Vivienne Ming

“What drives success, and the most successful students, is internal motivation.”

“The tax on being different is massive.”

“The bias tax is actually a loss in economy.”

“Who wants to get a worse diagnosis of their cancer, just to keep a human doctor in the job?”

“Once you identify the intrinsically motivated people, you realize that fancy degrees can actually be a negative - that some of the people who have them are more focused on how others perceive them.”

“Why did I go back to school? After working with giant snails as the manager of an abalone farm, who wouldn't be fascinated with the inner workings of the mind? They are a very contemplative species.”

“I'm not enthusiastic about educational games or apps generally.”

“Passing on a full scholarship to MIT would be irrational for me, but to my father and his parents, what would have been the point of spending five years at one of the world's most prestigious universities if he just ended up back on the farm?”

“My body became aligned with my identity, and it was profound.”

“It's important to me that talking about my experience not undermine those who choose differently. There can be a stigma for people who don't take the path I did, as though not having surgery means you're not really transitioning. No one should feel as though it's everything or nothing.”

“The traditional markers people use for hiring can be wrong - profoundly wrong.”