“What do you want to do in the future?”
That’s a question I remember being asked by one of my best high school friends. I had always known the answer, “I want to be an entrepreneur,” I said.
My journey into the business world has been a challenging path. My father was a businessman and suggested I choose a different major in college to develop skills a business degree couldn’t teach me. I took his advice and studied English to develop a wide range of skills that could be applied to different disciplines and experiences.
In 2018, China’s bike-sharing industry became mainstream, which made the drumming in my heart for business and entrepreneurship grow louder. I realized that the simple transportation innovation helped increase mobility access, increased equity, and reduced carbon emissions. I learned I wanted to be an entrepreneur that creates businesses that positively impacts society as the bike-sharing industry did for China.
I took a gap year to explore the business world and gain experience. These internships, though, initially dampened my spirits. The businesses sacrificed the customer experience and even deceived buyers by fabricating information about their products.
I was caught in the middle. I wanted to grow professionally, but I had different values than those of the companies I represented. I worried that all businesses would feel this way. I felt grey clouds closing in on my dream. I felt the drumming in my heart slowly fade away. But, there was one aspect of these internships that caught my attention. All the companies I had worked for possessed a lot of unused data that could help them drive market insights and make critical decisions. That is when I knew I could use my enthusiasm for business by interpreting and applying market analytics. As an English major, I didn’t have many opportunities to develop technical or analytical skills, so I began researching graduate programs to help me become a data analyst.
Ultimately, Notre Dame’s “Grow the Good in Business” caught my eye. It was exactly what I wanted to do, and it encouraged me by gathering people who try to use business as a force for community impact.
After graduating from Notre Dame with my master’s degree in Business Analytics, I gladly found enFocus, an organization dedicated to building stronger communities through talent attraction, innovation, and entrepreneurship. enFocus greatly supports entrepreneurship, professional development, leadership opportunities, and business exposure. Joining enFocus will keep the drumming for business alive in my heart and prepare me to make my dreams come true.
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to make a real impact through innovative projects at enFocus, while also moving toward my career goal. I can’t wait to see how this new chapter unfolds!