World We Dare to Imagine 1

"Today we are redefining the geography of community and accepting shared accountability for common human values. We have the chance to extend the notion that all men are created equal to every human being on the planet. This will require global structures and products we are only beginning to imagine.... Each of us in his or her own way can contribute something by thinking -- and acting -- like a true global citizen. We have only one world for all of us on earth, and the future really is ours to create, in a world we dare to imagine together."

I am lucky to have lived a good life, always having enough food on the table, time to spend with my family, a great town and community to grow up in, the ability to travel and have leisure time, and of course, getting to experience the amazing education I've had all the way from pre-school to my current life at USC. It is also because of this very privilege that I have been able to open my eyes and recognize the resources that I have been given in life to be able to stand where I am today. Having gone to a boarding school for high school and a university infamous for its high tuition and reputation of spoiled children, I've greatly reflected on how me and my peers' lives differ from others around the world, and what is in our power to genuinely help and make a difference.

My upbringing and the privilege I've experienced throughout my life is the exact reason why I became entrenched in the startup and entrepreneurial scenes. I used to never understand why I disliked the idea of corporate work so strongly considering that my parents would not have been able to provide the life I've lived without corporate work--however, through my experiences over the years and people that I've met in this world, a strong theme became clear to me: some people work to live, others live to work, some people innovate to make money, others make money to innovate.

Reading certain parts of The Blue Sweater made me constantly think back to this takeaway, with the concept of accountability in charitable work was a major one. Growing up, I had a lot of friends fall into tropes of white saviorism, either by throwing money at non-profit organizations (that, ironically, were later exposed of not using the money for good causes), or by taking one week mission-style trips to places in Africa, South & Central America, and South and SE Asia to build schools (but then not offer any later infrastructural support). This is where the world I dare to imagine comes into play.

There are two layers to how I think we can make the world a better place, and those are technology and education--granted, these two words encompass a lot, but I believe the weaving of the two can help improve virtually every aspect of life on this planet. First, innovating technology in directions of EduTech and Ag-Tech can (a) make higher-quality, higher efficacy educational experiences more accessible at lower costs around the world, (b) teach important, transferrable skills to those who may not currently have access to education, such as women in many countries, (c) create sustainable solutions to help communities make more with what they have (i.e. this could mean improving an irrigation system to be more water efficient, saving major resources for a farming village, implementing vertical farming in food deserts to make fresh produce more readily available and cheaper to produce in urban areas, or anything else), and much more.

As I'm sure we all know, education is at the core of who we are today, not only just through increasing our crystallized intelligence, but by reshaping the way we think and the way our brain develops. I truly do believe that the key to improving our lives at this rate comes from technological innovation for social impact, and I hope to work at a company in a field like this to help improve the world, one solution at a time,