By Madhuri Dey
Jan 4, (THAINDIAN NEWS) NBC News recently profiled a woman who is called Marijuana Pepsi Sawyer. No matter what her name brings to mind, she is the exact opposite. She is the counselor at a college, and her demeanor is striking, complete with her pretty face, smart looks and most of all, her aura of motorcycle wielding self assurance. Born Marijuana Pepsi Jackson, she now uses the surname of her former husband. She also has a son, whom she has named, thankfully nothing so quirky, but a safe Isaac.

As she begins to be questioned by Contessa Brewer of NBC, she appears what she is, confident and pleasing. She agrees that she did not changer her name although it had occurred to her, because she wanted to arm herself with it, and help others overcome their problems with her example. She admits that she still wonders what made her mother choose the unusual name- her father had disagreed. Recalling her difficulties with the comparative ignominy of being named thus, she speaks about her high school days, a point of time when she was almost always ridiculed for her name.

However, Marijuana Pepsi Sawyer leaned to live with her name, and also to make it her strength. She admits that it makes her easily noticeable, as it is difficult to merge in with the crowd with a name like that. Her assurance shines through as she talks about her future plans: while she is still on the job, she plans to concentrate on her post doctorate too. In fact, she knows that she is not the only one to go through life with an unusual name, there are others, some of whom were featured in the same program.