Dear Reader,
I’m sharing a question a master’s student asked me at my alma mater the University of Pennsylvania during our discussion about Destined in February 2025 and my response to it.
Jone, Penn student: Who, what empowered you to remain your authentic self?
Me: I came here [at Penn] as a mature person … I came here as someone who has already lived a life. And that gave me a sense of understanding myself in where I was at that particular time in my life.
And also the way I grew up helped me become that way, in the sense that I wasn’t raised by my parents. I was raised by my aunt. And in the context of being raised by my aunt – someone who didn’t have financial means – what I learned is to be resourceful very early on. And what I also learned very early on, especially through my aunt, is that your dignity is all you have. The woman didn’t have money but boy did she have dignity. She never lost herself in the middle of not having because she didn’t let that define her. And I lived in that context for years as a child.
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I didn’t quite appreciate what that meant until I moved away from that space, starting my own life, having my own children. When you’re a kid, all you think about is the struggle. I can’t go to school because I don’t have money for transportation; I don’t have clothes to wear; I don't have food to eat, and that's all you’re thinking about as a kid.
Then as a young adult, I’m like no this is not the takeaway. The takeaway is that I was having a master class from someone who knows how to manage life with basically nothing, and that is carrying me through to this day… That’s what I brought to campus. And that’s why it was hard to shake me because I was standing on solid ground.
What does being your authentic self mean to you?
I would love your review of Destined on Amazon. Your review can focus on answering the following question: Can you share how you were impacted by Destined?
Thank you for reading. Wishing you all the best.
Keep going!
Aminata Sy
Author of Destined: A Story of Resilience and Beating the Odds
