ISSUE 12
Dear Students,
In my early twenties, I thought successful people had everything figured out.
I thought confident people were born confident.
I thought careers followed a straight line.
I thought if I worked hard enough, eventually I would stop feeling uncertain.
Turns out, I was wrong about most of those things.
If I could sit down with my younger self today, there are a few things I would tell her.
Not because I have everything figured out now.
But because I've spent nearly three decades learning lessons the hard way.
What I Thought at 23
At 23, I thought I had things pretty well figured out.
I was married.
I was working as a cake decorator and bakery manager at a grocery store.
I enjoyed the work.
I was creative.
I had responsibility.
And at the time, I thought I was making pretty good money.
Life felt stable.
Then, a year later, my son was born.
And for the first time, I started looking at my future differently.
I wasn't just thinking about next week or next month.
I was thinking about the years ahead.
I remember asking myself a question that changed everything:
"What am I doing?"
There was nothing wrong with my job.
But I knew it wasn't going to provide the kind of opportunities I wanted for my family.
I knew education mattered.
I knew I needed to go back to school.
Three months after my son was born, I quit my job and enrolled in college full-time.
The funny thing is, I had no idea graphic design was even a career.
I didn't grow up wanting to be a designer.
I discovered it almost by accident.
My dad owned an off-road business, and I started helping him create commercials and logos while I was attending college.
I was instantly hooked.
What started as helping my dad turned into curiosity.
Curiosity turned into classes.
Classes turned into a degree.
A degree turned into a career.
A career turned into opportunities I never could have imagined in my mid twenties.
One of the biggest lessons I learned is this:
You do not have to have your entire future figured out.
You just have to be willing to take the next step when the opportunity and excitement appear.
Nobody Knows What They're Doing at First
When you're young, it's easy to believe everyone else has a plan.
You look around and assume everyone knows exactly where they're going.
Most don't.
They're figuring it out as they go.
Just like you.
Just like me.
The difference is that some people are willing to move forward before they feel ready.
You do not need all the answers before you begin.
You just need to begin.
Confidence Is Earned
I spent years believing confidence would arrive first.
Then I would take action.
Then I would take risks.
Then I would pursue bigger opportunities.
What I've learned is that confidence rarely works that way.
Confidence is usually the reward for action.
Not the prerequisite.
You build confidence by doing difficult things.
Not by waiting until they feel easy.
Ask More Questions
One of the smartest things you can do is admit what you don't know.
Questions are not a sign of weakness.
They're evidence that you're learning.
When I was younger, I thought asking questions made me look inexperienced.
I thought I was supposed to already know the answer.
What I've learned is that the people who grow the fastest are usually the most curious.
They ask questions.
They seek feedback.
They look for understanding instead of trying to protect their ego.
Some of the biggest opportunities in my career happened because I was willing to ask questions that other people were afraid to ask.
In fact, if I hadn't asked questions, I may never have become a designer in the first place.
I started helping my dad with commercials and logos because I was curious.
I wanted to understand how things worked.
That curiosity eventually led me back to school and into a career I didn't even know existed a few years earlier.
I've learned far more from curiosity than I've ever learned from pretending I already knew the answer.
The moment you think you know everything is usually the moment you stop growing.
Your Career Will Not Be a Straight Line
I thought successful careers looked predictable.
School.
Job.
Promotion.
Success.
Reality looks nothing like that.
If you had told me that I would earn a bachelor's degree, earn an MFA, become a graphic design professor, write state-wide curriculum, grow a college graphic design program by more than 400%, and eventually launch my own business, I probably would have laughed.
Not because it was impossible.
Because I couldn't see that far ahead yet.
Life has a funny way of introducing opportunities you never planned for.
Stay open to them.
Learn How to Communicate
If I could give one piece of career advice that isn't design-related, it's this:
Learn how to communicate.
Not just how to talk.
How to listen.
And if your immediate reaction is, "I'm already a good listener," learn how to become an even better one.
Most people listen to respond.
The best designers listen to understand.
The best leaders listen to learn.
There is a difference.
Learn how to present ideas.
Learn how to ask thoughtful questions.
Learn how to accept feedback without becoming defensive.
Learn how to explain your decisions to people who don't speak the language of design.
Learn how to work with people who think differently than you do.
Over the years, I've seen talented designers struggle because they couldn't communicate effectively.
I've also seen average designers build incredible careers because they knew how to collaborate, build trust, and work well with others.
Technical skills matter.
But communication creates trust.
And trust creates opportunities.
The longer I work in this industry, the more convinced I become that soft skills are not secondary skills.
They are career skills.
Stop Comparing Timelines
Someone will always seem further ahead.
Someone will always appear more successful.
Someone will always look more talented.
Comparison makes it impossible to appreciate your own progress.
The truth is, you're comparing your behind-the-scenes to someone else's highlight reel.
Run your race.
Not theirs.
Failure Is Usually Tuition
Some of the most valuable lessons I've learned came from mistakes.
Projects that didn't go as planned.
I still keep one of them in my office.
Not because I'm proud of the work.
Because I'm grateful for what it taught me.
Clients that didn't work out.
Opportunities I missed.
Decisions I would make differently today.
Failure isn't always evidence that you're doing something wrong.
Sometimes it's simply the cost of learning.
The lesson is what lasts.
Final Thought
If I could leave my younger self with one message, it would be this:
You do not have to have everything figured out.
You do not need a perfect plan.
You do not need to know exactly where you're going.
You just need to keep moving.
Keep learning. Keep asking questions. Keep showing up.
Most of the things you're worried about today will eventually become stories you tell someone else.
As author Anne Lamott once wrote: "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."
Give yourself grace. Growth takes time.
In design truth,
Maggie