Finalist in the Morehouse Business Plan Competition
I recently found out that I’m a finalist in the Morehouse Business Plan competition. Although, this is not unfamiliar territory for me (I won second place my sophomore year), I’m 10X more excited because this year the stakes are way higher; it’s winner takes all for $10,000, strategic resources and guidance from the MCEC leadership team.
Email I received:
The year I won second place, I believe the grand prize was $3000, and the development of the app (the competition was for app ideas). I applied my junior year as well, but didn’t even place :/ (yea, so this is my 3rd year applying, no shame in my game lol). I can’t help but think it was meant for me not to win the previous years, so I could compete again for a bigger grand prize.
My presentation sophomore year:
The idea I submitted this year with my business partner is for My College Hustle, a site that will serve as a centralized hub that allows students to generate income on their own flexible schedule. The business will be positioned to become the premier peer-to-peer employment solution for students, enabling them to work as independent contractors and entrepreneurs.
My goal for this year’s competition is of course to win the money, but more importantly (at least for me) is to give the best/most creative presentation I’ve ever given. Public speaking is not my forte, but I know that it’s something I have to get use to, because I hope to travel the world speaking about entrepreneurship, and speaking on stages such as TEDx. Therefore, I want to give a presentation that will inspire the judges, and if I’m successful everything else will fall into place.
The presentation will be held at Morehouse College at the innovative expo on April 16 (they will be flying my partner and I out to Atlanta and putting us up in a hotel free 
). We will present in front of a panel of judges. They assigned us a presentation coach from now until the competition to help us prepare. I’m so ready to blow their minds, I’m putting the pressure on myself to come up with an AMAZING presentation, the countdown starts now!
I would love to give a presentation like this (minus the swearing):
Competition Flyer:
Coding Mini Challenge Week 2/3
I’ve been pretty diligent with keeping up with my coding challenge. Although, I did miss some days but the key is to never stop, yea I may miss a day or two, but I make sure to get back on it.I try to dedicate one hour a day to practicing. I’m currently working on the javascript and html track in Code Academy. I just started the html track yesterday and I’m almost on the same level as my javascript track (yea, javascript is no joke!).
Code Academy Pros & Cons
Pros:
-Fun/easy way to learn coding
-Free
-Active user community
-Fun badges to keep you motivated
-Nice clean interface
Cons:
-Sometime the pages take long to load (however, this could be because of my internet connection :/)
-The coding instructions aren’t always the clearest
-Technical bugs ( I was stumped on a section for forever, but the problem ended up being a glitch with the site, which can be extremely annoying -_-).
Being that the directions aren’t the clearest, they make up for it by having a very active forum. This is super helpful, and users respond to your questions fairly quickly.
I am definitely an active user of the forum, questions galore! Haha
yayyyy!
The journey continues!
Mini Challenge: Learn Coding
So I’ve always wished I knew how to code, but when I actually tried to teach myself I got fed up and quit after a few tries.
Well, yesterday I stumbled across a website www.Codeacademy.com (I literally stumbled, found out about this website on StumbleUpon haha). So I checked it out, and it seems like it can really help simplify coding, I also found the site www.codeavengers.com, but I haven’t tried it yet.
I’ve talked to a couple of people that have taught themselves how to code, and most of them have said coding is not as hard as people think, and that’s it’s just like learning a language; it just takes time and dedication. Welp, I already know one language French, and I’m taking on German, peep my German challenge here, so why not try out coding? I could possibly be bitting off more than I can chew, but I think it’s worth a shot, if it’s like learning a language, then it shouldn’t be too difficult, it’s just going to require a lot of repetition and practice.
So the challenge:
I’m giving myself 30 days (1 hour per day) to experiment with learning how to code, if after 30 days I’m fed up, and feel like I haven’t learned squat, then i’ll give up learning code forever.
Why do I want to learn how to code:
Besides the fact that it’s a useful skill in general, I have tons of ideas, and I would love to be able to build them without having to worry about finding a technical co-founder and giving up equity in my business or having to pay someone to build it for me.
Being that there are so many free ways to learn anything nowadays, there’s no reason why, with a little dedication and focus people can’t learn basically anything they want.
So here begins the challenge, currently working on learning javascript.
CODING DAY 2 starts now!
After only a few exercises I was able to code this, preeeety kewl ^_^
Quotes
“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.” – Albert Einstein
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein
“Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.” – Richard Bach
“If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs.” – Tony Gaskins
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”- Seth Godin
“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” - Steve Jobs
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” - Albert Einstein
“You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills.” – Jim Rohn
“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” – T.S Eliot
“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”- Thomas A. Edison
Conclusion of My Study Abroad
My study abroad experience was AMAZINGGGG, definitely the fastest 4 months of my life. I met a lot of awesome people, and it was sooo hard to leave. I wish I had been blogging consistantly throughout the 4 months, so I wouldn’t have to sum up my entire experience in one blog post :/ so to spare you from having to read the longest blog post ever. I’m going to sum up my abroad adventures with a bunch of pictures and brief highlights….here I go!:
London Highlights: Buckingham Palace/ Big Ben/ Seeing places where Harry Potter was filmed/ meeting my cousins for the first time/ meeting up with childhood friend/ post-olympic decorations still up/ stumbling across a random carnival.
Switzerland Highlights: Skydiving/Hiking the Swiss Alps/ Renting a car/ Trying authentic Swiss Beer/ Visiting Interlaken, Grindelwald, and Geneva all in one weekend/ Drinking fresh water from a random cool log thingy in the woods.
Belgium Highlights: Seeing the Manneken Pis/ Eating in the Atomium/ Visiting mini Europe/ Meeting a travel buddy (a handsome one at that Lol)
Italy Highlights: 1st Couchsurfing experience/ Best ravioli everrrr/ Trevi Fountain/ Colosseum/pantheon/ Vatican/Sistine Chapel.
Our Couchsurfer invited us to his friends birthday dinner, where we got a 3 course authentic italian meal! They were the sweetest and funnest people ever!
Barcelona: Meeting Couchsurfer and getting to mess around with his DJ equipment and sharing our love for reggae music/ The architecture/ Sagrada Familia/ Halloween party.
Couchsurfer showing us his “herb” collection that he grows himself lol.
Amsterdam Highlights: Making new friends/ Heineken Museum/ Getting pickpocketed while being on public transportation for less than 3 minutes -__- ( not a good highlight lol)/ Visiting our friends dance class/ Medieval Torture museum (it was actually one of the most interesting museums i’ve visited.
Germany: Staying with my friend and her family (they were awesome!)/ Christmas market/ going to a kickback at her friends house/ Climbing 500 steps at Kolner Dom/ Eating authentic German food, and German beer.
Last but not least CANNES! It’s impossible to put my experience studying abroad in Cannes in a few quick highlights. The last 4 months were the funnest 4 months of my life, whether it was going to the beach on the french riviera everyday, partying every night for weeks straight, making friends with students from all over the world, living with the best host mom on the planet that cooked the BEST food; I definitely chose the best place in France to study abroad!
Shout out to my host moms!
A bientôt europe!!!
Study Abroad Cannes!
I’m currently studying abroad in Cannes France! It’s been an amazing two weeks. Before reaching Cannes, we stopped in London for two days, which was great. I felt that I made the most out of those two days; I met up with a friend, and met my cousins for the first time. I got to see a lot of London, and I hope to go back soon!
(plane food: British Airways)
Visiting London was nice, but Cannes is AMAZING, very historic, and beautiful. I’m literally right by the Mediterranean sea (french riviera). Everyday there are cruise ships and people relaxing on the beach, It’s truly paradise.
I live with my host mom, who is also amazing, she’s super sweet, and has made me feel right at home. I haven’t felt homesick at all. The house and my room are wonderful. She’s hosted a lot of students from around the world, so she’s a very experienced host; which I could tell when I walked into the house. She had everything a student would need, including wi-fi and the password ready to go !!
Pictures of the house
(so my host mom painted these…AMAZING!)
(my room)
The program I’m traveling with is called AIFS, and we’re studying at The College International de Cannes, which is a very tiny school that focuses on teaching french language. Students from around the world come to the school to study french. I’ve meet students from Switzerland, Germany, and Japan, which is very cool, but there aren’t a lot of french students there, so I haven’t made any french friends yet . Also most of the non-american students stay for shorter periods of time, like a few weeks, which stinks because right when you make a friend, they leave.
Thus, my goal is to meet some local cannes folks my age, this will be accomplished by joining the local gym that my host mom goes to (she told me that a lot of young people go there), and checking out classes at the local MJC (which is kind of like a community center…I think lol)
On Saturday, we had a day trip to The Verdon Gorges (a French Canyon), where I went paddle boating down the Sainte Croix lake. After spending a few hours there, we went to a little village of Moustiers Sainte Marie that is very famous for it’s ceramics.
( free climbing in the verdon gorge)
My experience so far has been great, but one thing I realized is that I really need to set an agenda for what I want to accomplish while I’m here. It’s really easy to get caught up in having fun, and forget things that I need to accomplish this semester. This is my last year of college, so I really need to make the most of it. However, I want to make the most of this trip, I want to see Europe, and I hope to visit:
The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. I’m getting ready to plan those trips.
I want to experience a lot while I’m in Europe, as well as stay on track with my entrepreneurial goals. My dream is to be able to work on my businesses remotely from around the world, so I feel like this is a mini test…can I handle being abroad and staying on my grind?
Being in Cannes and being on my grind has not been as easy as I thought it would be, for instance the huge time difference has made it difficult to schedule a time to meet with my partner via video chat. We’re still working on choosing a set time each week for us to chat. Also it’s difficult to stay focused being in a new country, and in such a beautiful city…I just want to go to the beach all day!
I love that I’m doing a home stay because I feel like it gives me an escape from the buzz of what’s happening on campus, I have my own room/space which has given me the opportunity to clear my head, step away, and get my creative juices flowing. I’ve been asking myself, what is it that I want to learn while i’m here (aside from french of course)? What do I what to take away from this experience?
I have some answers to those questions, but I still need to think about them more in-deptly and jot down a concrete list.
I know that I want to leave this experience with some new ideas, I plan to observe ideas and trends here in France to see what I can bring back to the states.
So that’s pretty much it for now.
A bientot!
Goodbye Google, Hello LinkedIn
As the saying goes “all good things must come to an end”. My internship at Google has ended; it was truly an amazing experience, and this has definitely been the best summer of my life. I met awesome people, and had a blast. Some key takeaways from the internship is the importance of feedback, and the wonderful work environment Google provides for their employees. Google treats their employees extremely well, and that speaks volumes as to why they’re doing so well. They are on the forefront of innovation, and decisions are made very quickly.
Although my internship with Google has ended, I’m already embarking on new adventures, I recently got accepted to the Start-up of you student fellowship, created by the co-founder of LinkedIn, and by author and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha. The program was looking for the most entrepreneurial student leaders in the world, and their mission is to recognize college students dedicated to improving themselves and their networks. A lot of the program requires me to be very active on the LinkedIn group page, so I’ve been getting really familiar with LinkedIn, and login quite frequently now.
I am really excited about being apart of the network, I think it will provide me with awesome resources and connections.
Lastly, I’m really excited about studying abroad! This time next week I will be in London for two days, and then traveling to Cannes, France to start my study abroad adventure! I can’t wait to get there, and to have an amazing semester. However, I still plan on staying focused on my entrepreneurial goals while abroad.
Epiphany
After weeks of feeling like I haven’t been on my grind, like I am during the school year, I took time today to work on a few things, and catch up on some reading. I happened to stumble across a book that captured my attention. It’s called the The $100 StartUp. The title immediately captured my attention, and after reading the preview I knew I had to buy it. The preview talked about how the author was able to travel the world through his entrepreneurial ventures (totally my dream). So, I bought the book and became totally engulfed in it, reading about a hundred pages. This book reminded me of my main goals and dreams, to become a serial entrepreneur. Don’t get me wrong, It’s not like I forgot my goals and dreams, it’s just that my plans to achieve them started to shift. I’ve been caught up in “conventional” and “rational” thinking…however, when you examine some of the most notable entrepreneurs, there’s a pattern…most of them are not conventional or rational. They walk by the beat of their own drum.
I’ve been worried about studying for the GMAT and grad school, and what job I may have to take after graduation (while I build up my business)….I’ve gotten away from the tunnel vision I had during the semester, I was all about entrepreneurship and not worrying about conventional things that other people my age were worried about….grad school? Who really cares? I can teach myself, and when I become a millionaire I’ll just get a honorary degree. Job after graduation? Hmmmm well this is what I feel about that….some say it’s important to have a plan B…..but those who usually have a plan B, end up taking it……
I may just be ranting, but this is how I feel right now, and how I’ve usually felt about these things, reality has started to put a damper on my wild ambitions and goals…causing me to create back-up plans, which is not good, because I have no intention of using my back-up plans. I have to be successful, and achieve my dreams, because there’s no other option. Entrepreneurship is what will make me happy. So I have to do it.
I just need to focus on getting my business up and running.
My goal is to be able to travel the world, and run my businesses from my laptop…..time to get back on my grind!
C’est moi! (it’s me!)
My Latest Challenge
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