She was only six when she wrote her first story, called ‘Rabbit’ but she never finished writing any novel before she wrote the Harry Potter books. When she started writing Harry Potter she was living in a small apartment with her daughter and she had recently lost her job and was broke. She was also going through a major depression phase as she was recently divorced and lost her mother to multiple sclerosis. But despite the hardships she pursued her dreams and ambition of being a successful writer but never had she imagined to be so famous and rich.
Her rags to riches story is not the only impressive thing about her. My favorite part about her is how she talks about importance of failure in her life. Her speech at Harvard ‘The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination’ resonates a lot with me. The first Harry Potter book that she wrote was rejected by 12 major publishing houses in the UK before Bloomsbury decided to take on it. Fast forward, and today it is listed as one of the best series to read by various literary magazines and websites.
JK was the first person to fall off of the Forbes billionaires list due to donating a large amount of her fortune to charity. Her philanthropic endeavors, include contributions to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Children’s High Level Group (now known as Lumos), the building of a regenerative neurology clinic in Scotland, and various other charitable causes through her philanthropic trust, Volant.
When people think of Harry Potter, they automatically think of it as a children’s character and don’t get me wrong it is fantastic as a kid’s book but in my opinion it is as good a book for adults. Reading Harry Potter as a teenager helped me get through depression and gave me hope that world is more than a little bubble that we live in. I still read it in my adulthood and learn new things every time. That is why I choose JK Rowling as my role model because despite hardships and failures in life we all need a little bit of imagination and a whole lot of perseverance.
