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Woman Named Marijuana Pepsi Receives PhD After Completing Dissertation On Black Names
Woman Named Marijuana Pepsi Receives PhD After Completing Dissertation On Black Names
Source: YouTube

Woman Named Marijuana Pepsi Receives PhD After Completing Dissertation On Black Names

Woman Named Marijuana Pepsi Receives PhD After Completing Dissertation On Black Names Source: Facebook

She received her doctorate from Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin.

A woman with the name Marijuana Pepsi has earned her doctorate after facing challenges and setbacks with the name her mother gave her.

Pepsi, whose full name is now Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck — she was born Marijuana Pepsi Jackson — recently received her Ph.D. in higher education leadership from Wisconsin's Cardinal Stritch University in May, according to Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel.

In the story, which profiles Pepsi, she talks about how her name resulted in hardships she endured throughout her life — from being teased as a child by classmates to people shortening her first name to Mary or encouraging her to change her name.

"Regardless of what they do, say or what they're trying to put in place, you still have to move forward and succeed," she said. "That's my big thing. Don't use that as an excuse. Use that as a steppingstone to keep on going. Leave those people behind and then you reach back. Each one reach one. Reach back and pull somebody else up."

For her Ph.D., Pepsi's dissertation was "Black names in white classrooms: Teacher behaviors and student perceptions." She interviewed black students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater about "the effect of their distinctly black names on their treatment by teachers and on their academic achievement."

And no, Pepsi has never smoked marijuana but she would like to see people serving time for marijuana-related offenses have their sentences overturned as the drug becomes legalized throughout the country.

Pepsi's story has since gone viral, with users on social media congratulating her for receiving her doctorate.

Source: Journal Sentinel