Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up

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CONTINUOUSLY LEARNING AND IMPROVING

Melia Dicker: Reschooling Herself

Melia Dicker grew up in Sonoma, California. Her family was one of several Asian American families in a predominantly white community. She was a high achiever growing up and continued her record of achievement at Santa Clara University, where she obtained a degree in psychology.

After college, she felt that something was still missing and that she had more to learn: “I'd perfected the formula for success in school–follow other people's rules and reap the rewards. I'd gotten all A's.” ¹ But her achievement had been driven more by the fear of failure than by a love of learning. She felt stifled by the achievement game, and she thought that school hadn't really prepared her ...