Nkechi Nneji ‘07

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Learning to Act “A lot of my leadership roles at Smith showed me what to do when there is conflict – how to resolve it and how to move past it. Especially at a women’s college, or maybe women in general, we tend to fester, seethe, simmer and then pop like six months later, and it becomes a whole brouhaha. Smith taught me how to act, and not to say that every Smithie comes out knowing how to act, but for me, I learned how to solve a crisis. Stay calm and just solve the problem as best as you can. It prepares you in a lot of ways for the zaniness of our world today.”

Go for It “A crane collapsed in the city between 51^st and 52^nd. We were coming back from a beeper shoot in Brooklyn. I was first on the scene, went up to police tape, and I grabbed a guy and I held him and said, ‘can you talk for the interview?’ and he said, ‘yeah, yeah’ while he was crying and shaking. You see someone that is that terrified and of course, you are scared too! I had to compose myself and ask him questions. After the interview he said, ‘I heard there are dead bodies all over the next block’ and I am thinking, ‘Oh, shit. I am a news assistant – I get paid $15 an hour! I’m not paid for this!’ (laughing). What are you going to do? What are you going to do?. So I said, ‘Let’s go.’ Of course. The knot that was in my stomach that day! I was about to faint, puke and run at the same time. Thankfully, he was wrong.”

What are you going to do? What are you going to do? So I said, “Let’s go.” Of course.