People often say that a single spark can light a fire.
In careers, that spark is often a person. It might be someone early in life who cracks open a door, offers encouragement, or quietly shows what success can look like. What’s less obvious is how profoundly that very first connection can shape everything that comes afterward.
Consider 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion Serena Williams. Williams has often spoken about the crucial role played by her first coach—her father, Richard Williams. His belief in her abilities and his willingness to expose her to competitive tennis from an early age ensured she gained experience long before most of her peers. In this, she’s not alone: In sports, a first coach can recognize potential before anyone else does.
Or consider Misty Copeland, the American Ballet Theatre’s first Black female principal dancer. When Copeland was 13, a Boys & Girls Club teacher, Cynthia Bradley, recognized her potential and brought her into formal ballet training; within four years Copeland earned a spot in ABT’s Studio Company. In 2015, she became ABT’s first Black female principal, a milestone built on that early mentorship. Those first advocates opened doors to elite training, scholarships, and professional networks that sustained a long, barrier-breaking career.
Anecdotes like these are powerful, but they also raise questions. Do early connections cause long-term success, or do they simply come more easily to people already positioned to succeed? After all, a young athlete with supportive and affluent parents might have access to better training and competition regardless of who their first coach is. This chicken-and-egg problem is hard to untangle, unless you look at a setting where chance plays a role. That’s where my research comes in.
