Letter from the Multimedia Producer

Dear whoever is holding this magazine,

We all had a motto or phrase that we repeated to ourselves at major points in our lives. These mottos represented who we used to be, who we were at the time, and who we wanted to be. For a lot of us, moving to college was a chance to start over and reinvent ourselves. My motto while moving to college was, “The only way you can truly find yourself is by being the most unapologetic and authentic version of yourself. Everything you want will follow.”

From the moment my parents drove off to the second I am sitting down to write this letter to you, I have held up on my promise to myself. In being my most authentic self, I have found my creativity, my voice, my passions, my people, and my path. By surrounding myself with people who support me and letting those who don’t go, I have been able to accomplish and create some really cool sh*t. Since freshman year, I have been so proud of the work I have done but something was missing. I was doing a lot of ideation and planning but my need to create wasn’t being met. So, in my last year at the University of Minnesota, I joined The Wake.

The Wake is a place for people to be themselves and talk about things they are passionate about. While I haven’t been at The Wake for very long, I have been reading and watching since freshman year. It is so admirable how passionate, talented, and authentic every single person involved in this process is. As the Multimedia Producer, I have the privilege to watch these people do what they do, document it, and tell their stories. Being at The Wake serves as both a reminder and an opportunity to be my most authentic self and use it to create.

Going into my senior year, I was nervous about being able to handle it. I am completing my degree, working two jobs, leading a student group, and volunteering. However, a new motto came into my life recently. I won’t go into detail but I lost something I really wanted and was working for and my dad said to me, “People who shoot for the stars are more often disappointed by life, but they achieve so much more.” By being my most authentic self, I have aimed for the stars in everything that I do and with that comes a lot of disappointment. Don’t lose yourself, remember who you are, remember who you love, and remember why you do what you do. Aim for the stars, and if you miss, try again.

I invite you to write these down on a post-it note and put it on your wall, “The only way you can truly find yourself is by being the most unapologetic and authentic version of yourself. Everything you want will follow,” and “People who shoot for the stars are more often disappointed by life, but they achieve so much more.”

With love and gratitude,

Ben Villnow

Multimedia Producer