Personal Perspective

In order to understand why I need, and more importantly want am MBA, I think that it will be useful to explain where I came from, how I got here, and why I am now making this decision.

I came into this world on one of the most feared days of any calendar Ð'- Friday the 13th. I know the mere thought of it provokes horror, yet despite the several hours of agonizing labor combined with being 10 days late, I was coming whether I was ready on not. In fact, my mom couldn't have cared less if it was July 11th, national Ð''Get A Free Slurpee at 7-11 Day,' or December 25th. By that point it was Friday the 13th or bust! Although it took longer to get me here than expected, I hit the ground running and had my Mom known how busy I would have been she might have held on for a bit longer.

From the moment that I could walk I was busy looking for adventures. I was always going somewhere even if it meant Ð''borrowing' my little brother's training wheels. Which, I incidentally ended up breaking, therefore requiring me to buy him a new set with my birthday money. I learned a big lesson that day but it never deterred me from finding an exciting activity.

I spent the majority of my life participating in sports and because I was just young enough that my mom couldn't leave me at home, I was dragged to my sisters' dancing lessons. It wasn't long after that, with the urging of my Mother, I began dancing. I participated in many activities including; basketball, football, baseball, clogging, and even ballroom dancing. I even tried track and field; however I was unfortunately not tall enough to clear the hurdles and ended up in the hospital with two broken arms. This was followed by taking showers with plastic bags over my arms while trying to balance the impossible act of holding the soap. Which I might add is not an easy task. Thus my career as a track star was dramatically cut short.

Playing sports simultaneously with dancing kept me active, but it was clogging that gave me the most opportunity. I had the privilege of dancing on television's Star Search, performing for the Miss America contestants, dancing down the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, competing on the Grand Old Opry, and down to the ever exciting gig of performing at rest homes. Clogging taught me more than just the physicality of dancing, but also the importance of learning something and sharing it with some one else.

Clogging was a large part of my life until I decided to take part in a religious effort to help others. I was assigned to help the people of Portugal and Cape Verde, West Africa. Along the way I learned two languages, battled culture differences, ate tuna for 6 months straight in every possible concoction and combination, but most importantly I was able to communicate with and appreciate individuals from completely opposite backgrounds other than my own. It was while I was there in the Eastern hemisphere that I met one of the most influential people in my life, Alan Brinkerhoff. Alan Brinkerhoff is a very successful corporate attorney who valued and spoke often about the importance of education. He said one of the most profound things I have ever heard. He stated that, "you can either have a car payment in each hand, or you can have a degree in each hand. The choice is up to you." This simple yet profound advice has stayed with me ever since it was uttered in 2000 and I have carried that thought with me ever since.

I often repeated those words while living in Portugal and West Africa, but never did it make more of an impact as it did while I stood in front of the slave-trade monument that was located at what was once the world's capital slavery trade point in Praia, Cape Verde. There Europe, America, and traitors to Africa would meet and exchange merchandise for human bondage. To this day, there are still shackles and chains that lay there to remind us of what occurred and how if we do not educate ourselves by learning from this atrocity, then we are no longer progressing in the human race. As sad and as that experience was, as well as life changing, it made it clear in my mind of the obvious necessity of freedom and the incredible opportunity we have to educate ourselves. From that point forward I knew that I would educate myself and some day stand proud in front of my old mentor with a degree in each hand.

Upon returning from my volunteer efforts I began to pursue my Bachelor's Degree. Because of financial circumstances I had to look for scholarships, internships, and a full-time job in order to pursue an education. It was complicated but I was able to graduate with my bachelor's degree without any student loans or relying on family members to foot the bill. Because let's face it, family members are the worst kind of loan sharks out there.

Like any other college student, I could not decide what major to pursue. When I was young I would design shoes and then send my drawings to Nike hoping to receive a call announcing that my drawings were the most amazing designs ever seen, and I would therefore receive hundreds of pairs that I could then give to my friends. Of course this was just a childhood fantasy, but as a young man, this fantasy really got me thinking in the way of advertising. I also had a more "responsible", alternative dream of becoming an orthodontist and never having to pay for dental work. Talk about two