Fueling Your Curiosity!

I founded, Central Coast Youth STEM. Where we help students from 6-8 grade in Santa Barbara County learn about STEM through engaging workshops, where they explore different concepts and get hands-on experience with the material. To this day, we have served over 400 students and provided them with an opportunity to explore engineering

So, for this blog post, I decided to talk about a re

cent conversation I had with someone who has worked in many industries and has a lot of wisdom. So I have some fake grandparents that my mom met after we immigrated to the US, and they have been a huge support. My “ fake grandpa” has a brother who has done some awesome stuff, such as worked for Amtrak and implemented dynamic prices, and other achievements regarding efficiency and efficacy within companies. That might seem minimal to most, but actually achieving such changes and stature in large companies like these and many others is not an easy feat. 

So after learning of him, my fake grandpa said he could get me on a call with him, so I took him up on that opportunity.  So we got on a call this Tuesday, and I had a list of questions ranging from personal to career and academic. During this call, I learnt at least three vital traits of him: curious, data-driven, and not complacent. (With other ones like family being a key one as well) He told me how he has gone through many jobs and is constantly looking for new opportunities. Many find it odd and maybe risky, but after hearing many examples of him using his drive, data, and curiosity to fuel innovations and growth within the varying companies he works for, it really painted a better and understandable picture. 

I tried to simplify what he said as much as possible, as it was a long call, but those were the things I found most interesting and relevant to me. I very much felt like I had a very similar mindset. I know that I am always looking for new things to fuel my curiosity and find ways to fix and optimize systems wether in Link Crew, personal projects, or Direlights. But I am scared to take as much risk as he has, but having this talk actually motivated me to be more honest with my values and follow what fulfills me the most. Like taking on risk because at the end of the day, while it might sound boring to others, the work I do in organizing and creating new systems, such as our automated income statement, that have real impacts on businesses and people, and provide me with happiness and most importantly, helps explore my curiosity.