From a young age I was always told that labels were not supposed to define me, but I had worked very hard for 4 years for one label to do that, the one label I wanted, was the label of UCLA student. Marla, Anne, Emerald, and I had all applied for the fall semester at UCLA. As I ran downstairs sprinting like my life depended on it, I heard the single, hard, loud knock of the mail man. I knew my acceptance letter was inches away from me, however, I had promised the other girls I would not open my letter, until they got theirs.

Before we knew it, there we were, grasping that white, almost torn, beautifully stamped envelope of ours. “To whom this may concern, it is of sad matter that I have to inform” that was the end of the label I had hoped and worked for. I ran into my counselor’s office bombarding her with questions.

“Did the person reading my application that day have a bad lunch prior to reading it?”, “had I not joined enough clubs?”, “was my A in calculus not impressive enough?”

“Although you did not get into UCLA, Lina, the other colleges on the list were a good fit, do not let these circumstances make you feel unsure about your future” the counselor assured me.

As a few months passed by, I attended the university down the street in the morning and in the evening I spent all my time in a user friendly fashion blog I created when I wasn’t attending class. I expressed my sense of fashion, something I had dreamed of doing, but never got around to in my high school career, due to my academics. Never did I expect the outlet of fashion I had created to reach the hands of others.

“Hey Lina I have some exciting news, the girls and I are coming down to visit from UCLA tomorrow in the afternoon.” I was so excited Emerald had called, I had not seen my friends since graduation. As the breeze blew in the café, and the leaves fell from the trees, autumn was approaching, and as my friends kept on rambling on and on like my calculus professor did every period, about how great UCLA was, I could not stop thinking about the perfect outfit for this fall weather.

“Hey Lina, have you heard about this new blog called “dressing and impressing” it has thousands of site visits, and it has all the girls at UCLA wearing tank tops over fashionable shirts, Band T-shirts with skirts, polka dots with stripes, color blocking everything imaginable and much more!”

“Really?” I replied pretending to be highly astonished. Little did they know I was the creator of the blog that has everyone at UCLA talking, I had just earned a new label from the rejection that overall lead to a redirection in my life.