SoGal Waterloo: Founders Chat with Mylene Tu | Lumaki Labs
Coauthored by the lovely @Jiaru Cao.
In mid-March, SoGal Waterloo had the pleasure to sit down and chat with Mylene Tu, the CEO & co-founder of Lumaki Labs, an EdTech startup that builds software to improve the virtual internship experience.
Mylene is a social impact-driven entrepreneur in her 3rd year of Management Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Passionate about building things to help others, she was named a Top 25 Woman of Influence in 2018 and Woman of Inspiration in 2019 through her previous work empowering young women as the founder of FEM in STEM. Outside of school and work, Mylene was a former varsity track athlete and enjoys painting, mentoring, and playing the ukulele.
Let’s jump right into her story.
Life at Waterloo
Mylene grew up in Windsor, Ontario, where she didn’t have much exposure to careers in STEM. She initially followed her father’s footsteps in Chemical Engineering, but quickly realized that was not the right fit for her and switched to Management Engineering.
FEM in STEM
Mylene didn’t come to Waterloo with an intention of breaking into entrepreneurship, but during her time in Chemical Engineering, she found sparse support for Women in STEM. “I was on academic probation at the time,” she admits. She realized there were many STEM resources and opportunities that weren’t wildly accessible or well-known. So, Mylene organized workshops for young women in STEM, distributed resources, and started sharing her story as a woman in STEM.
I felt like I really loved engineering but I felt like it didn’t really love me.
This grew into FEM in STEM, which went on to partner with over 15 STEM organizations and run programs in collaboration with RBC. Her most important takeaway, however, was her appreciation of the power of community. Mylene wanted other women to know that stumbles and failures aren’t the end of the world, and she was able to accomplish this through storytelling and building a sense of community. “Getting through that experience just taught me that failures are just another bump in the road.”
Lumaki Labs’ Beginnings
Lumaki means “to grow” in Filipino — part of Mylene’s heritage. Pivoting from FEM in STEM, Lumaki Labs started out as a consulting service run by Mylene and her classmates to help companies improve their diversity, equity, and inclusion. Being full-time students, they quickly realized this work wasn’t sustainable because of the time commitment required, but the arrival of a global pandemic brought an opportunity to build upon the remote internship experience. Mylene had previously interned at an EdTech startup and knew the educational world lagged behind in technology. The pandemic has had obvious implications on education, and by extension, co-ops. Mylene and her team had confidence that this was a space they could have an impact on.
Entrepreneurial Resources
Mylene was a resident in the Velocity Minota Village before the program was discontinued. She got the opportunity to live with entrepreneurial-minded people and was exposed to the Concept pitch that she would go on to win!
Mylene has also participated in E-Coops.
The E Co-Op program is I think one of the coolest opportunities that you can take advantage of as an undergrad, because it literally is like a four-month test period for you to see what it’s like to run your own business
The E Co-op program gives about 30 students access to workshops and mentorship to build their business. Aside from that, the four months are a largely self-guided dive into entrepreneurship. At the end of the term, you can pitch your project and potentially win funding.
Highs and Lows
Mylene is proud of overcoming barriers. She has grown tremendously with Lumaki Labs and learned so much — from small things like tax logistics to deeper skills like resilience. However, not everything has been smooth sailing in her journey. There have been times when Mylene wanted to quit: in particular, a mentor she admired once told her she was too young for entrepreneurship and wouldn’t be able to succeed. She’s glad she stuck to her gut and pursued it anyway.
I didn’t listen to it; I just kept going forward.
If you ever find yourself in a similar position, Mylene advises you to believe in yourself, as corny as it sounds. At the end of the day, you decide what you’re doing with your time and energy.
Lumaki Labs’ future
Lumaki Labs envisions becoming the leader in the future that is remote work, specifically for students. Remotes internships will be normalized even after the pandemic, and there’s a huge potential for more opportunities in the remote internship space. The team wants to pave the way to better remote internships and to one day go global, allowing students to explore different cultures and countries from their own homes.
Diversity and Inclusion
What do you think an entrepreneur can do to contribute to diversity and inclusion? Mylene believes in leading with empathy and being kind to others — “your network is your net worth,” she says. She shared that offering help to others without expecting anything in return can help create an inclusive and collaborative space. She also talked about challenging the language we use in the industry. Mylene thinks of herself as a founder first, and she wants to normalize having female founders and not needing to add the prefix. She feels that the female prefix can communicate to women that they need to justify their decisions or competency.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Public speaking is hard and Mylene was extremely introverted growing up. In high school, she struggled with drive-thrus and talking to waiters at restaurants. Now as a founder of a company, Mylene says faking it till you make it can help sharpen your skills. After all, practice makes perfect!
Mylene sees many student entrepreneurs get scared or shy away from their ideas because they’re dreaming so big. When you’re being ambitious, your vision can seem like it’s like a million steps away. But even with big dreams, all it takes is a weekend of work to start making it a reality. So don’t shy away before you even start! Mylene also encourages finding your community. Surround yourself with the right people to remind you that all large footprints start with small steps.
Don’t lock doors before you open them.
As Stephanie Mills has previously mentioned, maintaining a maker vs manager schedule is crucial (read more here!). Mylene also emphasizes developing time management skills, as well as making sure to take breaks and exercise self-care.
Conclusion
You can reach Mylene on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram! This brings our winter 2021 Founders Series to a close.
SoGal Waterloo will be hosting our end-of-term event on April 15th! Come hang out and meet the organizing team! Stay tuned for more details.
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