Shields's second concept — lineage — was about tracing the through-line of your creative instincts. She urged graduates to look back at what had always driven them, even before FIT: 'What was it that you returned to, that you remained motivated by? Even from a very early age, where did your passions always seem to lie?' For Shields, the through-line was comedy. She wanted to be Charlie Chaplin for Halloween 'many years in a row.' This instinct eventually led to her sitcom, musical comedies on Broadway, and marrying a comedy writer. The point was that your authentic creative voice has been expressing itself your entire life — you just need to listen to it. She illustrated the cost of not holding on to your own with a story about perfume lines. Multiple companies had approached her, but they only wanted her face on the bottle — no creative input. She walked away each time. When M.A.C. finally approached and let her be part of every detail, the result sold out in its first hour. The lesson: compromising on logistics is fine, but compromising on your creative vision is not one of the compromises you should make.