Damian Guzman

“Business and education are life’s great equalizers,” says Damian Guzman ’09. He should know. Ten years ago, when Guzman had left community college and was living in Tucson, Arizona, nothing would have suggested that he would one day graduate from Columbia Law School with a J.D.

But, in 1999, a sea change adjusted his outlook. His niece, Idalis, was born. “It was the biggest moment of my life,” Guzman says. “I realized I didn’t want to risk her growing up without a college graduate in the family.”

His first step was to take a job with Wells Fargo in San Francisco. There, Guzman worked full time as a banker and studied business administration—also full time—at a local community college. When the time to transfer came, Guzman took a long shot, dug into his savings, flew to New York to interview with a Cornell recruiter, and was soon accepted into Cornell’s School of Industrial & Labor Relations.

Though Guzman’s years as an undergraduate were filled with weekends spent studying, as well as missed birthdays and weddings back home, he learned the discipline needed to do well academically.

“Law demanded an even higher level of discipline from me,” he says. He credits Columbia Law School’s students and professors for creating an intellectually supportive environment, and support from his girlfriend and family for carrying him through to graduation day. This fall, Guzman will be assisting the general counsel at Sesame Workshop before joining the firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in New York.

And Idalis continues to be Guzman’s inspiration. “One thing that I want to pass on to my niece is that hard work is necessary, and it pays off,” he says. “Everything that I’ve succeeded in is because of hard work, above all.”