Every Day Uses- "Made it"?

"those TV shows where the child who has 'made it' is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother"

When Dee is first described by her mother, she is characterized as this strong personality, who is determined to make it in the world. She seemed like the the class president who was destined to take the world in the palm of her hand. For instance, when she made her own green suite, I thought she would go into the world of business to raise through the ranks, with hard work. However, when she appears in person, she doas not come strong and self-sufficient. She is there with a man who most probably suports her. She is wearing a bright orange dress, fashioned after a culture that is not told. This is possibly the furthest from a strong business woman. She is still strong, but it's as if she did not live up to her potential, or mama exaggerated her daughters character traits, as is mother often do. Maybe Dee is strong in the face of the family that she bullied her whole life, but when she went out in the world, she found that others were meek as her family.