Scholarship Finalist - Grace Donovan

Grace is an incoming freshman at the University of Georgia, majoring in Advertising (B.A.) with a minor in Business.

Prompt: Share a personal story of how you overcame a major life challenge or obstacle and what lessons you learned that prepared you for college and beyond. How will these experiences provide you with a unique perspective in pursuing a career in business?

Owning a business is a high-risk, high-reward industry, but with my camera, I felt the strength to overcome my one kryptonite, the fear of failure. In the beginning, each client inquiry I prepared was reread hundreds of times and then sent with a shaky hand. Every sent email, every sent text, was a terrifying 50/50 chance that it would fail. That first ping notifying me of someone hiring me spread a smile across my face that spanned ear to ear. A big sigh of relief escaped me, my hard work was finally paying off. Now, don’t get me wrong, at first the noes were much greater than the yeses, but with every returned message saying no or not at this time the pill of rejection became easier to swallow. No longer did I see rejection as failure, rather as one stepping stone on my path to success in my business but also in my everyday life. It was not long before I came to a crossroads as I needed to decide which direction to take my business: one straight path continuing, focusing solely on photographing the sports I fully understood, and the other, a dark windy path of the unknown, sports that I had no experience photographing. While it may be easier, there is limited growth within the barriers of your comfort zone, so I took the first step toward embracing the unknown. What started as a business revolving around two specific sports soon included others, and I am still expanding to this day. It’s fascinating to really explore what makes each sport unique and then apply that knowledge to capture action specific to that sport. Once I began to diversify my knowledge, so many new opportunities opened up for me, leading Grace LeeAnn Photography grow to become a five-figure business in its first eighteen months. Owning a business has provided me with an introspective mirror. I have been able to identify and confront my weaknesses, such as perfectionism and lack of confidence. However, I have also been able to embrace my strengths, such as professionalism and self-motivation, capitalizing on them in a way that has helped me to reach both personal and professional goals.