PhDivas

So you're used to being "the smart one." How does our pursuit of success have its pitfalls? In a guest lecture for a Cornell course on "A Life Worth Living," we talk about how we define success and how that drive feeds into problematic ideas about meritocracy and respectability. Competition can become an all-consuming mentality: it's not just about our worth as individuals but our relationship to communities and our burdens of representation. Liz addresses the pressures surrounding her identity as a proud Black woman from Mississippi with a passion for physics, while Xine reflects on her love of literature and its connections to the perception of Asians as the "model minority." Beyond chasing professional accolades, how can we give ourselves the time and space to be happy?