Running Head: WENDY SMOKING GUN

Wendy Williams, A Smoking Gun

The Mastery Journey My hero of choice is Wendy Williams. Wendy is a talk show host of Asbury Park, NJ. She started from humble beginnings; she transcended from a boisterous radio personality to a leading daytime talk show host despite what would be considered shortcomings. She dealt with addiction, low self-esteem, and an overall battle for acceptance. Her journey is one that resembles some of the theories in novel Mastery by Robert Greene. Wendy was born in 1964. By the time she was in sixth grade she stood at 5’7 with a size eleven shoe. She stood out to say the least. One of three children, she had big shoes to fill as her sister attended a prestigious college at the age of sixteen. Wendy followed her footsteps and attended Northeastern University in Boston where she majored in communications with a minor in journalism. It was in college that she got into radio by hosting her own show on the college’s radio station. She went on to travel to stations in St. Croix, Virgin Islands and New York City. Upon working at various radio stations Wendy would be released for not sticking to the prewritten script according to Biography.com, Wendy says, “It’s been mostly 'Read these liners, and play the hits' and 'You're saying too much' and 'Shut the hell up,'” (¶ 7) for most of her radio career. Wendy modeled her style after the edgy Howard Stern. She named herself “Queen of All Media”. This title was a piggyback of Howards, “King of All Media”. She unintentionally exercised honesty and often times angered many of her interviewees. In her twenty-three years of radio she explains that she was able to gain larger recognition and momentum every year. She began a session of her radio show coined, The Wendy Williams Experience. The on-air show, “delved deep into her own personal life, touching difficult subjects like her past struggles with drug addiction, her plastic surgeries and the hardships of trying to conceive” (¶ 8). The Inclination Although Williams stood out amongst her peers during adolescence she remained active. She did not sulk in her indifference, “With her parents pushing her, however, Williams became involved in many extra-curricular activities. She was a girl scout, played clarinet in the marching band, and competed on her high school swimming team” (¶ 5). Her personality was grand to say the least, “At the outset, Williams says, she "spoke too loud, too fast, and too much," a characteristic that was in sharp contrast to her older, more bookish sister Wanda, a straight-A student who attended Tufts University at the age of 16” (¶ 4). Keys to Mastery In Mastery Greene states, “Understand, it is the choice of where to direct his or her creative energy that makes the Master” (Greene 2012). Wendy used what was seemingly natural, her inclination in fact, to expand on and embodied the obsessive characteristic required for mastery. “If your work comes from a place deep within, its authenticity will be communicated” (Greene 2012). Williams identified her creative task early in life and pursued it relentlessly. The second step to mastery is the creative mind. Williams embraced serendipity. She was able to involve herself in various activities throughout her youth that allowed her to experience the coming of new ideas. “Such chance associations and discoveries are known as serendipity- the occurrence of something we are not expecting-and although by their nature you cannot force them to happen, you can invite serendipity into the creative process…first step is to widen your search as far as possible” (Greene 2012). Williams did not limit herself to the typical sport of a girl her height such as basketball, she ventured out into other arenas, and thus she was able to widen her perspective. The third step identified by Greene as one of the steps required for the keys to mastery is a creative breakthrough. This step emphasizes the breakthrough that is experienced when pursuing the actual task. Greene suggests that there will be less excitement and more consciousness; this can be a difficult time while embarking on the mastery journey. “ At certain points in this process lesser types would give up or settle for what they have—a mediocre and half realized project. But Masters are stronger”(Greene 2012). Williams experienced several breakthroughs during her bid with addiction. She worked and became larger and more profound during her breakthrough; she resembled strength. Williams experienced one of the emotional pitfalls that Greene points out in Mastery; she was impatient. Not fully living up to her idea of success and happiness she became impatient and turned to drug use. “Happiness was found to correlate negatively with a large number of items (providing some degree of construct validity). The correlations tended to be positive with transliminality, indicating more drug use, more self-destructive behaviors, and a greater tendency to withdraw from excessive stimulation (Thalborne). Williams found false happiness while using drugs. This use seemingly replaced emotional fulfillment. Williams concluded mimicked the phase of creative-active; she resembled Santiago Calatrava. Both individuals had the natural inclination of what the loved and pursued publicly. Their Mastery tasks’ were not far fetched; in fact they were seemingly inhabited. Both at some point experienced the world however, “Some see it as hostile, some see it as peaceful, and some go about their daily business and do not see it at all. This is the seen world. The one we can see with our eyes. The seen world is not the only one that exists, however, because there is also another world behind our eyes” (Johnson). Both Masters were in tune with their inner capabilities thus they were able to expedite their journeys, while experiencing the unorthodox. References Johnson, C., (2007), Substance Use & Misuse 2007, Vol. 42 Issue 2-3. Greene, R., (2012) Mastery. New York, NY: Penguin Group. Thalbourne, M. (2005) Personality & Individual Differences, Vol. 38 Issue 2. Wendy Williams. Retrieved: http://www.biography.com/people/wendy-williams- 524056?page=1.