My UC Berkeley Commencement Speech
I just rewatched my University of California Berkeley Commencement Speech from 2010. It was a surreal experience, like I was reconnecting with a younger version of myself. I remember how that talk scared the !@#$ of of me. I talked about taking a big swing right after college with an overly ambitious art project, and then failing just as big, the depression that followed, and going on to start the Webby Awards. I shared what I think is the ingredient to make !@#$ happen (yes, I just swore twice). I also discussed losing my dad way too soon, trying to figure out how to have a career and start a family, and unplugging from technology. I ended on a list of 8 things I’d recommend for all graduates.
I talked about my own graduation in 1992 during a recession and a war in the Middle East. When I gave the speech 20 years later, once again, jobs for college graduates were scarce and we were in a war in the Middle East. We were also at a turning point with technology. With screens pulling us in so many different directions I felt like I was everywhere and nowhere all the time. Ken and our family had just started to turn off screens one day a week.
Sixteen years later in 2026, jobs are again hard to find, we’re in a different war in the Middle East, and we’re at another inflection point with AI.
When I received this invitation from my alma mater, it felt like life was grabbing me by the shoulders, looking at me straight in the eye and saying “What have you learned so far? What can you teach the 11,000+ people in the audience that day?” While I have always given talks as part of the way I make my living, the responsibility that this one brought felt immense. I spent months thinking about what to say. The moment arrived and right before I was to walk to the podium, while my heart was pounding, my mouth went completely dry. Like a desert. I have never had that happen before. I turned back and Ken handed me a bottle of water.
Once I got up there, the nerves fell away, and I was in the zone of presence.
When NPR included it on their list of best commencement speeches, that was and still is the highlight of my career.
At the close of my speech I showed a short film I’d made for the graduating class. Here’s what I urged them to do (but the film does it better):
Think big
Love deeply
Fail big
Pay your dues
Take risks
Laugh at yourself
Make a difference
. . . and the one ingredient that makes it all happen (you have to watch the speech for that one)
I ended with one of my favorite quotes that at the time was attributed to Goethe, now to a mountaineer. Whoever first said it, thank you. I have had it taped above my desk since I was young: “Whatever you think, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
While I’d have the same list of advice for graduates today, my thinking has evolved. I would definitely add that turning off screens one day a week is one of the best practices I have brought into my life. That’s the beauty of getting older. It’s like the circular time the tree rings depict—you come back to the same point again and again, but with growth.
You can watch the 20-minute commencement speech here.
xo,
Tiffany
Amplifying
Tiffany Shlain, your father, and I were born in the same year. Because I had multiple conversations with him over the 1980s and 1990s, I have followed your career with great interest. My academic discipline in Christian theological education created my fascination with his published works:
"The Alphabet Versus The Goddess"
"Sex, Time, and Power"
"Leonardo`s Brain"
As I write, I am looking at well-worn copies of each of those books.
My students and I were enriched by the life and thought of Leonard Shlain.
William B. Rogers