"I'm Gonna Be Oprah!"

"I'm gonna be Oprah."

Over the years I must have said this exact same phrase hundreds, thousands of times even. And yet, every time I utter it, usually in response to the question "So, what's your end goal?", I get a multitude of reactions:

1. Surprise: "Oh!"

2. Amusement: "Well...I'll take that car when you're giving them away!" (I cannot even BEGIN to tell you guys how many cars I will have hypothetically given away by the time I'm actually famous).

3. Acceptance: "You know what, I can totally see you doing that."

Some never make it to acceptance part because, honestly, it's a fairly lofty goal. On occasion I do get the doubtful, "What are the chances of that happening?" or the much subtler, chuckle, because, "How many people have had that exact same dream? Maybe...that dream's just too big?"

But let me tell you why it's not.

I saw Oprah Winfrey on TV for the first time when I was about 5 years old. This was most likely not the first time I'd seen her, Lord knows she had already been on air for years by the time I was born and was already at Television Goddess status. I honestly don't even know why she was on our TV specifically, my mother certainly didn't watch Oprah. Maybe there was going to be a re-run of A Different World coming on right after, or maybe somebody just sat on the remote.

However it happened, I remember, clear as day, how people in the studio cheered for this woman who was just as enthusiastic and energetic as me! She yelled and got excited about people and they loved it, but whenever I yelled excitedly at my house I got asked if I had "lost my mind".

It was also around this time that I vividly remember beginning to interview my teddy bears and doll babies. Imagine you're walking by a kids room and they're asking their teddy bear, "So, tell me about your life." It was a wonder no one ever questioned it honestly, I was the literal set up of every scary movie ever where the kid starts talking to their "imaginary friend" and next thing you know BAM! little doll Sally is killing people in the house! Anyway, the teddy bear interviewing combined with my overactive imagination and knack for storytelling should have made it clear I was serious when I eventually told my family I wanted to be on TV.

Of course, like most children, I hadn't decided I was going to be Oprah from the get go. I tossed around lots of career paths over the years. I talked about wanting to be the first black, female president, a lawyer, a chef (HA!). Surprisingly, it was my 5th grade teacher who helped me make up my mind. I was a rather...erm, talkative child, and one day she'd just had enough. As she marked my Behavioral Sheet for the week with yet another 2 for Talkative (the page was often filled with nothing else), she sighed:

"Anyssa, I really hope one day you find a job where all you have to do is talk."

Over the course of my entire educational career, especially pre-college, my inability to stop talking anytime there was anyone within 5 feet of me was pretty much the only thing I was known for and I must have been reprimanded hundreds, if not thousands, of times in and out of class. Through it all, it was Miss Seawald's words that really stayed with me.

Sometime in between middle and high school I drifted back to this idea that I wanted to be on TV, and I was telling everyone that would listen that I was going to work for CNN one day (the 'Dream Big' thing has kind of always been, well, my thing).

Fast forward to freshman orientation at my university. One of the orientation leaders asked me what I wanted to do and I uttered the fateful words that have become my defining mantra:

"Me? I'm gonna be Oprah."

From then on I was adamant every time I repeated this same phrase to a professor, declared it in a class, stated it in an interview. Everyone's reactions were always the same: Surprise, Amusement, sometimes Acceptance, but mostly Amused Doubt.

Honestly, I don't even blame those that doubt it. As I got older, even I began to doubt myself. After literal years of knowing exactly what I wanted to do, my last semester of school came around and I thought, "...I don't think I want to go into news." This whisper of a thought absolutely terrified me. Here I was, in my last few months of school, and all of a sudden my career path was just 'not what I wanted to do'?!?!

The feeling hadn't subsided by the time I graduated a few months later, and I hadn't told anyone that I wasn't actually planning on going into news immediately which was totally expected. So, naturally, when June came around and I announced that I was packing up and moving to Korea to teach, my family and friends were less than enthusiastic.

When I came home two years later, I will admit to being a bit of a mess. I was actually ready to get back into news, but who was going to hire me?!?! And then, the clouds opened up and the sun came through y'all. Not only did I get a job, I got one that I love, in television, where I get to learn a great deal but also do what I'm most passionate about.

Mine may not be the typical story, but what I've learned is this: The path you are on is the one you are meant to be on, and if you want something and work towards it you will have it. I feel like, at this point in my life, lots of things have happened simply because I refused to hear "You can't". Even in the midst of overwhelming doubt, I pushed through and said what I wanted to happen for me.

There were days when I felt absolutely defeated, and many of us have felt this way. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but it's important to feel that defeat. You low points will be a key factor in finally saying to yourself, "This is no longer where I want to be." When I graduated and decided I needed a break, I said, "I'm going to Korea". It didn't happen right away, almost nothing does, but over a year after the thought first crossed my mind I was standing in Incheon International Airport with 3 suitcases. When I came back from Korea and said, "I'm going to get back into my career and I'm going to be on television", I was on a plane to Oregon three months later and doing a live shot three days after that.

So when I tell people about my future plans and they tell me it won't happen, I don't mind. I've doubted myself before too, but things. Will. Happen. It may not happen exactly when you want it to, nor happen exactly as you think it will. It's about your mindset. Believe it, believe in yourself, believe that your dreams are real and attainable and anything is possible.

#StayOptimistic