Four and a half years ago, speaker nominations were opened for TEDxVirginiaTech, meaning students, faculty, alumni, and friends could nominate themselves or someone in the community to speak at the TEDx event. I secretly hoped to be nominated, since doing a TEDx talk was a dream of mine, but was hesitant to nominate myself in fears of how that would sound to others.

A couple days after finding the link to nominate someone, I took a leap of faith to nominate myself. I later received an application to submit Talk ideas to the committee, and subsequently was offered the chance to interview and do a “mock” version of my Talk. Months later, I was the only student who spoke at TEDxVirginiaTech 2015, and I gave it my all.

I’ve never been one to put myself out there in a way that may seem arrogant or negative to others, but I took a chance on myself, and the result (after many hours of hard work and lots of support from others) was accomplishing a dream at 20 years old. I am thankful for that chance I took, the ability to speak at such a wonderful event and share the stage with brilliant folks, and what I learned along the way.

Simply put: believe you can, and you will. Don’t wait for others to help you chase your dreams…only you can do that.

Here’s to reaching for our dreams and going even further in the future! 

Check out my Talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmL_cha0OFY&app=desktop