{"id":578,"date":"2021-05-10T12:56:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T12:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/?p=578"},"modified":"2021-05-10T12:56:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T12:56:44","slug":"part-6-taking-risks-overcoming-social-stigmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/2021\/05\/10\/part-6-taking-risks-overcoming-social-stigmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 6: Taking Risks & Overcoming Social Stigmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Discussing the intersection of career and heritage.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Taking\nRisks <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I graduated with a double major and went on to secure an entry level position at\u00a0 a Fortune 500 company<\/a>. My family was proud of me, but after a year of 3 promotions, several outstanding performance awards, and a sweet annual bonus-I found the work unfulfilling and did not feel that I would be able to reach my full potential. Cross-cultural mentors encouraged me to consider applying for a master\u2019s degree in the area of my interest: diplomacy and international Commerce. I too felt it would be a perfect combination of my educational background in business administration and international affairs. I felt that graduate school would help me to explore my interest in public service. Yet, there were two main obstacles to pursuing my graduate studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming\nSocial Stigmas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One, was the social stigma within my\nfamily\u2019s Punjabi-Sikh immigrant American community about unmarried women living\non their own, in my case, 400 miles away from home. Choosing to matriculate in\nthe University of Kentucky\u2019s graduate school meant intentionally fostering and\nbuilding a support network outside of my family of origin, and\nracial-religious-ethnic community. It also meant making my cultural and\nreligious values my own. Allow me to explain. While my family would disapprove\nof my moving out because of social stigmas surrounding unmarried Sikh women\nliving on their own, I found approval in my own interpretations around living\nmy life as a Sikh woman. For me, being a Sikh woman meant being radically\nhonest with myself and all others around me about my life and being willing to\ndeal with the consequences of my actions. My cross-cultural mentor, who\ngraduated from the University of Kentucky, helped me by introducing me to his\npersonal and professional connections when I first moved to Lexington. His\nsupport and advice helped me to overcome the challenge of being isolated from\nmy family of origin and in cultivating a support network of my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advice:<\/strong>\nCross-cultural mentors and friendships are important to one\u2019s personal growth\nand development. The cross-cultural relationships in my life have helped me to\ngo beyond my \u201cgrowth edge.\u201d They have helped me to develop a global\ncross-cultural competency, increased my capacity to maintain multiple\nperspectives, and helped me with navigating inter\/intrapersonal conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Simran Kaur-Colbert<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow – Part 7: Getting Used to Being \u201cThe Only\u201d
<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discussing the intersection of career and heritage. Taking Risks I graduated with a double major and went on to secure an entry level position at\u00a0 […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2308,"featured_media":570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/careerservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}