On Tuesday, February 11, Sabrina Thompson visited the Calabasas High School gymnasium to give a speech about “ridiculous moves.” Set to release her new book, The Ridiculous Ones, in March, she has been visiting campuses around the country and telling them her inspiring story. Her story ranged from ditching a potential career as an olympian, to getting second place in Survivor, and then going on to produce the filmography for the Grammys.
“I have been traveling around to colleges, high schools, and large educational conferences around the country for the last decade talking to young people and educators,” said Thompson.
Thompson started the assembly by tossing beach balls into the crowd and having students read out several random facts that were written on them. Then, students had to guess whether they were true or false. The thing that they all had in common? They were all, in Thompson’s words, ridiculous. This set up Thompson to speak about her so-called “ridiculous moves”.
Thompson was an incredible track athlete throughout her entire childhood. She won her first national championship in the 100m at the age of ten years old. She had the opportunity to go to college on a scholarship for running, and did for a while. Eventually, though, she had to leave the sport. The high demands of her coaches were getting to her, and she began to have an unhealthy relationship with food in order to keep weight. It got to the point where she rejected the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the Olympic trials.
“I said, ‘I’m not going to the Olympic trials.’ I didn’t want to do it,” said Thompson.
After this, her life was changed by a coworker who told her how to get her foot in the door at an internship for a film company, and she worked to get her degree in the field. Her first job was with Court TV, and it was one impactful client that changed it all.
A woman was going to court to testify against her ex-husband, who had brutally murdered their two children one weekend. Thompson was tasked with interviewing her and getting a story out of her, and she spoke to her supervisor about how to do it while still approaching the situation delicately.
“They told me, ‘Sabrina, I don’t care. Just make sure she cries,” said Thompson.
This was when Sabrina realized her career in this field was not meant for her. Although she was making good money, she decided to leave it behind. So, she became a school teacher in NYC, and by some ridiculous hand of fate, she got the opportunity to be on Survivor: One World (Season 24). With a spoonful of rice each day and no access to basic amenities, Thompson did the unthinkable.
“What happened was the women ended up beating all the men, and I ended up getting second place. Second place takes home 100 grand, so I took the money and invested it into a media company,” said Thompson. “If I wanted to do media this time, I wanted to tell the stories of the underdogs and the people’s voices that have been muted.”
Thompson’s media company flourished, and she gained a lot of clients throughout her time as a producer. She was the lead producer for the Women’s March in DC, produced film packages for the Me Too movement, and produced film packages for the Grammys, some of which ended up on the live show.
“I wake up loving what I do, but had I not said yes to certain things and moved in a way that wasn’t normal, I don’t know if I would be here,” said Thompson. “So I want to leave you with this: what will your ridiculous look like, and what are the risks you’re willing to take to make an impact?”
Thompson wrapped up her speech with a Q&A for all of the students and clearly made her own impact on Calabasas High School.
“The assembly was very uplifting and inspired me to do more ridiculous things in life,” said Kelsey Tasem, a sophomore at CHS.
