Strong Roots
Born as the second of three children in Melbourne, Australia, to Sam and Keren Murumba, Murumba was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. His parents, refugees from Idi Amin's rule in Uganda in the 1970s, must have been an inspiration for Murumba's intellectual pursuits in the liberal arts. His father was a professor specializing in intellectual property and international human rights and is now a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School; his mother recently left her position at the Children's Storefront in Harlem to develop education-related projects in Uganda.
Murumba credited his parents as always having been aware of the importance of a solid education. "My parents had fled Uganda and dedicated their lives to giving their kids the most important thing they could think of: the best education available." It was with this knowledge that Murumba entered the College in 2000.
He dabbled in a little bit of everything at first, as first-years often do. His first-year seminar, Mind and Brain with Manwell Family Professor of Life Sciences Stephen George, was also his favorite course at the College. Murumba admitted, "This class may have also made it on my list of favorites because it was the first time a professor invited a class I was in to their home for brunch." Nevertheless, it instilled in him a deep interest in psychology and political science, which were his eventual choices as a double major.
Being a member of the Zumbyes was a big part of Murumba's experience at Amherst. "I literally learned some of my most valuable life lessons from being in the Zumbyes," he said. He noted that their somewhat disheveled appearance and seemingly haphazard performances actually took, and continue to take, huge amounts of planning and work.
He fondly recalled the presence of families and friends in the audience at Zumbyes shows in Johnson Chapel. "Those were our friends out there and we really loved and appreciated the way they got behind what we were doing," he said. However, Murumba noted that the greatest memories were made simply by being a part of the a cappella group, which he called his second family.
As his four years at the College progressed, Murumba continued to have fun attending Pete and J concerts at Hitchcock House, helping his friends win lip-sync as sophomores, and moving his younger brother into Amherst. He decided to follow his first-year instincts, and became a psychology and political science double major.
At Commencement 2004, Murumba was chosen by his classmates to speak and represent his class. "It was definitely one of my coolest memories at Amherst," he said. "I felt so honored to be able to represent my class that way. It was a special moment." It was the cherry atop his college cake.
Joining Goldman
But four years at the College were not without anxieties. During his junior year, Murumba began giving serious thought to what he wanted to do after college. Though he was not a "math kind of guy," finance seemed to entice him. "It seemed like easily one of the toughest things that I, Mr. "Bad With Numbers," could try and excel at-and I thought there was a nobility and honor in that."
Murumba worked at a law firm the summer after his first year and, as it turned out, was not attracted to law, but rather to investment banking. "The investment bankers I saw at our offices seemed to be really smart, very well-respected people who knew their industry inside and out … I have long been enamored by people who really know their stuff."
Armed with this knowledge, Murumba joined the sea of applicants searching for a job on Wall Street. After many attempts, he landed an investment banking position at Goldman Sachs in New York City. "At this time, this was the promised land for me," he said. "At the time, Goldman very much fit the profile of what I thought I really wanted ... I knew I would be leaving Amherst with a substantial amount of loans, and a healthy salary would go a long way to solving that little conundrum, so when I got an offer to Goldman full time, I didn't hesitate."
Life seemed to take off. The hard work and long hours didn't faze Murumba, who had always been a hard worker in high school and college. "Being dyslexic and finding out that fact late in my high school career, I had internalized a correlation between number of hours worked and achievement … late-night work sessions seemed natural, so the prospect of late nights in the office seemed consistent to me."
Though he was extremely grateful for this chance of a lifetime, it soon became apparent that investment banking may not have been his calling in life. "Somewhere along the way, finance was starting to look like a long-term plan that just didn't fit me properly." When that realization hit Murumba, he was faced with the overbearingly difficult task that faces us all too early in our lives-searching for that thing he really loved and could see himself doing for the rest of his life. This time around, however, Murumba took a different approach. "I tried hard to think less of what I thought 'people would expect of me,' and more about things I truly loved doing," he said.
Re-realizing a Dream
By digging deep within, Murumba rediscovered his old love for acting. In high school, he had won best actor awards for his parts in plays, and had even progressed as a semifinalist in the prestigious English Speaking Union's National Shakespeare Competition several times. During his senior year of high school, Murumba's parents mentioned to him that if acting was his passion, he could possibly do it for the rest of his life. At that time, he brushed off these comments as those simply of "proud parents." "It's funny how life plays out, but it took me six years to really hear them," he said. "Seven years later, I am finally taking these suggestions, and my love for acting, very seriously."
Over the past year, Murumba has found representation and has been studying under a number of respected teachers in New York. Now he is a member of Stage 13 Theatre Company, founded by Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (Best Performer by a Featured Actor in a Musical, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"). He spends his full time interning at Stage 13 and auditioning for film and commercial projects. Early next year, Murumba will produce and star in a play to be performed in New York City.
Though Murumba has found what he wants to be doing for the rest of his life, he laments the fact that our society pressures young people to make choices about their careers so early on. "The odds of a 21-year-old being able to accurately identify they want to do for the rest of their life has to be paper thin," he said. College is a time, he speculated, to figure out who we are, to explore and learn about what we stand for and what we want. "Even if we do get close, all of those aspects of ourselves are truly moving targets and constantly changing. I definitely came to really get that about myself about a year or two ago," he reflected. It has certainly taken some years, and some mistakes, to get to where he's gotten today.
As we sit patiently awaiting his big debut on the New York stage, we can check out his projects on his Web site www.matthewmurumba.com. In the meantime, Murumba offers wise words of advice to the Amherst community. He can't stress enough the benefits of having such a rich and nourishing community at the College, not only from the faculty, but also his peers. "I would encourage all of us to take risks and go after what we really want," he said. "I think the upside is worth the chance one takes in doing so. As the saying goes … you only live once."