#DWIWtDWML: A Reflection of My Career Choice & What You Can Learn From It

Andra Eugene
Jul 27, 2017 · 6 min read
Nothing to see here, just a busy woman doing busy things, obviously | Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Hey dear reader, I’m back with more insight. After a brief, yet insightful conversation with my thirteen-year-old cousin and her friend about what they wanted to be when they grew up (okay, cue the eye roll on me), I was reminded of two things. One, your career choice was primarily suggested by your parents or other influential adults in your life. Two, even if your career choice is 100% your choice sans influence, it may not be what you want to do with your life.

Allow me to explain in depth.

Your career choice was primarily suggested by your parents or other influential adults in your life.

Both in what you choose and don’t choose. A bitter college student told me I would be broke if I became a professional chef, so I stopped experimenting with my cooking and making crazily, awesome dishes. I will point out though, that although my dream to become a professional chef was shot down, I still make my fabulous dishes (and even more tastier then before) and I plan on making a positive impact in the food industry, someday. Take that Bitter J.

I’ve had several career choices as a kid, as most kids do, between professional chef, college professor, a dentist, an architect, before finally settling on entrepreneurship. An important note, it’s heavily influenced in Haitian households, the following career paths: doctor; engineer; lawyer; nurse. Anything else, receives scrutiny; anything artistic or creative, screams failure. Lucky for me, it was lightly suggested that I become a nurse by my mother, a CNA, only for a couple years, between ages 8–10. When my dad left the house when I was 12, leaving her heartbroken and alone to raise three kids, she went from: “become a nurse/get a good job” to “became as self-sufficient and happy as you can be”. Something, I will remark, is highly rare for a Haitian parents to say; or any parent, for that matter.

Thanks to her courage, patience, and support in raising me, I’ve been able to get on track with the career path I want to build in life. Now, this whole post isn’t going to be a shout out to my mom (I’ll save that for another post). But I do want to touch on the second point I made earlier, that you’re dying to read about.

Even if your career choice is 100% your choice sans influence, it may not be what you want to do with your life.

Remember how periodically, you took those personality tests in middle school or high school about habits you do and activities you like and based on that, it determined what kind of careers you should pursue, based on your personality type? Hint: the tasks and habits were similar to the learner’s type test (i.e. visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetics), but yielded different results.

Well when I took my test back in freshman year of high school, architect showed on the list, a common pattern whenever I took it prior to that, actually. Coincidentally, I had a profound interest in architecture and the construction of vertical farms since before middle school. At that age, I thought I was destined to become the architect that brought the rise of vertical farms to highly-populated metropolitan areas. I went from casually studying residential house styles to passionately researching urban sustainability and how to start a career in architecture. In fact, if you met me three years ago, you would have thought I would be starting my junior year at Wentworth Institute of Technology this coming fall (which technically, I should have, but that’s a story for another time, I swear). But after a series of events, I found that maybe I wasn’t as destined as I was for architecture, or maybe I didn’t try hard enough; I don’t know, depends on who you ask.

I decided that if I found myself in any environment that was toxic in the sense that, I felt my spirit and creativity were suffocating or I wasn’t achieving the growth I was seeking with little to no improvement, I would remove myself immediately or as soon as possible, no matter the circumstance. Smart choice? Depends who you ask.

So, what made you switch from architecture to entrepreneurship, Gene Al?

I’m glad you asked. It was a number of reasons, primarily I chose my sanity and inner peace over my premature career. Bad choice? Once again, depends on who you ask. But for me, and what I’ve been through. I think my reason, is extremely valid. As naive and selfish it may have been, but at the age of eighteen, I decided that if I found myself in any environment that was toxic in the sense that, I felt my spirit and creativity were suffocating or I wasn’t achieving the growth I was seeking with little to no improvement, I would remove myself immediately or as soon as possible, no matter the circumstance. Smart choice? Depends who you ask. I feel heavily that it is, not by bias, but by the fact I would probably not be alive today, otherwise.

Up until I turned fifteen and a half, I spent my entire life being ostracized, marginalized, and silenced by the administration, staff, and students of my old school and, even family. I decided at twelve that I wouldn’t live my life in such a way when I grew older, and up till now, since eighteen, have lived and acted with such intention, for the most part.

Having been an adult in society’s eyes for two years now, I’m grateful for not pursuing architecture. Even though I would have been on track to accomplish education at a great school and, perhaps, started a very promising career in what would have been two years, I probably would not have unleashed what I’m truly passionate about when it came to me, as a human soul. My vision would only have reached no further than my geographical region or across the nation, perhaps globally, if I managed to free myself from my box, given the conditions I was once living in. But it would not have came from me, it would only have been accomplished by me.

Yes, dear reader, I’m talking about my soul. I had to search and divvy up my soul through pain and healing in order to find my purpose and translate that into what I wanted to truly accomplish as a career. It may not be what you need to do, per se. But it’s how I not only found a way to become a “productive member in society”, but it’s how I began to overcome everything I’ve been through.

It’s expected of you by default to be independent, yet everyone in society is socially engineered to become codependent on more dominant entities or persons. Break that cycle.

Well then, what do you suggest for me, Gene Al?

I’d say start with you. Start with what impact you want to make while you’re on this earth. Not what your favorite teacher or parent or parent-like figure suggested or demanded you to be, but you. It’s expected of you by default to be independent, yet everyone in society is socially engineered to become codependent on more dominant entities or persons. Break that cycle.

Here are 10 ways to get started on breaking that cycle:


I thought I would never reach clarity on what I wanted in life; I thought it would take me five years. It was a process that started since I was twelve, if I’m dating back accurately, but things didn’t even begin to happen until I made myself fully aware of my situation, made a decision, and took action to make change happen.

One last thing, whatever it is you decide to go after, go after it with all your heart. You may need to change your idea, archive it for later, or pull the stops on it altogether, but what’s important is that you keep moving forward towards completing your vision and goal.

And with that, I’ll leave you with one last quote from a man, I truly admire and had the opportunity to meet and hear in person:

[In the path to success], there will be hard work and great effort, keep pushing…action is required.

-Dave Daley, CCO, Foundation Medicine

Alright, dear reader, I’ve kept you long enough. See you soon and hopefully sooner than last time.

Signing off.

P.S. Dear reader, it’s totally okay to stalk me on social media, I might get vocal about social issues or geek about music and design, there is no in-between. And hey, it was nice meeting you. Oh wait, read the first post of this series, here.

Andra Eugene

Written by

Web Design Strategist of Afromiga Web Design Strategy afromiga.com

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