It just wasn’t. And how could it be? With no experience in politics, no network, no family with any knowledge of the field, no connections, and no support, breaking into an industry as shrouded as politics is nothing less than a leap of faith. Like jumping off a cliff and hoping to get lucky.
But somehow, everyone we met in Sacramento did it. From the Legislative Aides to the Legislative Directors to the Chiefs of Staff, everyone had rolled the dice on a career with little support. And they made it. Through their hard work, charm, drive, and political savvy, they made their own luck, pulling a promising career out of a place where none existed before.
CLA Interns posing outside the Capitol.
Chatting with the various speakers at our Capitol Summit has forced me to grapple with what it means to be lucky. Each person we talked to at least once faced a situation where the outcome—and by extension the future of their careers—was out of their hands. Whether that be sending in an application for the APICA internship, winning an upset victory in a crowded race, or talking to people in the Building until someone had a job opening. In all of these instances, a bit of dumb luck seems to have decided our speakers’ entire futures—their entire career trajectories.
And yet, if we look closer—or if we zoom out, rather—we’ll see that all of our lives are made up of countless moments where nothing other than luck decides our future. The job application reader wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, a chance encounter with someone who ends up becoming our close friend or our partner, a rock somehow hits our car windshield while we are stuck in traffic. When you realize that life consists of a constant stream of lucky and unlucky moments, you can begin to see how you can get lucky.
Our speakers made their own luck. By working hard to constantly put themselves in positions where they could get lucky, they were bound to get lucky at least once. And they did. And that’s all they needed. With their foot in the door, they were able to launch their careers and develop all of the elements that they were missing that are essential to a career in politics in the first place—a network, connections, resources, support, and a working knowledge of the field. Through a bit of good fortune and a huge amount of work, they took a path that was near impossible, a path that was completely out of their control, and turned it into an option.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by Coby Nguyen, Leadership Academy 2023 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.