Where Are We Going To Be?
Somewhere around 15 years ago, I saw Jim Valvano’s awe-inspiring acceptance speech for the ESPY’s Arthur Ashe Courage award for the first time. During his speech, Coach Valvano said something that’s stuck with me ever since.
He talked about the three most important things in life — where you started, where you are, and where you’re going to be.
Just 58 days following his speech, Coach Valvano tragically passed away from adenocarcinoma at just 47 years old. Yet still, decades later, his memory and inspirational words serve as a source of reflection for me and so many others.
This past week marked my two-year anniversary serving as Venture For America’s Miami Director. This occasion has given me reason to pause and reflect on many things, among them, Coach Valvano’s words.
I first moved to Miami in 2008 to attend the University of Miami. This gave me some incredible opportunities, the least of which was the chance to lead as Student Body President my senior year. After graduating in 2012 and moving home to Philadelphia for a few years, I came back to Miami in 2015 and was at a crossroads.
I was moving into a role within fundraising and alumni relations at my alma mater, while beginning a graduate degree program. During my time back in Philadelphia, I had spent a few years working in the startup world, all this after saying “nah” to going to law school in 2012, even after paying a deposit to Villanova Law.
Clearly, plans change!
When thinking about Coach Valvano’s words back then, I usually found myself thinking about where I was in the moment, not so much what my future would look like.
But I did know one thing for certain.
The community that welcomed me in during some of my most formative years — the Miami community — was going to be in my future for a long time. In fact, I was and am confident that Miami is the future of our nation.
We’re a city facing existential crises like climate change and attacking them head on. We’re a community that demographically looks like how the rest of our country will in 50 years. We’re innovative, a city built by immigrants, forward-thinking, rich in art and culture and food and technology; it’s where I wanted to be 14 years ago and it’s where I’m lucky to be now.
Some things have changed quite a bit since I first set foot in Miami; other things, however, remain the same. While Miami is still full of opportunity and culture and diversity, we’ve faced challenges just like the rest of the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we go about every aspect of our day-to-day lives and has taken far too many lives of the people closest to us. We’ve lost parents and siblings and partners and children. And we’ve lost friends, the glue that holds us together through the most difficult of times.
We live in a growing epidemic of gun violence with seemingly another mass shooting each morning when we wake up. In 2016, I was celebrating the wedding and the love of two great friends in Miami when we all received the notification of the Pulse shooting in Orlando — people killed solely because of who they loved. In 2018, I was at work when I received the notification of another shooting just 40 miles away — kids, in school, victims of gun violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And in between — too many leaders failing to act and too many victims because of it.
We’ve started to have conversations about racism in America and in our institutions in a necessary way but also in an insufficient way if we ultimately want to see the change we need — and not just talk about it.
In a world that has become increasingly divided and complicated, reflecting this week has led me to a simple — even if frankly over-simplified — conclusion: the past couple of years have been difficult. And a twist on Coach Valvano’s question is more important now than ever to think about.
“Where are we going to be?”
Through my role at Venture For America these past few months, I’ve also seen another question that’s found itself in the mainstream of the growing #MiamiTech movement:
I’ve been lucky to play a small part in an incredible community of innovators and creatives and trailblazers and activists that have worked so hard to make Miami into the thriving, growing city of the future that it is. As I move into year 3 at Venture For America, and year 14 since I first set foot in Miami, I wonder if we can’t challenge ourselves to combine these two important questions.
Where are we going to be and how can I help get us there?
We have some incredible challenges as a community, a city, and as a country. But we also have incredible opportunity to lead if we find ways to come together, focus on the future we want to build and do so in an intentional, inclusive, and impactful way.
I don’t write this piece on Medium to tell you I have the answers to those two questions; I’d be lying if I said I did.
What I do know is that I pledge to do my part to find the answers. And I challenge you all to join me in that pledge. Let’s do our part to bring our community together, to ensure that our community continues to be one of innovation, one of equity, and one that the rest of the country can look toward to start asking themselves an important question:
“Where are we going to be?”
Let’s get to work.
