Surviving 9/11 and Pursuing Your Destiny w/ Mikaila Cruz
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Mikaila Cruz arrived at her office on the 95th floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower expecting an ordinary Tuesday. After the North Tower was struck, she and her colleagues at Fiduciary Trust Company International were told their building was secure and that they should stay where they were. She left anyway. That decision saved her life.
This week, Mikaila joins host Dr. Chris Meek for a conversation that starts long before that morning. She talks about growing up in Queens with immigrant parents, the values they instilled in her, and the ambition that carried her to Wall Street during the boom years of the 1990s. Then she takes listeners inside the South Tower as the attacks unfolded, down all those flights of stairs, and out into the chaos of Lower Manhattan.
The conversation also turns to everything that came after. Mikaila describes how surviving changed her relationship with fear, which forms of healing proved most useful, and why she eventually chose to speak publicly and co-author the bestselling book Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams. With more than 100 million Americans either born after 9/11 or too young to remember it, she shares what she hopes the history books will say, and what still gives her optimism about the future.
This episode is part of a series marking the 25th observance of the September 11 attacks. To learn more, visit the 9/11 Legacy Foundation at the911legacy.org.
About Mikaila Cruz: Mikaila Cruz is an author, entrepreneur, speaker and 9/11 survivor whose remarkable life story spans cultures, careers and one of the most consequential days in American history. She arrived at her office on the 95th floor of World Trade Center’s South Tower expecting an ordinary workday. Instead, she found herself caught in the unfolding terrorist attacks and forced to make decisions that ultimately saved her life. Determined to help others navigate adversity in their own lives, Mikaila transformed her experiences into a message of hope and perseverance, in part as the co-author of the best-selling book, Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams. Today, through speaking, mentoring and business leadership, Mikaila continues to encourage others to move beyond fear, embrace opportunity and pursue lives of meaning and intention.