Spotlight #4: Grant Fong

Tech.LA Fellows
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

Adventurous, Persistent, Unconventional.

Meet Grant Fong, a rising junior at Brown University. Grant has been working as a backend development intern at PlayFull, a company that enhances customers’ experiences at restaurants by allowing users to play games to win food. He talks about his aim to make an impact by exploring the startup route and his strides to help solve the issue of mental health. He not only loves riding bikes, but fixing and building them as well. Originally from the bay area, he hopes to get a different perspective from LA’s trending startup scene and to check out the heart of the entertainment industry as well.

What inspired you to explore startups and join a small company?

Like many people these days, one of my deepest fears is becoming a cog in corporate America, grinding away at a 9–5 job. Now is the perfect time to take risks, and as a result working at a startup seemed like a clear choice for me. At a smaller company, I have been able to have a greater ownership of my work, as well as a greater involvement in the product lifecycle. In addition, there has been an incredible opportunity to experience diverse areas in the company. Work has allowed me to work directly with designers, salespeople, and other engineers, an experience that would be harder to come by at a larger company.

What’s excites you most about working in LA?

LA has one of the best up-and-coming startup scenes. In contrast to the Bay Area where I am from, LA is not oversaturated with new companies. In addition, the close proximity to Entertainment industry creates an environment ripe with opportunity.

What’s your favorite (non-work related) thing about LA?

It has been a fantastic experience being in the entertainment hub of the world. Whether visiting studios or going to live film sets, I have recently discovered parallel world that I had no previous exposure to. LA has also been a fantastic city to explore. From the mountains to the beach, there are always more hidden gems to discover.

What do you hope to get from this fellowship?

Over this summer, I hope to meet other people who are also incredibly passionate about their own interests as well as coming from different backgrounds.

What are your goals for the next 5 years?

To be honest, I don’t have a grand vision. If you had asked me this question a year ago, the answer would have been to be in med school. Over the past few years, I have been able to grow and discover new areas of interests that I would have never considered. My largest hope is that in 5 years, no matter where I am or what I am doing, I am making a positive impact on the world and those people around me.

Describe a perfect day in your life.

I’m not a believer in a perfect day in the sense that it nothing about it could be better. Instead I like to think my perfect day is one that can happen every day. To me, any day where you try something and learn something new is a perfect day. If things were to inextricably change tomorrow, I wouldn’t want to look back on today and regret my decisions.

Anything else you’d like people to know about you?

Outside of work I spend a decent amount of time on mental health advocacy. For most of my academic career, I was involved in the healthcare space, and got to see firsthand how researchers were applying new computational techniques to solve our largest health problems. However, the application of technology and to mental health has lagged behind. In addition, the stigma that surrounds the topic is one of the largest barriers to progress. In the past few years, I have worked with Project LETS, a nonprofit devoted to supporting young adults and destigmatizing mental health.
I am also interested in new models of decentralized Mental health care. For example, taking principles of agile software development and applying them to mental health. I am trained as a Peer Mental Health Advisor through LETS, contributing a ground level support network for students. I also am working with the CS department to establish a health and wellness advocate position to improve the the mental health of the department.

What’s your spirit animal and why?

I don’t really have a personally defined spirit animal, but multiple people have described me as a deer. Someone once compared me to an Okapi. I’m still not sure if that was meant a compliment or an insult.

Favorite food?

Poke Bowls 👌👌

Vans or Converse?

Vans

Favorite TV show?

Bojack Horseman

What’s one misconception people have about you?

I honestly have no idea. I typically don’t really worry about what people think.

What’s your fun fact?

I broke my pinky two summers ago Mountain Biking and didn’t realize it. So now one of my pinkies isn’t straight. Not a super ~fun~ fact, but the only thing I can think of off the top of my head.

What’s your secret talent?

Not really a secret, but I love Cycling technology (and riding bikes). I usually have a project bike that I work on restoring/building, and built a frame from steel tubing a few summers ago. If anyone needs bikes to be fixed or wants to talk about bikes, hit me up.

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