When I think about what a woman in her twenties is supposed to be like, three words come to mind: ambitious, courageous, and determined. This is when we are at our healthiest and strongest, our boldest and most courageous. Our twenties are the years that we’re supposed to make a name for ourselves and do all that we set out to accomplish. As a young college student, I am thankful to live in a world where women thrive and conquer within their professional fields. As the male-dominated work force shifts at a more rapid rate, it’s time we raise our glasses to those women who have paved the way for us twenty-something gals who desire nothing more but to follow in those pedicured footsteps.
Amy Odell, Site Director of Cosmpolitan.com and Director of Digital Editorial for Redbook, has been a woman whom I’ve looked up to for years now. I found her to be absolutely mesmerizing, and between reading her editorial content and book, Tales From the Back Row, I know this is the kind of woman I aspire to become. I read a piece Cosmo published on her called “Get That Life: How I Became the Editor of Cosmopolitan.com” back in August 2015, and there is one part of that article that I have never forgotten. Odell shares how the party reporting editor at New York Magazine didn’t like one of her pieces, and when she saw an opportunity to write for her once more, Odell snagged it.
“I reached out and said, ‘Look, I went out for you once before and you didn’t like what I filed. But I know that I’m good. I know I can do this, and I really want to go out for you again.’ She told me later that the fact that I said I messed up but I know I can do it again was really ballsy. She respected that and sent me out to an event.”
Although a year has passed since I first read this excerpt, the takeaway has remained the same. Very simply put, be the girl who goes for it. Whether the “it” you’re chasing after is a new job, internship, leadership position, or the boy you’ve been eyeing for months, take a deep breath, put one foot in front of the other, and GO FOR IT. So many times–and I am guilty of this, too–we accept defeat before making the first step towards our goal. We live in a world with access to everything we want with a few strokes of a keyboard, and though the digital age is advantageous, it has unleashed a ridiculous fear of chasing after something that may not be easy. Failure, more than anything, is the demise of the millennial population.
Odell, a young woman with a thriving career, did not allow a failure to deter her. She instead allowed it to fuel her drive and mustered up the courage to try again. She is now wildly successful, and you must wonder: Had she not put herself out there, would she be where she is today? Let her be an example to all that failure is not the end-all-be-all; failure is the key to a new door for opportunity.
Don’t be the girl who allows trepidation to prevent her from making the first move, asking the tough question, and trying something new. Be the girl who knows her potential, sets impossible goals, and then proves herself wrong.
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Photo courtesy of cosmopolitan.com