Growing up in Humboldt County, you are secluded from the outside world. The cities are small and everyone knows each other. Unless you travel to somewhere like San Francisco, you will never truly experience real traffic or see large office buildings. Humboldt is not a booming metropolis, so adolescents have fewer career opportunities and potentially lower salaries. “The average income of a Humboldt County resident is $23,516 a year. The [United States] average is $28,555 a year” (Economy). Success is often characterized in financial terms; however, success is whatever you define it to be.

Family friend Todd Greenfield embodies my definition of success: having a job that financially supports your needs and pastimes, allows for free time with friends and family, and is interesting. Speaking with Greenfield about his career, I learned that the path to success isn’t a straight line. It has ups, downs, lefts, rights, and sometimes even u-turns. Greenfield grew up in Humboldt County and works in the entertainment industry, currently serving as Executive Vice President in the scripted division for Canadian media company Boat Rocker Media. He graduated from Arcata High School; attended Humboldt State University (HSU) for two years before transferring to California State University, Northridge; and finished his college career at the University of Southern California (USC). Although Greenfield would have preferred to attend the University of California, Davis, his time at HSU was enlightening; “I spent a couple of years at HSU and I really learned a lot and that actually worked out really well” (Greenfield). When Greenfield started college, he planned to major in Computer Information Systems; however, he changed his mind when he took an accounting class taught by Dr. Dwight Zulauf. “I learned a lot from him, and actually he gave me a lot of good direction. … Dr. Zulauf got me into doing what I'm doing to some extent” (Greenfield). After completing Zulauf’s class, Greenfield changed his major to accounting. 

When asked how he was affected by growing up in Humboldt County, Greenfield responded that “when I was at … USC and I was a senior and I was interviewing with the big accounting firms, I was still just a Humboldt kid. I didn't dress right. My parents didn't have memberships at the country clubs. I didn't drive a fancy car. … I felt less than right. I was just a kid from Arcata High, and I didn't roll in those circles. … I feel like I let that hold me back now. I didn't get a job with one of the big firms, which is what everybody's goal was, you know, a Pricewaterhouse, … because I didn't grow up that way. … I grew up driving a rusted-out Jeep pickup and going to Mad River. … I didn't golf. … I ended up at a smaller firm, and I didn't even end up in LA. I ended up in San Jose because I couldn't get in with one of the firms in LA, [which] ended up working out really well. … But in that respect, it was … harder for me, but then on the flip side, I also am not going to live in LA my whole life. I do want to come back. I told my mom she can't sell her house ‘cause I'm going to come back to Trinidad. … I get simple pleasures. I still don't golf. I still don't have a membership to a country club. … I still don't see myself as that. I see myself as still the kid from Arcata, but now … I'm proud of that. And I would tell you [to] be proud of that wherever you go. Maybe you go to Georgetown, maybe you go to Cal State, Long Beach. … Wherever you end up, be proud of where you're from, and be who you are” (Greenfield).

Greenfield described his career as a “long, strange trip,” working his way from the small firm in San Jose to one of the biggest names in Hollywood (Greenfield). He took a job at Disney Studios, which was not the happiest place on Earth. “We worked seven days a week, and I missed out on some experiences that would have helped my career. Now, Disney also helped my career because I have it on my resume. I've learned to work … even harder and deal with people that are complete a-holes” (Greenfield). Subsequently, Greenfield took a job at Fox, which he enjoyed a little too much. “I loved going to the premieres. I loved being in theatrical. I loved being on the lot. I loved having my office right near the chairman. I loved them filming Arrested Development literally outside of my office, but for a finance guy, what I was doing the last five years that I was there was a waste. I could have been building my career” (Greenfield). Eventually, Greenfield sought employment elsewhere, working at Warner Brothers and several independent production companies leading to his current position at Boat Rocker Media.

Success is warped in the eye of the beholder, and the road to it is always under construction. It doesn't matter where you grow up, who you are, or what you want to do. If you want to be successful, you have to work for it. You have to strive to accomplish your goals, whilst keeping an eye out for obstacles or alternate routes along the way. Growing up in Humboldt County doesn’t mean that you have to be defined by marijuana and redwood trees. Humboldt is a beautiful, unique place where you can blossom if you have the grit to power on. Your success depends on you and, perhaps, knowing how to play golf.

Bibliography:

Economy in Humboldt County, California, https://www.bestplaces.net/economy/county/california/humboldt.

Greenfield, Todd. “The Story of Todd Greenfield.” 15 Jan. 2022.

Erik Sorensen, Angi Sorensen, and Todd Greenfield (L-R) at Oracle Park in San Francisco, September 2019