As told to Jeannette Batz Cooperman
Photograph by Mark Gilliland
Daughter of a Cuban horse trainer, Anna Navarro came to the United States at 12 and “learned in short order how to enter an environment, figure out what was important and succeed.” One of the first women to earn a graduate degree from Princeton University, she became a Democratic campaign consultant in D.C.—and woke up one morning to find her recommendations for a California primary, verbatim, in a Washington Post column. “Years later I figured out that our courier was a Nixon operative,” she says. “It really jaded me.” She married a St. Louisan and became a partner at Fleishman-Hillard, then an executive at Monsanto. She was succeeding—but she wasn’t happy. When she figured out why not, she started a new career—as a career strategist.
My worst job? John’s Bargain Stores in NYC. I hate to shop, hate stuff, couldn’t work the cash register. But I needed tuition money.
The best way for all of us to direct our lives is to figure out what we want and go after it. That sounds selfish—but if we’re intelligent about it, it will lead us to the common good.
I had a chaperone until I went to college. Taking my mother to the prom was not fun.
None of the important stuff—human services, art, academe—is well compensated in this society.
The problem is helping people reconcile their joy and the financial realities.
I should have gone for balance earlier. I had a belief when I was younger that I had to work very, very hard. Looking back, I think I could have slacked a little bit and done OK.
What is the purpose of being alive if you are not enjoying it?
People don’t give themselves permission to focus on what they really like and delegate the rest. They feel guilty or irresponsible.
We work too hard, and sometimes that’s driven by greed. How much is enough is an important question.
We baby boomers wanted to do the best by our kids, so we gave them everything—but we forgot to prepare them for adversity.
What makes me angry? Entitlement—and the abolition of the social safety net.
What I hope for and fear? To be able to have no limits in terms of giving. I really wish I could do that—but I’m scared that if I do, I will vanish.
What I love about nature is I don’t have to do anything about it. It is, without me.
I canoe, scuba dive, kayak, hike—and I’m a klutz. And it doesn’t matter. Those things feed my soul.
I surround myself with people who have an inner life, people who are willing to talk about what is going on inside them.
I am super-unhappy going to parties where the small talk is about trivia.
My childhood ambition was diplomacy between governments. I had this vague, unformed desire to make a difference, and I looked around my world and saw people trying to prevent wars.
Hell is isolation. It’s being cut off from other human beings and other forms of life.
Being a refugee kid in a strange country and tackling the kind of goals I did, my childhood was pretty stressful. I was in fear a lot of the time.
What inevitably disappoints? Relying on another person to fill your needs.
The greatest sin of my life is the failure to play.
I have been accused of being terminally earnest.
