Lesson 29: Grit

Atlanta, Chicago, Washington D.C., Brooklyn, Nigeria, Congo, Sudan. My classmates represent these places and brought a variety of experiences when we showed up on campus yesterday. Those experiences developed something we all share: Grit.

Grit is the conviction that although times are difficult now, soon things will get better. My great grandfather embodied grit. As a newlywed in Mississippi, a judge ordered he and his wife to leave the state on separate trains because they did not look like they were the same race. So in 1942, they moved to Arkansas before settling in Las Vegas where my great grandfather worked for a railroad company and my great grandmother worked on a chicken farm. 

In school, my great grandfather learned skilled trades at The Piney Woods School before being forced out of Mississippi. He used those skills to build a house in Las Vegas, which housed my grandmother and her 6 siblings and still stands today. Although he grew up in a time when he was forced out of his home, the grit my great grandfather had allowed him to persevere. Granny told me her father would say, “Someday they are going to give us an opportunity, and I want you to be ready.” Today, I have an opportunity to pursue my MBA and develop skills that will help build something better for my family, like my great grandfather did.

What am I doing with this opportunity? My goal after graduation is to pursue Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, where I will acquire a family-owned business and lead the company as CEO. What type of business? I want to acquire a trade school because these are the skills that provided an opportunity for my great grandfather, and I believe these skills can open doors for the next generation. What steps am I taking? During my first week of school, I started outreach to business owners who might be interested in transitioning their business to a new owner.

My vision is to leverage my influence as a Black business leader to pursue economic justice. Without a doubt, I cannot do this alone. That is what makes me so grateful for my classmates and their wide-ranging experiences. That is what makes me grateful for everyone who keeps up with this journey. Without you, I would shatter under the pressure of such a daunting goal. Perhaps these two years will further develop the grit within me as my great grandfather did when he was my age.

Grit is Lesson 29. Next week, I will share Lesson 30: Impact.