A BYU Marriott School of Business senior in the global supply chain management (GSCM) program, Emma Lindberg has always set a high bar for herself—setting big goals and working hard to accomplish them. Although life hasn’t always gone as planned, she continues to overcome her challenges and find new ways to grow.
Lindberg decided at just 12 years old that she would get a degree in business and that she wanted to go to the Olympics in 2020. She developed her athletic ability while still keeping her grades up to support her academic goals.
In high school, Lindberg began competitive pole vaulting. “You raise the bar to see how high you can go,” she says. “I thought that I was going to keep raising that bar and be an athlete forever.” She pushed herself toward the goals she made, but a spinal injury during her senior year forced her to reevaluate her plans.
“I was just so lost. I couldn’t carry my backpack. I couldn’t run. I could barely walk,” Lindberg says. As she graduated high school and came to Brigham Young University for her first year, she was filled with uncertainty. She would ask herself, “What does this mean? This isn’t what I had planned for myself.”
She chose to adjust the way she viewed her identity and rely more on the Lord’s help. “Sports are still a huge part of my life, just not in the way I thought,” Lindberg says. “In the end, the things I’ve found outside of sports are just as important to me. I'm more confident than ever that I’m doing the right thing for me—I'm becoming the person that God has always known I could be.”
As she overcame her injuries and challenges, Lindberg has learned to think of life not as a set path—but a flexible process. “I don’t think there's anything wrong about having goals that don’t pan out,” Lindberg says. “A lot of the things I learned from my prior experiences have helped me to find a community and figure out who I really am. I realized that I didn’t need my life to go the way I had planned—because it’s going the way it was always meant to go.”
Lindberg has continued to raise the academic and professional bar with the help of peers and professors in the GSCM program. “My professors know me by name and are invested in my growth. I’ve gone to them for help on professional, spiritual, and personal matters,” Lindberg says. During one particularly hard time, she was reminded of this when a professor said, “Emma, you have this entire department behind you.”
To give back to the GSCM community, Lindberg contributes her time and talents to the Global Supply Chain Association. “I’m like a walking ad—I’m always wearing merch, telling people about events, and doing branding,” Lindberg says. “I make sure everybody knows that this is the place to be. I want everyone to know that when they come to this major, they belong here, and they can succeed.”
Lindberg continues, “We all build each other up, and we all celebrate together.” The support she’s been able to give and receive has opened her mind to possibilities she’d never seen for herself before. “I’ve realized I can do anything; I can go anywhere.”
As she finishes up her senior year and prepares to enter the workforce, Lindberg continues to raise her expectations and work to see how high she can go. “BYU Marriott has really shown me that you can create the life that you want. Opportunities that are meant for you won’t pass you by,” she says. “I don’t know exactly what the future holds, but I believe that it’s going to be even better than I expect.”
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Written by Melissa Een
