When I Graduated, I Wish I Had Known...

The best advice anyone ever gave me was...  two-fold: It is to fail fast and to listen to the whispers. I have failed at more things than I can even take time to share with you, and it is because of that, that I am here. Listening to the whispers of who I knew I wanted to become, of who I knew I was, of what I knew I was capable of doing, allowed me to persevere and to have grit in the situations and circumstances that were so incredibly hard. I failed to get into NYU the first time I applied. I failed to get into my preferred law school the first two times I applied. I failed the bar exam the first time that I took it. Those are the reasons I was able to listen to those whispers—to essentially trust myself. And it's the reason I'm able to share this message with you today from my Albany office in the New York State legislature.

I'd advise the Class of 2019 to spend more time on...  thinking about how to make transformational change. As Chairwoman of the Senate ethics committee, I work in a body that is very much used to transactional change and transactional ways of being. I am being intentional about how we shift from a paradigm of transaction to transformation—to doing things because we should do them, and because the people we represent need us to do them. We need to create new systems and new ways of being. The old system no longer working in the world we live in. 

...and less time on...   listening to the people who tell you no or that you can't or that it's never been done before or that you're so crazy for thinking about pursuing the thing you want to pursue. I can't tell you how many times I was told how crazy I was to run for this seat, and how impossible it would be to win this race. And yet here I am. We create the lives that we want to live.

My final words of wisdom?  The time is always right to do what's right—especially when it's hard, especially when it's uncomfortable, and especially when it means going out on a limb or being the only one to speak up. Do it. We need you to. The entire world needs you to. Whatever industry you're going into needs you to do that. We need more people who are brave enough to break their own hearts—who are brave enough to make sure that this world is left in a better place than where we found it.