Last month, I had the chance to have lunch with Precious Scott. She was in the audience during a speaking engagement I did at her former employer. She’s originally from Zimbabwe and the story of how she came to the United States blew my mind. During her childhood, her dad, who worked as a detective, passed and her mother had to raise three children alone. Their home, which was linked to her father’s employment, had to be vacated not long after his passing.

Precious mentioned that her ticket to a better life was through education. Unfortunately her mother could not afford to send her to college. While talking with a friend one day, she learned about the US Student Achievers Program. Twenty out of thousands of students from Zimbabwe were going to be selected for an opportunity to attend college in the USA. Precious applied to the program and was selected, then was accepted to Berea College on a full scholarship. The only problem was that she did not have the money to pay for her flight. For the next 30 days, Precious knocked on doors of businesses in the business district near where she lived to ask for airfare assistance. Because of her resilience and her determination to succeed, she got the money to secure her dream.

Due to financial hardship, she owned only one good dress for the trip. A monk she had befriended heard about her opportunity and gave her the one piece of luggage he owned.

Precious graduated from Berea College with a degree in accounting. She is now a CPA, and an Audit Manager for a very large corporation, married and has two children. She and her husband are also debt-free except for their mortgage. Sometimes when you chase your dream, you catch it.