Written By Sabrina Clarke (@sabsterclarke) — August 15, 2017

As I think about going back to school for the Fall, I am met with one of my favorite memories from this past summer: my internship at the Cannes Film Festival.

For two weeks in May, I had the pleasure of interning with Covert Media, an independent sales, distribution, and production company. During my time there, I wasn’t required to put forth much effort and still got to benefit from the perks of the job: exclusive parties, screenings, panels, etc. When I wasn’t shuffling in and out of the office, I got the opportunity to visit Monaco and the French-Italian border, recording a lot of personal vlog footage along the way (check out my YouTube channel here).

Allow me to back up a little. Hi, my name is Sabrina Clarke, and oftentimes I don’t respond too well to the question “Where are you from?” I was born in Boston, spent my formative years just outside of Atlanta, and graduated from high school in Bethesda, MD; so I haven’t really attached myself to any one place. Across all of that time, however, I remembered the importance of my education and carried that with me as the biggest part of my identity. Ultimately, when I was in the seventh grade, I decided that I wanted to be a dentist, leading me to choose neuroscience when I attended college.

My freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University was, in short, awful. I had fallen into a major that I didn’t truly like. After that year, I was ready for a full life-altering moment. So, I changed my major to Linguistics with a minor in Film & Media Studies, then deciding on a career in screenwriting and directing.

Now that we’re caught up, I want to reinforce the title of this piece. The fact that if I, an under-qualified rising Junior in college who just changed her major, can get to the biggest film festival in the world, anyone can do something similar as well.

2017 Cannes Film Festival. Photo by author.

There is a large external pressure on young people to rise to some unclear standard and pursue careers that can help other people for a general group benefit. In my case, when I announced my initial decision to become a dentist, many people were excited for the fact that they would get to benefit from my education, not for my personal gain. Then, when I announced my decision to change my major I was met with, “well what can you do with that anyway?”

No matter the intention in these two moments, the questions were clearly about them and not me. As soon as I made the decisions that were about — and for — me, I found myself being more engrossed and engaged in my own future. In going to the festival, I met people on both the business & creative sides of film who approached it from different angles (YouTube, indie community projects, film schools, etc), leading me to believe that taking control of any opportunity or project that I want for myself is the first step to making it a reality.

Stop thinking about the people around you and start working for you. Do the research on what it takes to be where you want to be and work towards that. I once believed that the film industry was only for rich white men and realized, through the festival, although it may be run by them, they are still willing and open to options that help them make money. In my case, I would be met with more open arms because I’m a minority female striving to break into the industry, a voice that is slowly rising in the industry.

I recognize that this is not a feasible reality for most. Naturally, it’s impossible to stay positive all of the time and constantly think about how well you are going to do in a future you cannot see. But keeping a strong mindset is the very beginning to becoming who you want to be, in your career and outside of it. Despite their skepticism, my parents are still willing to watch me live out my dream, within the confines of making sure I’m employed by graduation. This deadline helps me work harder to see my dreams come to fruition and I can only assume that the same can be said for anyone in a tougher situation. Set a reasonable goal for yourself and work daily to get there, no matter your place in life at this moment.

If there were to be anything that I would ask you to take away from this piece, it’s that you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself if you’re not where you want to be right now. See the realism in what you want and plan accordingly to chart out how you can get there. Beyond that, persist and never stop persisting.

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