Whenever people ask me what I want to be when I grow up, it really has been tricky to make it make sense. I'm passionate about creating and I'm fulfilled most when I am connecting with people over the real stuff, the deep stuff. I am an artist, I paint pictures of nude bodies with overly exaggerated limbs and recognizable fat rolls around a juxtaposition of color and shapes that make things seem chaotic yet challenging. I work as an administrative associate in the philanthropy and finance department of a Non-profit garden where my job is to do all the tasks nobody else wants to do. It's strange really, when you find yourself in need of money. This thing that you will use to exchange with another person or organization for a service that will grant you access to the well of opportunity Ivy League schools like Columbia offer. Working isn't the tricky part, and saving well that too can be done with a good strategy for resisting consumerism and the relief that comes with purchase of goods. No, the hardest part is maintaining hope. The hope that what you are working for will provide you enough to live and enough to do what you do best. To create. And in creating, you'll maybe after all that education, be able to create something beautifully and effecting.