I can’t believe it’s already been one year since Most Promising Minority. It was and will always be a great memory. One year ago, I was sitting around in the library trying to figure out my statistics homework when I checked my email and got that surprise. I never thought a rather ordinary nobody like me would get it because 1) I wasn’t someone really active in clubs and held posts; 2) I was an international student and it was open only to U.S. residents. Thinking back now, perhaps I was really something. Steve told me to think about it: I am one of the 50 students chosen nationally, plus I’m an international student which is very rare. I like to think that I got it because I stood out from the rest. Everyone was either into account management/planning or creative, but I was into the facts and figures. Anyway, at the end of the day, it made me feel like I actually owned it. It was my hard work and doing that got me the award.

I want to share this video from the AAF website with everyone. Whatever is said in it is true. It IS a chance in a lifetime and you WILL meet great people.

I may not be holding the coolest advertising job on the planet now, but MPMS really opened my eyes to what was out there. It showed me that getting the award was just the first step, I had to put in a lot of effort and hard work to make things happen especially since there were 49 other great students out there. It made me discover a lot about my strengths and abilities. It taught me to reach out for what I want in life based on my capabilities. I met great people and made friends who inspired and encouraged me to keep doing my best.

Now, that greatness has to be passed down. The 2012 awardees have been announced. You guys deserve it because you went out all the way to get it whether it be in studies or activities. You deserve it because you knew you could make a difference whether it be in the advertising industry, in your studies, or in your activities. You deserve it because you bothered to try hard enough. Congrats! Have fun in New York. Learn all you can while you’re there.

Last week, I travelled to New York for AAF Most Promising Minority 2011. It was a 3-day award ceremony + professional seminars + recruitment fair. While many would say that they received valuable lessons about the advertising industry. I would say that this trip was one of self-discovery.

On the last day of the program, a top executive from Leo Burnett asked us “what is one thing you learned during your time here?” Students who stood up to answer the question mainly referred it back to the industry or the friends they made. As usual, I didn’t have the guts to stand up and answer the question, but I gathered all the courage I had to approach him after the panel discussion.

In my mind, I was wondering whether it was the right thing to do — revealing my weakness to a potential employer, but somehow I knew I had to do it. Besides, he seemed like a really nice person…a genuine person. I told him that my answer to his question was simply how I discovered that I could overcome my fear and talk to people. Being an introvert, I fear presentations and feel rather uncomfortable in social situations with a lot of unfamiliar people.

In fact, I did A LOT of talking during the 3 days, especially during the recruitment fair. Usually I would navigate a career fair, picking up lots of flyers, but not talking much to anyone. However, on this occasion, I told myself I had to do it now or never. I couldn’t possibly keep going on like this forever. Some time in my professional life, I would need to talk to people, face clients, give presentations, etc.

During the award ceremony, each of us had to go up on stage to receive our award and then announce to a room full of people (which included top executives from the industry) our 15-word tagline. While many other students had profound, philosophical taglines, mine was well…the simple truth. I feared going up on stage to say my line. I was shaking inside, but I conquered my fear and delivered my tagline well. So well that many students later recalled that I was the girl who loved research.

How did I do it? How did I find the courage to overcome my fear? I simply put skills I learnt in the Emotional Intelligence class to good use. Instead of engaging in negative thoughts, I told myself that I could do it, that I had rehearsed and prepared myself.

Anyway, back to the executive from Leo Burnett. If I had the choice of employer, he would be someone I would really want to work for. He was really nice, patiently listening to what I had to say then encouraging and sharing with me that his son is also an introvert who overcame his fears too. Later, I learnt from Steve (our advisor) that during their dinner together, he mentioned that he was impressed by my honesty. No, I wasn’t out to be a boot-licker. All I wanted was to let him know how I felt. Really, that was all. Nevertheless, I was glad to know that he thought well of me.

There are many people you meet in your life who make an impact and whom you will never forget. He is one person. There are more from this one week in New York. I cannot thank them enough for giving me a few minutes of their time…giving me the opportunity to show who I really am and for believing that I am good enough and I can make it.

And if you’re curious what my tagline is: “(I’m a) future advertising researcher who loves crunching numbers to build the best campaigns out there.”

All the coffee I downed just to stay awake has gone to waste. My life is officially screwed by the stats exam. Almost panicked and blanked out. Told myself to calm down and think, but ran out of time to think logically. To think that I was half confident that it would go ok since I did one practice exam paper and it was easy. How many times must I screw myself over before I realise that preparation for an exam must be done way in advance? The little voice in my head is nagging at me. It says “You suck at time management.”

FML.

A few weeks back, we were talking about social influence in Social Psychology class. We touched on the topic of obedience where my TA talked about an experiment devised a long time ago by Milgram. It was an experiment where a volunteer was assigned the teacher role and the other person was assigned the learner role. The teacher and learner sat in separate rooms. The teacher was supposed to “teach” the learner a set of words. The learner was supposed to remember those words and responded to the teacher’s questions. If the learner answered incorrectly, the teacher administered an electric shock and increased the voltage each time. The voltage ranged from 0-450mv. Of course, 450mv was fatal. What the teacher didn’t know was that he/she wasn’t really administering any electric shocks. He/she would hear recorded groans and screams. Whenever the teacher felt uncomfortable and wanted to stop the experiment, the experimenter would not say “no,” but would say that the experiment required the volunteer to continue. What the experimenters wanted to know was the level of obedience to authority of the volunteer in the face of evil. The volunteer “knew” that the electric shocks were fatal. The experimenter did not disallow the volunteer to stop the experiment, he merely said that the experiment required the volunteer to continue. Shockingly, 65% of the volunteers continued all the way to the fatal 450mv. This experiment was later disallowed and labeled as unethical. However, it was done again in 2009. This is only the first part of the full clip. To watch the full clip, go to YouTube.

The end of the clip has the most impact as the experimenter talks about the experiment. I swear that if you ever did something like this (whether you’re the experimenter or volunteer), you’ll just become disillusioned with life and people. I also think the level of obedience depends on the age of the volunteer and how much it differs with the experimenter. The younger the volunteer and the larger the age gap, the more obedient the volunteer is. That scares me a lot as this would be true for all kids in school. Although they have the knowledge of right and wrong, they also fear and respect their elders which would often trump their knowledge in these situations.