Translator: May Wu Reviewer: Joowon Lee
In my family, I'm the only artist.
My mom's side of the family kind of looks like this -
they all work in insurance.
And my dad's side of the family works in the medical fields.
So when it was my turn to apply to colleges,
and decide what career I wanted to pursue, I ended up choosing nursing.
And I didn't choose nursing because I was passionate about the sciences,
I think I chose it because I was very comfortable.
Because I had grown up around this my entire life.
But there was something wrong with this equation.
Like I said, I'm an artist.
This is a dilemma that many artists face, more than other people
When you love math, you pursue math.
When you love science, you pursue science.
But when you love art, the path isn't so linear.
I'm a prime example of this.
So it's safe to say,
that first year of nursing was very difficult for me.
After failing to accept myself, and after getting C- after C-,
my parents finally convinced me to stop pretending to be someone that I wasn't
and to embrace who they thought I was all along - an artist.
And I'm so glad that they pushed me
because I began to surround myself with teachers, professors and students
who embraced art in a way I had never experienced before
and they even told me that art, too, like nursing, can save lives.
Now, here I am, a year later, pursuing exactly what I love
and embracing and being honest with myself every step of the way.
I'm here on behalf of the Catalysts Arts Movement,
but I'm not only here on behalf of the arts,
I'm here on behalf of all catalysts,
all people who put themselves out there in order to initiate change in the world.
First, what is a catalyst?
This is something I actually did learn in 1st year of nursing school.
A catalyst is scientifically, something that facilitates a reaction.
Without it, the reaction potentially wouldn't happen.
The cool thing about catalyst is they're not just in your body,
or your environment, they're all around you.
They're even people sitting right next to you.
And an example I'd like to share of a catalyst is "Black Lives Matter."
Three women, Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza,
put their minds together,
and used social media as a platform, at first to grieve,
but then they used social media to inspire an entirely new generation,
to fight for equality and justice.
And I use this example because the great people of our nation,
the scholars, the activists, the peace makers, whoever they may be,
they won't be remembered because they solved the world's greatest problems
but more because they initiated the reaction,
and they started a solution.
I want to teach you guys how to be a catalyst today.
First you need to learn how to collaborate.
I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for my amazing team,
who is actually sitting right there.
We were 3 young girls, starting this movement,
to change the world with our ideas.
And soon we expanded, and I learned something new
from every single one of our new members.
Whether it be Oprah, or Angie, or Catherine,
or Amy and Zack, or Zoe, or Nicholas, or Fed,
every single one of them inspired me in a different way.
They inspired me to be confident, to be bold, to be brave,
to put myself out there, to be resilient and to be real.
We definitely wouldn't be here if it weren't for our mentors,
who inspired us every single step of the way.
The people who believed in us before we believed in ourselves.
The people who inspired us every single step of the way
and the people who told us to shoot for the moon,
and make them say "no".
And the second step, and this was a really hard one,
especially for me, is to fail.
History has told us, in order to succeed, you really have to fail.
They've told us time and time again,
but it still is difficult every single time.
Take Walt Disney for example.
When he started out, his teacher thought he lacked imagination,
which is ridiculous.
Then there was Opra Winfrey,
she was fired for being too emotionally connected to her stories.
Even Albert Einstein, whom we all know -
and when we saw his beautiful face up here everyone knew who he was -
his teachers growing up thought he wouldn't amount to much.
So although people say there isn't an equation for success,
I think it looks a little more like this:
you have to fail and fail and fail and then possibly succeed.
And if you don't,
you try and fail and fail again, and ultimately you could find success.
And I think you will.
My professor told me success is a lot like digging for gold.
You're digging and digging and every time you dig,
it's a reminder that you haven't reached your goal.
Every single day you're like, "I'm not there yet, let's keep going."
But, ultimately,
I'm not as scared of failure as I am of giving up before reaching the gold.
A foot before reaching success.
So ultimately I hope you guys embrace your failures,
and let every dig, every attempt strengthen you,
because I think you will find success through that.
And ultimately I want you to do what you love, and do it now.
It seems like the easiest thing to do, really.
"I love it, course I'm going to do it"
I'm the prime example of this.
I pursue nursing knowing that I love art.
But you have to do what you love.
And when I started Catalyst Arts Movement with my friends,
I heard this Chinese proverb, and it goes something like this:
"A man searched for fire with a lit lantern,
had he known what fire was, he would've cooked his rice much sooner."
But this is you chance, you know what fire is.
Sometimes there is a fire within you that is fueling you.
It's so much a part of you that you don't know it's the reason you're alive.
Ultimately, if you take anything from this talk, I really hope that it's
the reason why you're so passionate about something, is the reason
you're meant to be on this earth.
Your reason for being here is to pursue your passions.
I know I'm a catalyst, but I hope today you all are catalysts.
Thank you very much. (Applause)