The movies and series that every young career woman should watch in your 20s

This is one of the articles that I was wishing to write since long time ago. I am a movie lover. I spent most of my time watching movies, learning new things from those movies and series and observing the characters in those. My grandfather once told me that "You need to learn everything from everyone that you meet, every situation that you are in, every stories that you read and hear. You need to be a learner and beginner in your whole life. That is how you will survive in the way that you want to." That was one of the good saying that I was ever told. This is why I always try to learn the life lesson from the movies and books.
I should admit that I was lucky having chance to watch those movies and series that inspired me in good ways when I was still studying in the business management school. There’s saying goes “You become what you think”. So, we need to think of the best version of ourselves. And for me, watching those movies and series inspired the way I thought, the way I behaved, the way I decided to chase my dream and the way I wanted to grind.   
                
1.    Ugly Betty
I cannot think of any other series than Ugly Betty when I thought to write the first inspired character to me. Betty is ugly, fat, weird and crazy. Yeah, she was and she worked in one of the famous magazines in New York. Though she was working in leading fashion magazine, her fashion was weird and hard to be accepted by others. But she never changed the way she was. She wore those creepy crazy color dresses every day to work, she wore brace for years and she was the go-getter. She was very career oriented person and she loved the job that she did. Everybody knew that she was way too smart and never gave up on what she believed. She always made it happen. She knew how to separate her personal affairs from her job. This is what I didn’t know how to do during the earlier stage of my career. People aroud her loved her because of her personality and strong work ethic. She also loved to help other people and she was very kind-hearted person. She made mistakes but all her mistakes lead to the better path.
Key notes : People will judge you the way you look, the cloth that you wear, the decision that you make, the person that you date and the mistake that you make. But believe in yourself. No one knows what is inside of you. You don’t have to change the way you are to fit in the surrounding that you are in. The only thing that you have to do is to focus on what you believe and chase your own dreams. Remember, do not change the way you are! Be willing to help others and be willing to get the help from others when you are in need!

2.    Scandal
Well, Olivia Pope!!! I think most of people know this series as this is one of the hit series in US. I watched this series when I was about to start my career after business management school. I thought it was political series and I couldn’t understand the twist of every character from it. But later, I realized that it was part of life. Sometimes, friends become enemy and enemy becomes friends too. Nobody know what the future holds. It based on the circumstances. Olivia was very strong and powerful woman and very amobitious. But she was totally different from Betty. Olivia was such kind of person who held the power in her hand, who commanded people to get done their job, who always trusted her own instinct and gut. She was bossy and she held her destiny in her own hand. She was very fashionable. I admit that character inspires me in so many ways. She always said “This case is handled” and it means you don’t have to worry about it anymore because she handled it very well. When she said “Consider as it’s fixed” means it’s fixed with no doubt.
As she was the founder of “Olivia Pope and Associates” crisis management firm and she handled several cases for high profile people. She had an affair with president but she rejected his proposal because she realized that she never wanted to be the first lady. The scandal is full of twist and turn. At first, I couldn’t understand why Shonda Rhimes created the whole series so complex. I cannot predict each character in fixed way. They always changed. But now, I totally understand. That is life. No one stands at the same spot and no one has the same personality that we used to know before. People change. This series is the bible for me. I can find the answer for every question that I have. It’s like “Godfather” trilogy.

 Key Notes: You are the leader of your life. You make the decision for your life by yourself. You have to believe in your gut, instinct and inner voice. Nothing is personal when it comes to relate with work and business. Enemy can become friends and friends can become enemy. You always need to have the backup and contingency plan. No one understands you what you are going through. As you’re getting older and older, as you’re hustling better and better, the struggles that you face, the challenges that you take would be bigger and bigger. But you can handle it no matter how it’s big.

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3.     Devil Wears Prada

Whenever I read the articles about career movies, I always find “Devil wears Prada” in every article. Well yes! This is truly a career advised movie. This movie is inspired by Vouge Magazine’s chief editor “Anna Wintour's real life”. When I started watching that movie, I hated Miranda; a character inspired by Anna Wintour. I hated her cold-blooded behavior. But when I re-watched this movie last year, I totally fell in love with Miranda. She inspired me a lot.
Key Notes: This movie is life time career advised movie. You can learn how to get things done by watching Andy’s work spirit, attitude. You can also learn how to be less emotional and how to make the tough decision by watching Miranda’s badass attitude. You cannot be nice to everybody when you become the editor in chief or holds the big role in one particular organization. You need to know that you cannot make everyone happy.You also need to predict the next move to protect yourself. It is not about being selfish. It is about protecting yourself and know the rule to play the game in corporate world. Remember, no nice girl can get the corner office!

4.     Morning Glory 
 Betty! That’s the movie I watched when I was looking for the job after my thesis. The movie is about the girl who was looking for a job in TV station after losing her job. Eventually she got a job in one station to handle the low-rated TV program with half-paid. She said yes once she got the offer. No matter how much she got paid, she was ready to follow her dream to make the program to be hit. She moved to NY from New Jersey. She faced so many difficulties especially her team members were waiting for the day that the program would end. Due to financial crisis in US at that time, it’s more likely to cancel the program that she worked on. Most of the people said no matter how hard she tried, the program would be ending at the end of the day. She tried to put aside those saying. She even tried to get the one-time legendary TV personality and journalist star to involve in her program. She’s crazy, ambitious, funny with positive attitude. I was lucky to watch this movie before I started my career in one of the leading smartphone companies. Once I was rejected from one of the FMCG brands, I thought I was not qualified. But I got the offer from the smartphone company with very low wage at that time, it’s only half of the salary that FMCG brand offered. I said yes. I decided to join even though I found out that the receptionist’s salary was higher than me later my joining accidentally. The situation that I faced was quiet similar in that movie, everyone told me that there was no future for me in the company that I joined. I admit that I lost confidence because I was holding manager position without having any proper experience. The only experience that I had was the theory that I have learned in MBA business school. I was mistaken as the sales girl by the shop owners at that time. I met several people advised me to jump into another company after three months of working time there. But I didn’t give up. Cos, I believed that there was big potential in telcom and smartphone industry. I didn’t even care about the money that I earned at that time.

Key notes: Follow your passion. Be ambitious, be crazy, take risk and always always believe in yourself. You can listen to people’s advice but you know that you are the one who will decide your future. If you believe in one thing to do, though you are told to give up, do not ever give up. You need to work so hard if you want to get something done. You also believe in what you are doing. If you don’t believe it, you cannot convince other people to follow you. Do not set up any boundaries. Always be ready to go broader than you are meant to do. You are not supposed to do something easy. You are supposed to challenge yourself to do something bigger.

5.     Erin Brockovich

This is one of the badass movie that I have ever watched. Yes again. This is the movie that I watched while I was studying MBA in 2011. Julia Roberts starred in the movie and she got praise by portraying Erin Brockovich. This is based on the true story. Single mother with three kids tried to work her ass off for her kids and herself. Despise her lack of formal education in law school, she won the case of Pacific Gas and Electric litigation. She never gives up on what she believes. It’s suffocating to watch the whole movie because the personal struggles that she faced was out of my imagination. She won one of the beauty pageants but she was left by her two husbands with three kids and she struggled a lot to survive.

Key Notes: No matter how good you are, no matter how nice you are, no matter how innocent you are, there would be several people who will take you for granted and leave you in the mess. Nobody will die virgin because life f**ks all of us. The key lesson is there’s only you who will never give up and get up from those failures. You need to be positive about your life that your life would be getting better eventually and it will turn out as you always imagine. 

6.     Pursuit of Happyness

I watched this movie because one of my friends suggested me to watch it. Then again, I watched this one while I was looking for a job after my thesis. This is based on the true story and Will Smith was portraying Chris Gardner in the movie. This movie is recommended by several people that we all should watch once in our lifetime. I was so desperately wanting a job and submitted my non experience resume to several organization which I found in opportunity journal. I was sitting the whole day in my living room by waiting the call from companies for job interview. Most of my friends were working in several industry at that time and I was the only one who was jobless. I felt I was useless by spending my parents' money by attending the MBA. I was totally depressed. 
When I watched that movie, I even cried cos that one motivated me a lot. Chris tried so hard to sell the machine by walking everyday to meet with the doctors. But he couldn't sell. After his wife left him with his son, he had to struggled a lot and sleep at the homeless station too. He wanted to get a job in one of the stock firms. When he got a job in the firm finally, he went out of the door full of hopes and dreams. I cried so hard at the last part of the movie. I still believe Will Smith deserves Oscar for that movie.

Key Notes : You may lose everything in your life one day. You may lose friends, family, home, confidence and your property. But you are not meant to give up. You may once fall into the hell, but you have to get back to find your heaven. You are the warrior of your own life, you are the hero of your life. No one will fight the war for you. It’s you who have to find until you get victory. You can ask for help from your friends and other people. But it’s you who make it through. Life brings you down but you can get up stronger than ever. 

I was very lucky that I found inspiration,  learned very precious lesson about life from those movies that I watched during the earlier stage of my career. I found my own identity and I realized what kind of person that I wanted to be. This is one of the reasons I shared what I have learned from those movies in this articles.

Enjoy reading! 

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