When I found out I was chosen as the winner of the #EmpowerWomen Contest through Alibaba.com, I had no idea that it was going to be a life changing experience! They informed me I was going to be flown to San Francisco and New York to be personally mentored by 5 incredible women. It sounded too good to be true!
It was true. I just returned back to State College from SF, and had the most incredible week of my life. I was housed in a beautiful hotel, graciously hosted by awesome employees from Alibaba, and was introduced to the most inspiring women I have encountered. When I arrived, I had meetings from the point I woke up everyday until I went to sleep, and found myself smiling uncontrollably all day long. I was so empowered by being surrounded by such inspirational women and felt so blessed to be given this opportunity. Thank you so much to Alibaba, the incredible mentors, and everyone I met while I was in the Valley!
Mentored by Jacqueline Linder, CEO of Lunchbots. She helped me tremendously by sharing her experience in product development, building a team, outsourcing, and branding. She had an phenomenal ability to help identify which aspects of my business I need to improve and helped me instantly with awesome feedback. It was incredible to hear her story of success and it was a pleasure to meet her!
Mentored by the VP of Women 2.0, Sepideh Nasiri. Sepideh was generous enough to share her incredible insight on starting a business as a young entrepreneur, growing quickly, and perspectives on being a women in tech. It was awesome to see their office in a co working space in SF! There was so much energy and passion in the office.
Mentored by Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media. Rieva gave me awesome insight into how to pursue your dream. I was inspired by her story of becoming the first female editor of any business magazine (she was the Editor for Entrepreneur Magazine). My favorite quote from Rieva: "There is no such thing as balance: it is just constant calibration."
Delicious lunch with the Clark and Eddie, the founders of Fluzzle Tube. They shared their story of success as fellow young entrepreneurs and inspired me tremendously. They were able to design, patent, and get their product into big box stores in one year! Pretty amazing!
Survey Monkey HQ for Founder Friday by Women 2.0. It was awesome to network with like-minded women who have passions in all different fields!
The lovely illuminated streets of Palo Alto. I fell in love with this town instantly!
Google HQ with Candice Huang, the U.S. PR manager for Alibaba Group. She was an absolutely incredible host and introduced me to her friend who works for Google who gave us a tour of their beautiful campus. Candice was so generous with her time and she truly wanted to help me succeed. I feel so lucky to have met her!
A dream come true visiting Google HQ!
Google HQ Android Building
The Avatar Hotel in Santa Clara
Santana Row for a beautiful outdoor dinner
