I always knew I wanted to become a journalist. When I was a kid, I used to anchor a newscast for my parents while they were making dinner at home. However, moving to America and choosing a degree that requires such a proficiency level of speaking and writing seemed to me like an impossible challenge. Since journalism was a true calling for me, I decided to follow my gut in spite of the potential difficulties; and believe me, the struggle is real.
During my freshman and sophomore years, I focused all my energies on learning the language. In the beginning, I was writing down 10 new words every day and watching plenty of shows in English (with subtitles, of course). My English then started to improve very fast and just a couple months later I was able to hold a conversation.
After a while, my progression slowed down, and I got extremely frustrated. As a communication major, I enjoy exchanging opinions and expressing my feelings; but I want to do it properly—I hate people guessing what I mean. Not mastering the language was something very difficult for me to bear with.
Eventually, my English has reached a very good level, yet here’s the thing…I have an accent. Before I came to the US it never occurred to me that when you are speaking a second language you will more likely have an accent. Notwithstanding all the compliments I’ve received for my accent, I reached a point where I absolutely hated myself for having it. My inner confidence was very damaged, and I felt so small.
During my junior year, I started to work in the Texan News Service as a multimedia journalist (MMJ) and I made a big mistake; I compared myself to my peers. This led me to believe that I would never be good enough and I shouldn’t have studied journalism. Even with all my insecurities, my English was pretty good, and I kept striving. Things got real this semester. It’s my senior year and I am going to graduate in May. I applied for a thousand of jobs but I haven’t made a decision yet. During most of my job interviews, I tried so hard to hide my accent because I felt like it makes me less deserving and almost worthless.
A couple of weeks ago, I was very depressed because I didn’t hear back from a TV station where I was hoping to get a job and I cried myself to sleep; I blamed it all on my accent. The next morning, I was having breakfast with my roommate and she asked me why I was sad. I told her I would never be able to get a job on TV here because of my accent. She looked at me and say: “you have an accent because you speak another language. That’s amazing. Your accent makes you different, not worse.”
These wise words changed my whole perspective of the situation. All this time I’ve been hating myself for having an accent when no one’s ever judging me for it. I’ve been my worst enemy and I’ve built my own glass ceiling without even notice it.
Suddenly, I started to love everything I once thought it was a problem about myself; and I believe this is an incredible success. In every situation be confident and (I can’t stress this enough), please celebrate your differences because they make you who you are. Embrace them and use them to empower you. Diversity is beautiful and it’s necessary. Don’t ever be scared to follow your dreams, your soul knows the way.