Michael Gonzales was the only child in his family to graduate from high school, and although he decided at age 13 that he wanted to become a diplomat, his family’s financial circumstances made him believe that such a goal was unattainable.
“Oxy changed my life and helped me to realize my dreams when my station in life meant that such opportunities should have been out of my reach,” Gonzales says. “This was possible through Oxy’s nuanced recognition of talent, combined with the generosity of people who I will never know and who never asked for recognition.”
Gonzales is now one of those people changing lives through support of the Oxy Fund. His consistent giving allows him to make a difference in the lives of today’s Oxy students, just as generous alumni did for him while he was at Oxy.
“The skills I learned [at Oxy]—tight and compelling writing, strategic analysis, inferences from incomplete information, a compulsion to dig deeper to identify what motivates people and how to find common interests—have been fundamental to my career success.”
Over the last 20 years, Gonzales has worked in some of the least-developed countries on the planet, aiming to bridge divides between their residents and Americans; to promote respect for and protection of human rights; and to advocate for reforms to business environments to foster economic growth, trade and investment opportunities.
“It is incredibly gratifying and humbling to know that I played some role in making a place, a relationship or some part of people’s lives a little bit better,” he says.