the way the non-profit. I left D.C. to research in Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. There I examined the impact of social location on activists’ effectiveness when working with Roma in the slums around Belgrade. While many aspects of the experience were life changing, I quickly grew frustrated by the same disorder apparently inherent in non-profit sector on both sides of the ocean. The following summer was the final straw. I had the same frustrating experience researching for a Boston based non-profit focused on Gender, Security and human rights. I wanted to make a difference in the ways these organizations functioned. I recognized that the mission of these organizations was compromised by the inefficiencies in the ways in which they worked (or didn’t). But above all, I was tired of hearing myself complain.

I felt defeated, until several friends suggested that I look into consulting. At that point, I had no idea what they were talking about, but I was open to the idea. Fast forwarding several months, a consulting firm came to my university, looking to hire one or two students in their strategy and operations practice. I knew nothing about business, I had never heard the term “case-study,” and a balance sheet and income statement both resembled cryptic messages… But I got the job. Why? Because they saw in me a unique potential that I had not yet discovered in myself.

I have been working for two weeks now, and I have about one billion things to share. But for now, I will end on the note that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I am an artist, I am a feminist, I am a human rights activist, I am a visionary, I am a friend, I am a daughter, I am a fighter, I am my biggest critic and now I am a business woman, and surprisingly this is not as ironic as you might imagine… I am outlier, because while I certainly have the skills and potential, it is because the unique way in which my experiences positioned me that I find myself here today