Overcoming Adversity In A Diverse Environment

As a child of immigrant parents, my formative years in elementary and middle school were shaped by two important factors: the environment in which I lived and my background. My parents worked hard to settle into a new life in a foreign country to provide better opportunities for our family. This meant that we had to be flexible about where we lived due to relocating for jobs, and fluid about our ideas of culture. I recall the daunting nature of moving to a new city, twice, as a child. The prospect of leaving everything that was familiar to me and forming new friendships in an unfamiliar environment was a challenge. Through each of these moves however, I met people from differing backgrounds and learned to cross cultural barriers. I became accustomed to

At first I wrestled with where my identity lay. The strong values and traditions of the Indian culture sometimes made it difficult to fit in with the crowd. As I grew older, I began to understand that I was not part of an individual culture, but a fusion of two rich and colorful histories. I recognized that there is remarkably more to an individual than where she comes from, and more to her than where she currently lives. Importantly, being from two cultures allows me to incorporate the best qualities of both. In my business class, I was given the opportunity to create a business involving 4 different sectors. In a similar manner, being the team leader during this project, I integrated the best factors from the ideas of my peers and teacher and established what would be most profitable. With my experience growing up in two different cultures, I am able to decide what qualities and factors are best for each situation and act upon it. In the future I hope to be able to possess the right qualities to be a team leader that is open to new ideas and thoughts, to fully optimize each opportunity given to