When I was six years old, my mom plopped me on a chair by the front door of my parent’s retail store where I greeted tourists with a warm “aloha.” The moment I was tall enough to reach the counters, my dad placed a roll of paper towels and Windex in my hands, bestowing the power to make glass display cases spotless. Soon after, my parents promoted me to “manager.” I was ecstatic for my 300% raise from a quarter to a dollar a day, but I did not quite understand the responsibilities of this new position. During middle and high school, I took on additional tasks: redesigning the merchandise, and creating a website and marketing campaign. Every non-school day--weekends and school breaks--I helped at the store. What originated as a family duty evolved into a love for entrepreneurship. 

My involvement in my parents’ business has taught me to be creative despite my limited resources. When I wanted to study the underlying causes behind the 2008 Stock Market Crash, I found a mentor who would guide me through AP Macroeconomics as an independent study. When I wanted to alleviate my parent’s burden of transporting my younger siblings and me, I turned my passion for mathematics into a tutoring business to earn money for my first car.  When I wanted to help close the gender gap in STEM, I initiated Maui Math Circle, a free elementary school math enrichment program, designed to teach the critical thinking skills for students, specifically young girls, to excel in math. 

Wharton provides all of the resources for me to reach my short-term and long-term career goals. My short term goal is to broaden my knowledge and develop the analytical and problem solving skills to launch my own tech startup.  This goal will be achieved through the small class sizes as I will learn not only applicable business strategies, but also how to succeed and more importantly, embrace failure. As early as my first semester, I will be able to apply concepts from “The Entrepreneur and Venture Creation” class to Management 100, channeling my leadership and teambuilding skills to execute an impactful project. These outside of the classroom opportunities inspire me to utilize the Wharton Innovation Fund to bring Maui Math Circle to the Philadelphia student community.  If admitted, my Wharton education would give me the flexibility to develop my business management and entrepreneurial passions while also benefiting from a liberal arts education, which quench my intellectual obsession to connect across disciplines.  At Wharton, I would gain the skills, mentorship, and experience necessary to turn my tech startup into a Fortune 500 company.

My long term goal is to attain a MBA and close the gender gap in STEM and high level management because women bring a unique perspective to complex issues, a voice that is often omitted.  By attending Wharton, I can chat with current MBA students as well as submatriculate into the Masters program, receiving a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years. In addition, Wharton Women provides the support for aspiring women leaders, like me, by hosting annual conferences and monthly speaker presentations.  A champion of experiential learning, I intend to participate in the Pantagonian Leadership Trek, which fosters forward thinking and fast decision making, and the study abroad program at Tsinghua University in Shanghai to learn about my cultural heritage while studying the world’s fastest growing economy.  

Lastly, the diverse student community that Wharton attracts, provides a first class business education that can be found nowhere else. From the political status of Kosovo to the outbreak of ebola, the conversations in the Huntsman Program Lounge would awaken me to how interconnected our world is. Learning never stops at Wharton as the discussions continue in the hallways and dining halls. The more I learned about Wharton’s global community, dedicated professors, and dynamic student organizations, the more I wanted to call Wharton my home.