This year’s Woman of Promise Award recipient, Chernice Miller, said her rejection of fear has gotten her where she is today.
“I never say no…,” Miller said. “If someone is offering you an opportunity, take it. You can learn. Don’t be afraid because maybe you don’t know how to do it…”
Although Miller said she wasn’t informed as to exactly why she was named 2016 Woman of Promise, most would assume her seizing of new experiences was a factor.
Miller has lead a number of on-campus clubs and incentives. She has served as the president of Spectrum, Bonaventure’s LGBTQIA+ alliance, co-developed an installed exhibit in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts and been a peer coach and peer mentor in freshman University 101 classes.
She is also a member of the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunities Program (HEOP) Honor Society and has won “Best Model” in the Quick Center’s annual Trashion Fashion show two years in a row.
According to Miller, her newest, and possibly most tedious, endeavor has been her journalism capstone, a 45-minute-long black and white film. The film’s concept, which she describes as “a romanticized blend of the urban flight and the human spirit,” came to her while traveling Paris in the university’s Oxford program.
Involvement aside, Miller said she never expected to be considered for the annual award, which “recognizes a female journalism and mass communication student who has excelled both in and out of the classroom, set an example for peers and demonstrated great promise for success in future endeavors,” according to the university website. In fact, Miller said she had grappled with the idea of not applying at all, as there were so many other “quality candidates.”
Miller added that, after receiving encouraging emails from Michael Jones-Kelley and Carole McNall, professors of journalism and mass communication, her apprehensions were somewhat eased.
“The last day it was due, I sent it in and forgot about it,” Miller said about the award application. “Two days later, I get an email from Dean Hoffmann…She asked me if I wanted to do Woman of Promise, and I was like, ‘Of course I will. How could I say no?”’
After being notified she had won the award, Miller said the constant “congratulations” took some getting used to. Even more so, she said writing her own biography took some getting used to, as well.
“I think that’s the thing I struggle with the most is talking about myself,” Miller said. “With this, I’m getting better at it. I wrote my bio, and it was excruciating…I was struggling over that bio and got it in on the last day…”
Miller added that being named “Woman of Promise” has been a huge honor regardless, especially in light of Women’s History Month.
“I think the award does an amazing thing for women on campus,” Miller said. “…It shows that women aren’t the underdog anymore. It’s just building up that confidence in women that we are great.”
While Miller chose to describe herself as “sassy,” rather than “great,” she said she believes confidence is what all women should strive to exude.
“I definitely think that confidence is one of the most basic things you should have and can develop in yourself—and it definitely takes a long time,” Miller said “…Because I’m confident in myself, I have a concrete view of who I am…It’s not like I’m wearing armor or anything; I have an understanding of who I am.”
Although Miller acknowledged that the confidence-building process is a lengthy one, she offered a metaphor for its progression.
“You have to keep using the building blocks of life and your experiences—and just laying those bricks inside yourself from your feet to the top of your head—and, once you finish, which can take many years or a short time…it is a magnificent pillar that stands within you.”
Going forward, taking this award with her, Miller added she hopes to continue inspiring others and focusing on her own happiness.
“I don’t really have any set, concrete plans,” Miller said. “I know within myself that I can be anything, so, I’d love to be the CEO of vogue one day, I’d love to be a screenwriter, I’d love to be making movies somewhere and I’d love to just be on the beach reading one of my favorite books.”
Miller added that happiness has been her motive over the past four years—and that it will continue to be her motive in whatever post-graduate life affords her.
“No matter where I go—no matter what I end up doing—I know I’ll be happy, because that’s the kind of person I am,” Miller, a senior theater and journalism and mass communication dual major said. “I don’t do things that don’t make me happy.”