This month's Career Passionist ~ Lupita!

This past Sunday Lupita Nyong’o won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave.”  Lupita came to acting relatively recently yet took home the Oscar for what was, amazingly, one of her first films! 

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

I loved the fact that Lupita remembered in her moment of glory to salute the "why" of the passion behind her work.  In her acceptance speech she shared ... I want to salute the spirit of Patsey for her guidance. And for Solomon, thank you for telling her story and your own ... it doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s. 

... and take on the pain she did!  

Lupita said [on portraying Patsey in '12 Years a Slave']  I was heartbroken by her (Patsey) story. I just felt so sorry for her. I recognized then that I had a lot of work to do to get to a point where I could play her, because feeling that kind of sympathy for someone is no way to actually inhabit them.. She was just simple and she was trying to get by on a daily basis. She's not sentimental about her pain. I had to have the same kind of attitude.  

[on retaining overnight the elaborate scarring makeup on her back, incurred in the brutal sexual scenes with the sadistic plantation owner] They were haunting. I could only sleep on my belly. I was just so aware of them the whole night. I remember fretting and weeping, and then it occurred to me that my discomfort was temporary, and the woman who I was playing, her discomfort was permanent. It just really centered me, and really quieted my soul for the next day's work.

With preparation like that, an Oscar definitely seems appropriate!  The best part however was at the end of her Oscar winning speech, Lupita gave "Career Passionists" everywhere hope and inspiration with these words...  "When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid."  

Career Passionists your dreams are valid too, and as if you needed it, you have my permission to pursue them!  

My pick for this month's Career Passionist ~ Lupita Nyong’o!