Early Entrepreneurial Energy

For as long as I can remember, I have been pursuing DIY projects and attempting business ventures. Growing up, my bedroom door didn’t have a lock, so I figured it would be cool to install a doorbell, but with what? To make my vision a reality, I decorated and taped a Snapple bottle cap to my door and instructed my parents to use it. Though they rarely obeyed my instructions, my eight-year-old self was still pleased with her innovation.

When I was in the third grade, cell phones were a rare luxury. I was awestruck by the many cool features of the cell phone such as the brick-breaker and sudoku games. While my classmates bemoaned their lack of phones, I was inventing my own personalized cell phone out of post-its, using each sheet as a new feature that attached to the next post-in a continuous fashion, resulting in an “accordion” of features. From an attached piece of paper to mimic the slide-out keyboard to a camera that faced both ways, my post-it phone had all the features of a real phone and then some.

While typical ten-year-olds were playing with Beyblade tops and jumping rope, I was unwittingly running a business with origami paper. It all started when I realized that my shiny and colorful origami paper was desired by many of my classmates. Armed with the knowledge of this demand, I “manufactured” my products by decorating them nicely with ribbon-like Tiffany & Co jewelry boxes, and sold them to students who wanted them. However, since fourth graders don’t have money, snacks were my form of payment — a win-win for everyone!

Though I am no longer a child, capitalizing on my elementary school classmates, my creative passion and entrepreneurial spirit have only grown through the years. My origami business evolved into a t-shirt designing company, and frequent trips to Michael’s for various art supplies enabled me to pursue bigger and bolder creative endeavors. With a degree in Economics from UC Berkeley, I know that the creative endeavors I pursue will only continue to grow.