Showing results by author "Samorn Selim" in All Categories

A raw, vulnerable, and authentic memoir about the daughter of illiterate, poor Lao refugees growing up in Stockton who defies the odds of being a welfare queen to earn a degree from Berkeley Law and work at a big law firm. Samorn Selim survived her first drive by shooting at the age of five. Her brother survived a mass gun shooting at his elementary school when a white man decided to terminate the children of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Lao refugees. Pegged to be a teenage mom, a gang member, and a high school dropout, she was ecstatic to pass the California bar exam on her first try.

I’m Samorn Selim. Welcome to the Career Unicorns - Spark Your Joy Podcast. I’m a lawyer turned career coach on a mission for us to take our careers from dread to joy. Growing up as the daughter of poor Lao refugees, I was the underdog. Against all odds, I made it to a top 10 law school and landed a job in Big Law. As an outsider, I was told that I was lucky to even be there and that I had to pay my dues. After coaching over 1,000 clients, I now realize that the idea that you have to pay your dues and work in a toxic place is a myth. We can face our challenges head on, do work we are ...