Thais Estrada-Nunez: Nonprofit Founder at 15 | S2 Episode 1

Season #2 February 01, 2024

Thais Estrada-Nunez is a very impressive young woman with a storied childhood. Her family left Paraguay when her mom was 8 months pregnant with her, making her a first-generation American.

Born to hardworking immigrant parents, Thais excelled throughout high school and has gone on to attend Stanford University - and founded a nonprofit as a teen. That's all more than enough to justify Steve's belief that "we might be talking to a future President of the US".

Thais was Morgan Franklin Foundation's first scholarship winner. Steve and Marc reached out to talk with her about her story, her future plans, and where her education from MFF will take her next.

Episode Transcript

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[MUSIC]

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Hello and welcome to the Save Invest Grow Podcast from the Morgan Franklin Foundation.

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It has been a while.

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This is Steve Spain and I'm here with Marc Sexton, our director of operations.

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And we got a great podcast here today.

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We have as our guest, our first inaugural scholarship winner.

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We gave away a scholarship this fall.

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Her name is Thais Estrada-Nunez.

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She is a freshman at Stanford.

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And she has just a really incredible background.

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She's a first generation citizen of America.

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Her parents moved here while her mother was eight months pregnant coming over from Paraguay.

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Her father was a, he was went to school to be a doctor in Paraguay.

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We learned this during the conversation.

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It didn't transfer in America so he worked as a construction worker.

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And they did whatever they could for 10 years to get by until he could eventually get his credentials transferred over here.

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But an incredible high school experience.

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She attended all these great organizations around the country while in school.

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Her high school was ranked number three in the country and just had this really great experience there that set her up

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to pursue what she really wanted to do in college.

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And I mean, I think she's going to be doing some really great things.

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I mean, we might be talking to the future president of the country, Marc.

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I don't know if you got that impression.

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Yeah, absolutely Steve.

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I totally agree.

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I think she was one of the most sort of inspirational people I've ever heard speak.

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And so I think everyone's going to really enjoy this podcast and the schedule we had.

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Very impressive young woman.

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Yeah, I mean, I didn't even mention the nonprofit she started.

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I think she said at 15 years old her grandmother was back home during COVID and started this nonprofit

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because she saw this huge disparity between the healthcare practices in Paraguay and the states.

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And they started sending resources to the hospital and then they started sending computers for kids and just incredible.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Yeah, I think she's studying public health studies at Stanford University.

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So yeah, this is a very impressive person with an amazing background, amazing story.

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Yeah, great way about her too.

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She's humble and she wants to learn and surround herself with good people.

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And so yeah, I think this is a great conversation.

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So with that said, I think we should get right to it, huh?

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Well, hello, Thais, welcome to the MFF Save Invest Grow podcast.

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Thanks for joining us today.

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Hi, thank you so much for having me.

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Now are you in California still right now?

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I am still in California.

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I am leaving tomorrow.

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Well, tonight basically, but yes, heading back home.

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Okay. And you are finishing your first semester at Stanford?

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Yes, I am. Yes.

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Yes. So pretty big adjustment.

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So your family's in Miami, right?

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Yes, they are all in Miami.

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Yes, it definitely wasn't.

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So how's it been?

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Was it an adjustment those first couple of weeks?

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How when did you actually move out to California?

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Yes. So we're on the quarter system.

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So we started like later than most colleges.

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So we started moving day for freshman was September 19th and we started classes on the 28th.

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But it was definitely a big adjustment, but I have had a lot of fun and I'm very grateful

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for every day.

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I'm incredibly grateful for where I am.

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And there's been so many things going on.

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And I feel like it's only been 10 weeks.

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So like the quarter last 10 weeks long, but I feel like I've lived nine lives through those

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10 weeks.

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And yeah, it was definitely an adjustment, but I would say I didn't feel as homesick as

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I thought I would, but I think maybe later on when it will hit on, but yes, it's been

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incredible experience for sure.

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That's great.

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So tell me about what the nine lives were like living out there.

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What is it?

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So have you had a lot of new people around you?

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New experiences, what it's what's been the nine lives?

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Well, for sure.

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I would say, well, so one of like the new people there, everyone, it has incredible stories.

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Everyone has incredible passions, but even just like on a human to human level, I've had

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incredible conversations and made incredible relationships that I'm incredibly grateful

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for.

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And people are from like diverse areas like across the world, which has been also a big

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learning point for me.

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And then even academically, like there are so many niche classes that cater to specifically

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what I want to do in the future, which is not something that you would find in high school.

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So that has also been incredibly enriching.

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And even the professors, like they've all, like, they're all experts in their field.

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So that has also been like incredible to like learn from.

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Sometimes I'm surprised that I'm like their student in, it's incredible to like just talk

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to them and receive advice from them.

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And then even like clubs and extra curriculars, I, I myself like,

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have so many interests, so like that's also been something that has been fun to explore.

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And I've also found new interests that I mean, I'm really excited to continue through

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my time at Stanford.

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But yeah, it's been like, it's been a lot of activities going on like from the moment I

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wake up to the moment I go to bed, but I'm incredibly grateful and so happy that I'm

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here.

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Well, that's awesome.

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I don't think you could say a better response for our first semester.

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So maybe we should, we should send this recording to Stanford and you can get an advertisement

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out of that.

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Maybe we could, some income for you for that.

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So, yeah.

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Well, you do have an incredible background.

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So you are our first scholarship winner.

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So you are an inaugural MFF financial independent scholarship winner.

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So Mark and I personally went through all the scholarship applicants ourselves and we

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picked you.

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You have an incredible background.

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We really impressed with all the things that you did in our doing.

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So I thought we'd start with, you know, we learned a lot about you before Stanford and then

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we can circle back to your experience there and particularly interested in what you do

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with your family back home in Paraguay.

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That was one really unique thing while we were looking at our scholarship applicants was

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the nonprofit that you started.

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Did you tell us a little bit about that?

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Yeah.

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So basically the way it started was back in 2021.

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So this was when the pandemic first hit.

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So most of my family is like they live in Paraguay.

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So both my parents, they immigrated to the US and then they had me.

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So it was relatively recently.

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So most of like my family and like my culture is back in Paraguay.

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So in 2021, when the pandemic hit my grandmother, she was going through breast cancer.

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So we would FaceTime a lot and basically I knew of like the disparities that existed in

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Paraguay being like it being like a third world country.

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But through FaceTime's like hearing like how like fearful she was to access the hospitals

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and hearing how like there weren't a lot of like medical resources in the hospitals and

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like overflowing like doctors quitting and like it was really worrisome and I like I think

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that's when I like first it first hit me like how bad the situation was in Paraguay.

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So it just started with me like collecting a few donations with my family and the turnout

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was actually quite incredible given that was the pandemic.

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So we sent those donations to Paraguay to the hospital that she attended.

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So that was so that's how it started.

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But after that we decided to do more donation drives and soon we got the help we got help

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from the council to Paraguay.

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That's station Miami and due to his like incredible support we were able to send more donations

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because the thing about Paraguay is that like doing anything with that involves a Paraguay

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can be very logistically hard just because it is a third world country and it is very corrupt.

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So for example when you're shipping like items there's a very high chance of it getting

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stolen through like through connections because like there's no like direct flight to Paraguay.

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You always have to do a layover.

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So like that's another thing and even like getting it passed past a TSA in Paraguay can be

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very hard.

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It was very important to have the support from the council to Paraguay so that was an incredible

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step forward.

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But from there like we started like I started recruiting some of my friends and then they

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reached out to other friends and also the Paraguay community and Paraguay started helping

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out.

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So it just started growing by itself.

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I would say it through the mission because everyone wants to help out in Paraguay.

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So I feel like once we started this thing where it like collectively we were able to

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like work together they realize how much more effective that was than just like sending

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your family member some like some necessary resources and then we started working with

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children shelters as well.

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So basically and also with teen mothers and we started like doing things at a larger scale

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and kind of thinking through things at a more sustainable like level.

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So I had done an internship on like the UN sustainable goal so I specifically focused

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on like good health and well-being, gender equality and then quality education and through

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that I learned like what makes specific movements on profits and even like private institutions

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impactful and sustainable in their impact.

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So like that's like the business part of it and also like the grassroots part of it

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and kind of like what made that what makes things sustainable and actually achieving impact

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right.

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So through that I was able to learn a lot and kind of apply that to my nonprofit.

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So basically from there we decided to host fundraisers.

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Like these fundraisers hosted like were served to like yes gain money but also to kind of

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fortify like paraguay culture cultural pride in Miami and that was a really great thing

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to do.

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And so our I think my most proud like accomplishment through a nonprofit was we gathered a lot

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of some funds to buy and send computers and those computers were able to start an IT course

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in a children's shelter and kind of help those mothers gain a source of employability and

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some skills in order to you know a fan for themselves in you know in a world in the country

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where there's not a lot of resources for them to you know access quality education or

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even access skills to be able to be employed.

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So that has been a great journey and now that I'm here at Stanford I've been wanting to

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learn more about the policy side.

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And so this quarter on one of our classes we were able to conduct a research based paper

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and I focused my paper on health disparities and specifically what policy methods we could

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implement in pair by in order to make the health care more efficient but also how to like

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target specific on vulnerable groups like indigenous indigenous mothers for example.

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So I'm very excited to continue to see in what ways we can make more sustainable impact

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and kind of learn on through my journey in Stanford like what policy and economic methods

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we could implement in pair by and kind of of course I'm just you know a teenager in the

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US but I think it'd be really great to kind of provide some awareness and hopefully that

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can help in pair by but yeah.

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Yeah well wow I mean you started this nonprofit where you a freshman or sophomore in high school

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at the time when you were.

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I was a sophomore.

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Well I mean all the wise old age of a you know where you're 15 or 16 years old as a sophomore

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in high school I mean it's a really noble effort and I think it's it's so cool that it also

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it came out of a very it was your grandmother you know you were seeing it first there and

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it kind of grew from that so and it sounds to me like this directly you know would you

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say that your major in college it you know seems to directly attributed from this experience.

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For sure and I think that like going into Stanford I was very like passionate about learning

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the policy side but being here at Stanford where it's very like concentrated well it is

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like it excels a lot in like the social sciences and the humanities but it also like is

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very known for like the CS part and the tech side of like it's innovations so like through

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that that's also open doors for me for example I was I just finished like an AI in healthcare

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seminar class.

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So like through that I was able to learn a lot about like the how AI can be used to like kind

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of bridge health disparities in particularly vulnerable areas for like so for example like

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dermatology is like the area of medicine that has the most disparities worldwide is because

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like it's a very niche on part of medicine that's not very easily accessible to most areas

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so like kind of seeing basically they brought in like kind of startup founders that are

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that use AI to bridge health disparities like that has been very impactful and also like

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a new lens to kind of think about like the health disparities in paraguayne and new lens

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and what other type of solutions we can use.

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So what I'm studying like this specific major I'm still undecided just because there's I

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feel like there's so many aspects like there's the technical side and then the policy side

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to help in healthcare so I'm so maybe I'll combine the two but we'll see yeah but like

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your towards healthcare.

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Yeah no I can see a lot of different outcomes coming from that I remember this article

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it was written in 2013 and it was basically studying the lack of regulation for healthcare

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costs in America and you probably have come across something like this or even read the

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article but just the massive amount of you know the discrepancy between the actual cost

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for something like chapstick and they charge you you know 40 or $50 on your bill at the

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hospital and you know these third party companies that they come in for someone who has a

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routine and they might have heart palpitations but then they get stuck with a hundred fifty

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thousand dollar bill and there's these third party companies that they come in to kind

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of bite those bills down on behalf of client you know people who came in just for a routine

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type thing and that's just America I mean I can only imagine I mean what are you seeing

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I guess as a contrast between America and Paraguay are there are big differences in terms of

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like the insurance coverage is there you know it sounds like just general availability of

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medical either doctors or people who are close to be able to provide service I mean other

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massive differences that weren't even aware of for sure there are massive differences so

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it's all based on the infrastructure so Paraguay's infrastructure is very weak for example

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and a lot of the health care so I think like 70% of the population relies on like the Ministry of

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Health so like that's like the public like that's the like the public health insurance and like

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the other 30% which is like the more like affluent part of Paraguay they have like you know private

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insurance and private health care so like they're fine but like with the Ministry of Health there's

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there's a lot of disparities and a lot of inefficiencies when it comes to accessing health care

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and also quality primary care so like that was another thing that I found in my research was like while

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like Paraguay has been like has ambitious goals in terms of like improving like their health care

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outcomes so like you can see like in the past like two decades they've been increasing in government

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spending however they are not like they're not improving in actual primary health care quality

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and specifically when it comes to studying like particularly like vulnerable groups like

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indigenous groups you can see like there's not a lot of improvements like yes like there has been

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an increase in private and government spending in health care but that has not matched actual

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improvement in health disparities for example and a lot of that is also rooted in other like forms

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of like systemic inequality so for example like there's a big culture of machismo for example

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in when it comes to indigenous groups so like a lot of mothers are like indigenous mothers

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specifically they're often displaced from their land and you know indigenous people like they

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they live off the land and like that's a big part of the culture so once they're displaced you can

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see like even like when I was younger when I would like visit Paraguay along the streets there's

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always people when you stop at the red light there's always like you can see like indigenous

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mothers with their babies in their arms and they're selling some sort of products because they

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need that and you know they're sleeping on the streets because they don't have access to their

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um prior indigenous land and they're also like don't they're often illiterate they have like no

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access to internet and so you're kind of left with this you know there's limited very very limited

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opportunities and so when you don't have quality health care and you don't have like quality education

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and you don't have quality access to like to state sponsored resources for those groups it's very

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hard to like kind of in the U.S for example like education is a very big catalyst for like um social

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change and a lot it provides a lot of opportunity where you can you can dream of becoming anything

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and you can likely become anything because of like the platter of opportunities are available in the

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U.S. but that's not possible in Paraguay you can't like dream big if you're that like you know you're

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not born in the afloen part of Paraguay so that's something that um I'm really working towards I

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really hope to work towards in the future as well and you know continuing working towards but yeah

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wow that's uh it sounds like there's some what what came to mind as you were describing this you

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know the 70% of the country has this basically government sponsored health care uh program it

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sounds you know you you hear about veterans in America um sometimes you know that it's a

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nationally funded health care program for veterans that you know they'll not have coverage for

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certain things and you know whether they were exposed i'm be reading this thing about you know

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people in Iraq or Afghanistan be exposed to certain things they breathe in and the coverage not being

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there to cover them so it's it's kind of a tough thing when you don't have competition it's like going

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to the DMV you know there's no one pushing the DMV to have better computer systems and to be more

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efficient to compete with another DMV service right it's just funded this is what it is take it or leave

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it and you know we have this much funded that that we can help you with or we don't have anything right

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yeah that's a very big thing that i've like become very interested in like learning more about since

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i got here because i am in some like business clubs but i'm also on a cyber security policy team

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so like through that i've been able to like kind of see like the inefficiencies that come with like

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national and states like governments um sponsored like resources so like you said like the DMV

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and like how inefficient it can be and i'm really interested in learning like how because like

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things become efficient through competition like you said like so private companies they're always

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like competing against each other to like you know have the best product on the market have the lowest

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price as well it's like what do you do when you have a government sponsored resource like yes

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government sponsored resources are important for like vulnerable groups but oftentimes i can

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pair i why where most of the country is vulnerable like how do you how do you like build a culture

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of competition within the government in order to like make them you know more accessible and you

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know better quality as well so that is something really interesting learning more about absolutely

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and it sounds to me like you're well on the path and already thinking that way um i'd still

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like to go back to some of your origin story here because i feel like you have so much i mean your

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parents were they they moved here you said slightly before you were born was it were you was your

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mother already expecting you before you they moved to the states yes so the thing about my parents is

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that they have like their own stories incredible like i like respect my parents so much and they've

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influenced so much of like what i do today so my my mom she was born in new york but she had moved

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back and forth between new york and paraguay just because of family situations and so she used to

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have like a lot of struggles in her life and and then she met my dad and my dad actually um he

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was studying he he would like came from a um you know very humble like impoverished family in

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gap yet that which is like a real part of paraguay so but he had dreams of becoming a doctor right so he

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would um you know he would clean house is that done in order to get you know enough funds to access

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tutors because of course public education in paraguay is not great at all so he was able to get a

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full scholarship to medical school in paraguay and it's like that's where they met and then um

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so they both met and then they moved to the states um because they they thought they it was kind of like

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really last minute my mom was actually like eight months pregnant when she got on the plane because

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she really yeah she realized that it you know it's very important for me to be born in the US just

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because like you know like the different opportunities that come with being a US citizen and all

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the things that you know i don't you know it being a US citizen is like an incredible privilege so

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so she came and then my dad came a few months after once he was able to like figure out like

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the logistics part of it and then from there on um it was quite a struggle because um it was just

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them too they my dad did not speak english and his um he his medical degree did not like transfer

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like directly in the US like it's not something that's like you know like he can just become a full

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pledge doctor in the US so he had to learn english while he was doing that he was um working as

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a construction worker um and then my mom she would teach um english at night because she wanted to like

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care for me during the day so it was just like a it was just a balancing act between like kind of like

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pursuing their dreams of like establishing themselves in the US while like caring for me and so I

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think and then I had two other siblings through this journey um so um by the time I was 10 is when my

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dad finally was able to start his residency in the US so like a whole decade later right and my

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and so he finished his residency and then we moved to Miami so like that's you know it's basically

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they accomplished their American dream but it was definitely through a lot of struggle and a lot of

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you know hope and faith in like you know the American dream and like kind of pursuing their passions

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as well but yeah so like they definitely inspire me a lot yeah yeah I can only remember what a great

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story and I mean persistence and perseverance but also humility I mean here's your father who has

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this medical background and he's doing construction work to get you guys uh just to get by uh that's

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that's pretty incredible and I'm glad to hear that even after a decade he's back to you know the

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his chosen field of work uh so that's pretty incredible um you know I've I've met um one other younger guy

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from Paraguay a few years ago and he I just I was always so impressed when he was only about 23 or 24

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and it just really made me reflect on the American dream and how we take it for granted um you know he was

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I think he might have been all but 24 maybe 25 years old and he he came over I think in his

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late teenage years I think his parents came over a little younger he started working in construction

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like your dad did and uh in that time he basically spun off and started his own drywall construction

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company and the reason I was seeing him as I worked for a law office I did real estate closings and every

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time I saw him he was buying another investment property and at the time I think he had bought his

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third or fourth multi-family house and he was 24 or 25 years old and he and his new wife were

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expecting their first child and it just really caused me to reflect like here's this younger guy who

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just came in saw the opportunity here and I just think it takes that perspective of being outside

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the country and having that lack of opportunity that once you see it you just work hard keep your head

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down and great things happen so um both for your family and just you know the only other person I

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could think about the top of my head that I know came from Paraguay and it had you know great success

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like this it's pretty incredible yes and actually like Paraguay is such a small country like we

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I've never expect like when I enter like other space like for example when I get to

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when I got to Stanford like I did not expect to meet anyone from Paraguay just because like

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there's such limited resources to like achieve like you know like bigger things within like your

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passion so I am very grateful for my parents that like they very like they very much impressed like

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the importance of education and like following that career that path and so when I got here actually

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there was actually another Paraguay and so I was very very surprised because he actually like he

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like he just like he he lives in Paraguay so like that was even more surprising and he's not like

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part of like the aflfluent part of Paraguay because like that's why you kind of assume if you find

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like someone in Paraguay someone in the U.S. from Paraguay so it was actually quite incredible to

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be able to speak to him and kind of learn from him as well from that perspective but back to

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your like point about the American dream so like in high school like I well I still am like very

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involved in like advocacy but also like like national like education policy and all those things so

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and I think it was like very important for me like to have that perspective of being incredibly

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grateful for all that the U.S. offers and all that the U.S. has offered opportunities for my

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family as well and I could not like accomplish all these things in any other country for example but

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also like having like that that lens that we can also like do better as well and kind of providing

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that perspective as well so that's been an incredible perspective that I've been able to take on

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because of like you know being the daughter of my parents as well and kind of having like my own

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journey as well through the resources that the U.S. offers. Yeah and it seemed like you had a really

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great high school experience that the school for advanced studies and it was in Miami that you

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I still look like they have a few different campuses. Yes so school for advanced studies is um

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it's pretty nationally recognized I think it's like number four in the country. Looks like number three

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on the website they've gone up one. Yeah they're yeah they're pretty great so we have like five campuses

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in Miami and I attended Wolfsend campus which is in the downtown area of Miami but I am so

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incredibly grateful for that school because um so for example like my school counselor like I mentioned

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earlier at Miss Martinez so our school is only like so my campus it's only junior senior years

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right so my my graduating class at like this senior year only had 56 kids in our campus so that alone

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provided so much opportunity for me to like have direct access to my teachers and my counselor my

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counselors constantly sending opportunities and constantly checking up on us specifically want to

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pertains to college applications and I think that that has been an incredible like support system

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so like I myself like was like very ambitious in terms of like the goals I wanted for myself for

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the future and that like having being able to access like my counselor and my teachers was also

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very pivotal step in like foundational support for like accomplishing my goals but another key part

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of it was that um we have received everyone that graduates from SCS well most people like the

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trajectory is that you graduate with your associates degree as well so like half the day we would have

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our classes at Miami-Dade College it was like the the local community college and then the rest of

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the half we would have classes in our high school so that was an incredible opportunity to be able

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to take classes that like we're above like the rigor like continue to like for example like chemistry

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like I continued doing chemistry at like at a higher level for example and having like more niche

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classes and even like having like college students be your classmates was an incredible opportunity

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to learn from and it was a really great experience and I'm very grateful for the support from the

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school and it is a public school which I think like for even from like an education policy standpoint

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it is a very innovative approach to education and and kind of like bridging like education disparities

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in Miami specifically so yeah that's great that seems like a way more efficient use of your time

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coming out with an associate's degree and putting yourself in a different culture and environment

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with older students who are paying money to take courses there that you're getting as a you know

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as a public school is pretty incredible and you were a part of a a bunch of different organizations

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while you're there were there any that were most interesting to you and maybe prepared you more

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for life after high school do you mean school based or outside of school well I mean you have a

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resume full so many different things so I don't know what you did to the school and what not but

378
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you you were a part of so many different things so maybe tell us about one that you did in the school

379
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and one that you did outside the school because you did a lot of amazing things

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well one of the things I would say so I found I found about this organization through like one of

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like the school counselors um but it was called is this was like at the outside school one but it's

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called citizen university and basically it's a nonprofit um found by Eric Liu and he like focuses

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on changing civic culture within the US so basically you apply and then they select 20 um you'd

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like change makers across the US so they tried to like make it from their births like

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geographical areas like I was one of two students um selected from Florida for example

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and basically what this was was it was a year long intensive program so on kind of

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learning about like civic culture within the US how to change it and how to create our own projects

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and kind of have a sustainable impact within our own local communities so um basically there was

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three intentsives that we intended across three cities it was in DC Seattle and LA so they were

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so basically these conferences they recruited a lot of like national civic change makers and so

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so these were like on CEOs of nonprofits um government leaders principles school educators so

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people across the spectrum of um like they had different investments in our civic culture

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and we were able to sit at the table directly with them and kind of collaborate and innovate with

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them to kind of learn about our civic culture but I think that that program specifically

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has led me to a lot of like networks in terms of like the people the peers that I'm still in touch

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with to this day we we always celebrate our accomplishments with each other and we will have very

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like similar passions and interests in terms of um committing to public service in the future as well

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but that has also taught me a lot of valuable skills like how to talk to you know adults who have like

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you know not being afraid to like ask for like collaborations with adults even though you know

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we're just teenagers and kind of like that project ideation so I focused on for example

401
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one of the things was like I combined it with provisions for pair why so it was really great to be

402
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able to kind of hone those skills as well and that program specifically like let me down a route of

403
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like education policy so like through the Reagan summit on some summit on education so I was able

404
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to speak on a panel on youth voter turnout in Miami and like kind of like the factors that go into

405
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that so that was like an incredible experience it's because even the school district is like a tent

406
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that summit it's like that's like you know that I would say that was an incredible platform to be

407
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able to introduce me to a lot of other opportunities and yeah specifically introducing me to a new

408
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passion of education policy as well and then within school I am very very grateful for like a lot

409
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of the clubs like women of tomorrow and medical club that was able to like take leadership positions

410
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on as well and specifically like the way SAS is structured is that we have so we have our college classes

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in the morning until 1120 and then has classes from 1120 to 220 so in the morning sessions you

412
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would basically your independence so you have to like take initiative um you know getting to class

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but also using there's also like an allotted free time because in the morning so before 1120

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so that free time I often like dedicated to like extra curriculars like making sure that for

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example like internships that we do during the school so one of like one specific internship I did

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through school was um I worked with like a school board member Luis Asantos um so basically

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um reading like policy items and kind of annotating them and providing like my view as a student and

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before she presented to committee so like that was an incredible um um program and experience I did

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so I am incredibly grateful for all these opportunities that have helped me grow and kind of

420
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grow new passions as well that now I'm here continuing at Stanford. Wow that's uh I mean it's

421
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:54,720
we read about these and it just seemed very interesting um some of these groups and activities

422
00:32:54,720 --> 00:33:00,160
you're part of and I mean working directly with you know big intimidating adults

423
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:06,640
making policies and such right as a high school students uh pretty amazing now did you do um

424
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:13,520
were were there a mix of um like zoom meetings or did you actually travel out to DC or Seattle for

425
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:20,160
some of these uh groups you're part of? Yes so that was I think a very big part um a lot of these

426
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:26,880
programs funded so they like funded like the hotels the planes everything so that was an incredible

427
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:31,520
experience like be able to travel to all these places I've never been to but also like see these

428
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:39,120
like people in person that was a very big part of it I think of the experience so I did go to DC LA

429
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:45,600
and Seattle and then I also went to DC I went to the Reagan Summit um and stood on education

430
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,440
so like the actual Reagan Institute is like right in front of the White House it's like across the

431
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:54,560
street it's like that was an incredible opportunity I mean like I'm so grateful for so a lot of these

432
00:33:54,560 --> 00:34:00,560
programs I was able to travel with and um you know that came with such great privilege and opportunity

433
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:05,200
and so yeah that was a very big thing I got to you know travel quite a bit like especially that my

434
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:11,280
last two years um in high school wow that's it's great that they they set their days up and really

435
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:17,200
prioritize you making time for for organizations like that in the middle of your school day. Yes yes

436
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:23,920
and they're also very like they understand the importance of extracurricular and kind of the

437
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:29,920
importance yes of academics it is a very academically rigorous in school but also they also value

438
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:34,960
extracurriculars and kind of being involved in your community and you're in your in kind of enhancing

439
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:40,560
your impact as a high school student so they worked with me in terms of some of these um like trips

440
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:45,040
would happen I would have to like miss school for example so I would work directly with teachers

441
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:51,040
in order to like make up work or kind of like zoom calls so they it was very flexible in that sense too

442
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:56,400
so I'm very grateful for that too wow that's that's really exciting you got to take part in all that

443
00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:02,000
travel and such even just doing that I mean it's uh it can get people out of their comfort zone to

444
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,960
travel you know and go meet with people that you don't know and to be able to adjust to that so

445
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:11,680
what great real world experience for you in high school before even starting your career that

446
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:18,080
must have been really exciting yes it definitely was and it has pushed me to you know take initiative

447
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:23,760
to apply so as many opportunities like as I can like I'm in spring break for Stanford they have

448
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:29,200
like this program called a certain alternative is spring break program right so basically during

449
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:34,800
spring break they fund a service program so I'm specifically gonna go to New York and we're gonna

450
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:41,040
explore education and equality policies so talk to big stakeholders in education policy in New York

451
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:46,800
just because New York has a very unique education system with in high schools like they they're based

452
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:52,080
off the specialized high school system so like students starting in eighth grade apply to high school

453
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:57,520
and it's a very rigorous process so kind of exploring that I think we're gonna also visit common app

454
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:03,280
which is like the holder of like the SAT AP exams and all those things and also kind of exploring

455
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:10,320
the gaps in education quality in New York as well so I think that all those like programs and

456
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,320
opportunities in high school definitely gave me the confidence to be able to pursue other things

457
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:20,720
now as well that's great I mean you definitely don't seem to have any fear of jumping in uh it seems

458
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:25,840
like you're you're definitely interested in putting yourself out there taking some risk and putting

459
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,720
yourself in an environment where you're surrounding yourself with good people um what do you think

460
00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:35,520
the end goal of all this is do you do you see yourself in politics or leading I mean I could picture

461
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:40,880
you continuing to lead your nonprofit and that could be satisfying to you you could start another

462
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:47,040
organization you could get a you know government position or lead a company do you have any of those

463
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:53,120
thoughts bouncing in your mind right now I every day I'm like I don't know what guys I want to do so

464
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:58,880
many things with my life and I know I can't do everything but I just want I want to study so many things

465
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:04,400
as well like every day I'm being of a new major or like something that will like help me in like

466
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:10,240
my future passions I know my future like end goal like what I want to do in the future in terms of

467
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:14,960
the impact I want to have so that is like helping in pair wide with like health disparities

468
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:21,120
but in what way I want to do that I'm still figuring it out so maybe maybe I do see myself as a

469
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:26,560
policy maker so I think that that's definitely one route but also like the technical side of it kind

470
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:32,480
of exploring the side of AI and health care and kind of exploring that part is also a very real

471
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:38,320
possibility but I do definitely think that the work is my nonprofit is going to be something lifelong

472
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:42,000
so that's definitely going to be something I'm going to be working on like you know for the rest of

473
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,800
my life and I think it's also going to be something that becomes a very like family oriented thing

474
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:52,400
as well so it'll like hopefully my siblings like you know they help out too and you know kind of

475
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:59,680
like help this initiative as well and so I'm not exactly concrete on like what I see myself doing

476
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:04,240
in the future I know like the impact I want to have but the exact route I'm still exploring.

477
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:09,760
Yeah and there's there's different paths to get there right like you could work in government

478
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:14,240
and it's almost like comparing NASA with what Elon Musk has done right you know it's like you have

479
00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:21,200
this big government funded organization that took a long time to to solve you know they they basically

480
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,760
their thought process was let's get it all perfect and then build the rocket where you know you see

481
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:31,840
Elon Musk has self-funded this thing and you know how many rockets has he launched compared to NASA

482
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:37,120
and you know it's a completely different process but you know he basically now gets paid by the

483
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:42,160
government to carry out the missions instead and you know same same goal right you know they want to

484
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:47,520
get satellites in the air that he wants to send civilization to Mars so that might be his own

485
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:53,200
personal interest but maybe running your own company could be faster than working in government so

486
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:58,000
I think it's a lot of your experience of Stanford might help you find what you're more comfortable with.

487
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:06,320
Yes for sure and talking about company Stanford is very big on startup culture so yes startups like

488
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,560
most of them do fail but I think even that experience of like that entrepreneurial

489
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:16,720
entrepreneurial spirit of you know going you know creating something and kind of like joining like

490
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:20,560
like my native individuals and creating something that you could see having impact in the future

491
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:25,360
is a very exciting route that I'm definitely thinking about and even when we were talking about

492
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:29,840
earlier about the like the inefficiencies that come with like government sponsored things I

493
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:34,800
definitely think that explore like the private route like the company route or the startup route is

494
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:43,680
a very exciting approach that I'm excited to explore. Yeah I could see you doing really well there you've

495
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:48,320
already had this experience starting your nonprofit and you know at the end of the day whether

496
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:55,280
it's a nonprofit a startup a business you're you're solving a problem right and the bigger more you

497
00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:01,760
know revenue intensive businesses and such solve bigger problems and you know it depends on just

498
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:06,800
where you want to fit and such but if you have any interest in anything entrepreneurial Mark and I

499
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:12,560
are kind of serial entrepreneurs we have a few small businesses ourselves we we have real estate

500
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:17,280
that we own together and we're kind of just business nerds we we might spend hours sitting there

501
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:21,520
talking about different ideas and such so feel free if you have anything that you're looking for a

502
00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,520
sounding board on sounds like you have plenty of people but you can add us to your list as well.

503
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:31,200
Well thank you so much yeah I definitely like respect entrepreneurs because it is such a

504
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:37,840
risky process and you know prior to Stanford I was always like scared of risk and kind of you know

505
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:43,840
anti-starred culture just because I was very like I like um you know also like given like my background

506
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:49,120
with my parents I think that I was very much wanting to pursue like a stable career path but I think

507
00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:55,840
since being here I find like the risk very exciting as well so that I think yeah yeah well you can

508
00:40:55,840 --> 00:41:00,160
uh you can kind of layer it too you know you can um you know you can basically like I have a couple

509
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:05,520
of friends that they both work pretty good stable jobs but then they buy real estate on the side and

510
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:09,920
they have several investment properties and they they've owned other small businesses on the side

511
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:14,960
it's not their main thing but you can kind of diversify yourself that way maybe before you make

512
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:19,680
that big leap you know if you make that big leap and you can't put food in the table or provide

513
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:24,560
for your family it's probably not the best most noble thing you can do but while you're young and you

514
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:29,200
have time on your side and you don't have a family there depending on you you can afford yourself

515
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:35,600
to take a little bit more risk right for sure yeah I definitely see myself kind of doing that

516
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:41,200
dual path maybe having like a more stable job and then definitely having the entrepreneurial

517
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:48,480
like track on the side as well I think that my nonprofit is going to be like a route in itself

518
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:53,120
like aside from all of those like consistently something that I want to continue growing and

519
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:59,840
you know continue like having an impact with but definitely I do want to kind of like dip my toes into

520
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:05,680
like you know like you know starting something like more private yeah but we'll see yeah

521
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:13,120
well you know it's um sometimes we get inside our heads and you you keep looking for the perfect

522
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:18,560
thing to do and then you never get to it and then people spend their entire lives not doing anything

523
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:23,520
right and it's sometimes you just got to put yourself out there you know done's better than perfect

524
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:28,240
just put it out try to ask someone to you know if you're it's a for-profit you know get someone to

525
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:33,040
give you their first dollar you know and just see if you can get it out there there's a the saying

526
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:37,840
that you know you're you're a minimum viable product you should almost be embarrassed by it

527
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:43,280
just to get it out there and let the market tell you if it's good or not and you know you take

528
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:48,160
that that feedback and then you keep adjusting and iterating and you you end up someplace completely

529
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:54,320
different than when you started right so it's um there's there's no failing unless you stop uh so I

530
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:59,280
think that with your background and your interest I mean you've already proven the concept you know

531
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:05,760
this this nonprofit you you've done some really impactful services for people there that you

532
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:10,640
probably changed some lives right and so you get a feel really good about that and you're you're all

533
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:20,160
but like 18 years old right now you're making us look bad well I just think that we have like

534
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:26,400
I think that even seeing a lot of other like youth change makers like especially in high school I

535
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:31,920
would always look up to specific like youth change makers like Sophia Keoni like she was actually

536
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:38,480
student at Stanford I this was even before I had like my eyes on Stanford it was just like her

537
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:44,240
and like what she's doing like specifically she focused on climate change and so like she's like the

538
00:43:44,240 --> 00:43:49,120
young as like youth advisory to the UN like climate change initiative or commissioned and like

539
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:54,560
kind of seeing like how these like people that were you know my age or even just slightly a few

540
00:43:54,560 --> 00:44:00,240
years older than me having such an impact definitely gave me like a confidence that um that I could

541
00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:06,320
possibly have an impact as well and I definitely hope that you know for like my sister and her friends

542
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:11,680
that even like seeing through like what I'm doing that they hopefully like gain a confidence as well

543
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:17,920
that if they have any interest that it's definitely um in their power to pursue it even like now

544
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:23,520
like I feel like a lot of people not put it they don't like necessarily put it off but like just

545
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:28,960
envision themselves doing it in the future but I think that people only realize that you know without

546
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:35,040
like like you can just like especially with like non-profits or any projects like you can like

547
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:39,440
raise the attention you can raise the awareness you can raise the funds it's something that is very

548
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:44,800
grassroots based so that means I think that anyone can really start anything if they're you know passionate

549
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:50,400
about it especially now right the the amount of technology that's available it can mean these

550
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,640
grassroots efforts it's just purely time and effort that you can put in and reaching out to the

551
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:59,920
right people at the right time and being consistent you can do some pretty incredible things you

552
00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:04,960
don't need to be you know run a newspaper or on a TV station to reach people anymore you know you

553
00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:12,320
can basically just stay on it you have great levers and social media and email and you know face time

554
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:16,560
all these different things that weren't really around you know 25 years ago to have impact you

555
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:21,680
know really one generation a lot has changed uh uh you don't have to have you know a big media

556
00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:28,000
company behind you any longer for sure it definitely like social media subject made catalyst for change

557
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,560
I I can't even like like encapsulate like it's power and being able to like set like communicate

558
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:40,480
a message or like gather people for example or like um kind of you know join some like

559
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:45,760
minded people or people who are similar like interested in the same things like there's a few communities

560
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:50,400
like in high school I was writing for this um like this journal it was called girls in white

561
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:55,920
coats and basically like we researched and wrote about like certain like gender disparities with

562
00:45:55,920 --> 00:46:02,320
them like um health care so um basically that was all like congregated through an online platform

563
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:08,000
through like basically an Instagram and we like you know my own zoom calls and all those things like

564
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:13,040
we've never met in person and we were all across the US and you know that was only possible through

565
00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:18,880
like um technology and Instagram and social media so I'm very grateful for that too. That's awesome

566
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:24,160
we uh we do we haven't done it for a while but um we it's called the Juneteau Clubs based on

567
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:29,280
what Benjamin Franklin uh did in the 1700s where he you know organized people in his community

568
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:34,400
and they came up with the library and fire stations and all kinds of great ideas like that

569
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:38,720
we haven't done anything like that yet Mark so we have to probably come up with some better ideas but uh

570
00:46:38,720 --> 00:46:43,520
we basically organized fellows and people are part of uh Oregon Franklin foundation all around

571
00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:49,280
the country and we we'll talk about things like budgeting or goals or spending you know just things

572
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:54,640
it's you know it's kind of the saying like you don't talk about religion politics and money with

573
00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:59,600
family really and you know so we we try to create an environment where we have people who have all

574
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:05,680
gone through our program to be a safe place where we can talk about best practices and ideas and

575
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:10,080
tips and tricks that we can kind of share with each other and uh just collectively get a group

576
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:14,640
to be able to gather that might not ever really get together in one place uh so uh it's really

577
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:19,200
cool that you've organically come across um you know niche groups of people like that with common

578
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:23,840
interests so um I'll I'll have to invite you for when we start doing some more of these Juneteau

579
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:27,600
club meetings again because I think you could share a lot with our other fellows uh throughout the

580
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:33,920
country thank you so much yes I definitely think that like those safe spaces to be able to be able to

581
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:39,440
talk about like taboo topics like you said like like like it's not like dinner table topics um topics

582
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,600
that you should be talking about I think that's so important like even like what I was talking about

583
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:48,800
like citizen university I think that specifically allowed me a space to be talking about like

584
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:53,440
very controversial and kind of heavy topics as well with people that wouldn't necessarily like

585
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:59,040
shut me down from my ideas or my background so like and that also gave me the opportunity to learn

586
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:05,200
from others like I am very much like invested in like learning about other people's perspectives like

587
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:09,280
because I understand like everyone comes from different backgrounds and that may lead to like

588
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:15,360
different like ideas and opinions based on things so I think that having those safe spaces to kind

589
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:20,640
of exchange like advice or their stories can definitely help like benefit everyone in the

590
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:25,520
conversation so I think those spaces are so important yeah absolutely and it's how you you learn more

591
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:30,720
from people too I I remember being said I don't know if I read this or someone told it to me but it was

592
00:48:30,720 --> 00:48:36,880
the saying like picture every person you know they have this golden nugget in their brain and you

593
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:41,120
have to keep talking to them and asking questions learning about them to get that golden nugget like

594
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:45,680
every person you know can teach you something and make you better and it just takes you being open

595
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:50,560
asking questions and learning about them because a lot of people aren't they kind of go about their

596
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:56,000
their business and they they don't want to hear things that you know might not agree with their

597
00:48:56,000 --> 00:49:00,560
personal viewpoints and such so it's good to be open and learning and you're the right place I mean

598
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:05,840
people come from all over the world to go to Stanford and you're talk about a melting part of you

599
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:09,680
know great minds all throughout the world I mean you're gonna picture where you'll be a few years

600
00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:15,280
from now after being shaped by that yeah I think that's one of like the greatest thing about Stanford

601
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:20,960
really is like the community of people like I'll just be talking to a friend I have and then realize

602
00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:27,520
this big app that they you know have like on the market or something like that or like this policy

603
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:32,480
they pass it's quite incredible like the things they've accomplished because at the end of the day they're

604
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:38,240
like my friend they're like you know at an 18 year old a normal teenager but they also have like

605
00:49:38,240 --> 00:49:43,120
incredible passions and incredible skills that they've invested in to have actual impacts before

606
00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:48,080
and that they're gonna continue to do so I think that you know like accessing that goals in nugget

607
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:54,160
has been something that I've been doing a lot of this first quarter and I'm very excited to

608
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:59,680
like continue to do that too well it's good to have that spirit I heard this story about Sam Walton

609
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:06,400
the founder of Wal-Mart he he was notorious for this he he actually I think one of the anecdotes

610
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:11,360
I think he got arrested because he was in I think a Sears or some other store and he was in

611
00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:16,960
there measuring like the width of their aisles and he was constantly trying to make Wal-Mart's better

612
00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:23,520
so he's in there and I think there was this company out of Brazil I might be mistaken the country

613
00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:28,880
but they they basically asked to meet with Sam Walton to you know basically the intention was for

614
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:34,720
them to pick his brain and learn about him but when they came and met him he spent the entire time

615
00:50:34,720 --> 00:50:40,320
asking them questions and you know even with him in a superior position you know he constantly had

616
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:45,360
that modesty and humility about him that he could learn something from other people and get better

617
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:50,080
and that was one of the big things I got to take away from him so it's it's good to always keep

618
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:55,360
yourself as the student you know there's you're never done learning for sure yeah and humility is

619
00:50:55,360 --> 00:51:02,640
so important I feel like anyone can learn anything from anyone so like I feel like also like when

620
00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:07,840
you have humility you also realize the importance of context when it comes to like what people can

621
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:13,200
accomplish and all those things so I think that my dad always impressed on me like the importance of

622
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:18,720
being humble and humility so like that's also something that I find very important well what a great

623
00:51:18,720 --> 00:51:24,320
role model with what your father did for you to they really paid this path to get to you you know this

624
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:30,400
gets you where you're going right now I'm interested also we didn't ask you about so I imagine that

625
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:36,240
you had a few options for where you wanted to go to college so you ended up at Stanford where there

626
00:51:36,240 --> 00:51:40,000
are other ones that you were seriously considering that you had to narrow it down to before picking

627
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:46,560
yes so the college application process I went into it not having exactly a dream school but

628
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:53,360
ever since like middle school maybe even earlier I like imagined myself I really wanted into

629
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:57,920
an institution with you know you know like community that I can learn from professors that I

630
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:03,520
have done great things in the world you know very niche amazing classes so I definitely like was

631
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:09,600
very ambitious on I'm not term so I applied restrictive early action so it's like the early round

632
00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:17,040
but it's not binding to Princeton and I got into Princeton in December and then I submitted my other

633
00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:23,200
applications they were doing January I decided to submit them because I was incredibly grateful and

634
00:52:23,200 --> 00:52:28,640
very committed I thought that I was going to end up at Princeton but I still wanted other options

635
00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:33,120
available I was very like strategic in terms of my plan also when it came to financial aid

636
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:37,440
because I knew that if for example if I had another offer from the school and they offered more

637
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:42,400
financial aid than I could negotiate between the schools so like I wanted to keep my options open

638
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:52,240
so I applied to none nine other schools and so basically I got into I think I got into like I

639
00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:55,920
didn't get into Harvard so like that was the one school I didn't get into but I did get into

640
00:52:55,920 --> 00:53:02,960
Vanderbilt I got a full tuition scholarship then I got into UF which is like our state school I

641
00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:09,840
I was I got like full ride to that school as well um Northwestern I got into Johns Hopkins I received

642
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:16,720
a merit scholarship as well then I applied to Emory um I applied to wait let me think Columbia I got

643
00:53:16,720 --> 00:53:23,680
into Columbia um Princeton I already said Yale and then Harvard got wait listed and then um

644
00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:28,720
the final one is Stanford yeah so like those are the other schools but um it wasn't very much based on

645
00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:34,000
like like growing up oh yeah I know some people had like dream schools growing up but I just wanted

646
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:40,160
to access you know like the best financial aid and also like the air like geographic area was very

647
00:53:40,160 --> 00:53:44,800
important to me in terms like what opportunities would be available in the area and then also how

648
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:50,640
interdisciplinary the school was um so that was one of the things so Columbia growing up I didn't

649
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:54,960
like have a dream school but it was definitely a school that I had my eyes on growing up in New York

650
00:53:54,960 --> 00:54:01,120
and everything um but Columbia does I would say it was a little bit more restrictive in terms of like

651
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:06,960
how I could explore and I'm someone that needs to explore in school like my different like academic

652
00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:11,280
interests so I think that Stanford definitely offered that and there was just so many

653
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:16,320
pros to Stanford that I ended up committing to Stanford for those reasons but yeah well it sounds

654
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:21,920
like you definitely uh wager options and you had a lot to choose from but from what we know about you

655
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:27,040
it sounds like you made the right choice and uh make sure it was in line with your values I imagine

656
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:31,600
that the the dining hall must have been a big part of it too I'm sure you compared the eating at

657
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:38,240
all these colleges uh it's a pretty big detail as well. No the dining halls well I was actually I

658
00:54:38,240 --> 00:54:44,000
didn't really like look too much into it because I just like I felt like I feel like at these like

659
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:49,760
big institutions they would have a lot of options maybe but yeah the food at Stanford is pretty good

660
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:55,520
and they have like a lot of dining halls so I mean that is a pro for sure of Stanford. Well that's good

661
00:54:55,520 --> 00:55:00,000
that that would be bad if you had all this great education but the food is horrible and uh you

662
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:05,760
don't believe. Yeah yeah yeah. Mark I've been talking all this time you got to have something that

663
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:13,040
you wanted to ask but I just kept talking. Yeah um yeah I did um you've mentioned a few times your

664
00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:18,000
siblings and your yeah I don't know if you have two sisters or sister or brother or brothers

665
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:26,320
curious if you're an older child you're sort of like paving the way for them or or you a younger child

666
00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:31,920
and you know you've learned from your siblings just curious a little more about your siblings.

667
00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:38,240
Yeah I am a younger sister and a younger brother so my sister is a freshman in high school right now

668
00:55:38,240 --> 00:55:45,200
and then my brother is in um he's in fifth grade right now so like I definitely am like trying to

669
00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:49,760
help guide them in terms of like you know what high school class is to take maybe what clubs they could

670
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:55,120
be interested in and kind of like being that helping hand because in high school I have to like

671
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:59,920
kind of research everything of course my parents did not like do like experience education system

672
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:05,200
here in the US so they you know they could not provide like personal experience advice so I just

673
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:10,400
would research everything online and I'll talk to talk to upper class men and even like you know

674
00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:16,320
current college students that were like at institutions that I hope to hopefully attend so like it was

675
00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:21,760
a lot of like research based initiatives on my part like starting very early on I think it was

676
00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:25,680
like starting eighth grade that I was like researching like you know the different opportunities

677
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:30,800
available and all that but I think that with my sister I'm specifically right now like it is

678
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:34,800
still ninth grade so she's still starting out high school and you know exploring her passions and

679
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:41,040
everything but you know setting her like opportunity she should apply to like maybe like specific

680
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:46,640
classes she should take and all those things but they have like they I would say we're all very

681
00:56:46,640 --> 00:56:54,560
different in terms of like our passions as well but it's definitely a great experience being an

682
00:56:54,560 --> 00:57:01,840
older sibling and yeah I'm very you know happy that I have two younger siblings to you know look after

683
00:57:01,840 --> 00:57:08,480
two yeah well you're yeah you're very sure you're a big inspiration for them as your story is

684
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:15,840
pretty incredible and so kudos to you very very impressive background and what you're trying to do

685
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:23,200
thank you well that's something actually because I feel like sometimes I like especially when like

686
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:28,080
after the college application process like when we went like us family just like you know like

687
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:33,120
an event or something everyone would be you know of course congratulating which I am very like

688
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:41,360
grateful for but also I I just also want to make sure that my siblings know that it's just because

689
00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:48,160
I got into these schools doesn't mean like like they're not you know it makes me like anyone better

690
00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:53,520
than anyone else so I just always saw my siblings that you know success is not necessarily measured by

691
00:57:53,520 --> 00:57:59,600
like like certain metrics for example like success success can come in other ways as well so that's

692
00:57:59,600 --> 00:58:06,160
also been something that has been very eye-opening as an older sibling as well yeah yeah that's

693
00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:10,400
that's that's really great feedback and it really segues into I mean that the whole intention of this

694
00:58:10,400 --> 00:58:15,840
podcast we want to you know inspire others that you know by hearing your story and the things that

695
00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:20,560
you've done how you've approached it I'd imagine that you would give similar advice to others

696
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:24,560
that you might give to your younger siblings of how to go about their schoolwork and extra

697
00:58:24,560 --> 00:58:30,640
curricular activities but if you could boil it down to I don't know if you thought of it like a formula

698
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:36,560
for you know I you were you had a swimming background but then you had these in-school activities

699
00:58:36,560 --> 00:58:41,920
and out-school activities based on your experience where it's pretty fresh still in your brain of

700
00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:47,280
being a high school senior looking to get in the colleges what would you recommend to people who are

701
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:51,920
I mean if they are pursuing higher education how would you go about that process for you know how

702
00:58:51,920 --> 00:58:57,760
you look on paper when you're applying so I think like the main one of the main pillars is always

703
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:03,360
research always research research research research like you learn so much through like online

704
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:09,200
resources but also through other people's experiences as well and kind of like especially if you

705
00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:14,560
don't have like parents that you could like see like their trajectory paths in the US and kind of

706
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:19,760
like kind of follow those steps I think also like out talking to other people like upper class men

707
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:25,040
is very important then another thing I think is very important is always exploring so like don't

708
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:31,360
necessarily like cage yourself in a box like I know a lot of people like they go into even college or

709
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:36,160
high school like thinking oh I'm gonna do this I'm gonna follow this this and this so but I think

710
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:40,320
that is very important so always keep your mind open to different opportunities maybe different

711
00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:46,640
interests and then always like you know like try to be friendly with people because you never know

712
00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:52,320
like when you might you guys might start something together or maybe like be helpful in different

713
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:57,360
capacities as well I think that friendship is so important like you know throughout your life

714
00:59:57,360 --> 01:00:02,560
for so many different reasons as well but at the end of the day I think it's just very important to

715
01:00:02,560 --> 01:00:07,840
also realize like I was talking about earlier like realize your own like power on your own potential

716
01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:14,560
and having impact and kind of not being like scared about like your opinions but also while not

717
01:00:14,560 --> 01:00:18,640
being scared about your opinions always being open to changing your opinions as well I think that's

718
01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:25,360
also something very important you know being open about different opportunities and kind of

719
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:30,960
putting yourself out there to different experiences I've been doing that a lot at Stanford I

720
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:36,000
since you know I'm undecided and I don't exactly know what like maybe pre-professional attract

721
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:40,560
on my take you know just maybe my toes into everything I think that's so important and just trying

722
01:00:40,560 --> 01:00:44,880
everything until you find something that you're really passionate about and just you know honing in

723
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:49,840
on that and you know we take out to people and finding ways a niche problem that you can have an

724
01:00:49,840 --> 01:00:56,240
impact in is the best way in my opinion of having like sustainable impact in the future but yeah

725
01:00:56,240 --> 01:01:05,120
great advice thank you very much that's I think anyone looking to pursue higher education or even

726
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:10,640
pursuing careers that great that's advice that's great for anybody so thank you very much for that

727
01:01:10,640 --> 01:01:15,120
and you know what that said we've had you I feel like we just started talking we're almost out

728
01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:20,800
an hour here so is there anything else that you think you'd like to share that you know anyone

729
01:01:20,800 --> 01:01:26,400
either pursuing any of our courses or pursuing a change in our life that you'd like to share

730
01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:34,960
that you think might inspire them um definitely support MFF it's an incredible program I love the

731
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:41,760
initiative of financial independence I think that that is such an important thing in our road today and

732
01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:47,280
you know always be open to learning and learning new ways to create assets for yourself whether it be

733
01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:53,920
like education your network of people or financial literacy always and also like give back to your

734
01:01:53,920 --> 01:02:00,080
community as well and kind of give back to bridging opportunities um to access those sort of things that

735
01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:06,160
also powered you as well so that's generally yeah life that's great great advice and I did not put

736
01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:12,480
her up to that by the way that was natural you uh thank you for watching that I think now I think

737
01:02:12,480 --> 01:02:18,240
that's uh it was it was great and really when we started our scholarship uh you know even for those

738
01:02:18,240 --> 01:02:22,960
who who didn't win the scholarship you know we wanted to have positive impact by helping them with

739
01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:28,000
their financial literacy by going through our program so our you know we intend intentionally wanted

740
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:34,720
to be short in you know quick information that has positive impact so I hope that you're seeing it

741
01:02:34,720 --> 01:02:40,320
now as you know it's you're becoming you know at your own adult now right and you're going to be making

742
01:02:40,320 --> 01:02:45,440
decisions now that affect your livelihood a few years from now with any debts you might take on

743
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:50,400
and and trying to think about the end of mind with what careers you might choose to pursue of

744
01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:55,200
how that's going to set you up so I think you've done a really great job in terms of thinking of

745
01:02:55,200 --> 01:03:01,200
things like scholarships and financial aid as you're approaching college and uh I think that wherever

746
01:03:01,200 --> 01:03:06,320
you want to go uh you'll be able to pursue it and and have success there so I think we definitely

747
01:03:06,320 --> 01:03:10,800
at the stay in touch we're probably going to have a follow-up podcast with you as you uh go down

748
01:03:10,800 --> 01:03:14,640
this path uh because I'm sure the next time we talk to you you'll have started all kinds of other

749
01:03:14,640 --> 01:03:20,160
organizations and you'll probably have met with the president and uh you know well I'm looking forward

750
01:03:20,160 --> 01:03:27,200
to hear more about your story all right thank you so much for this for sure I think that being like

751
01:03:27,200 --> 01:03:33,360
college is such a big investment definitely very scary and it's definitely something that I

752
01:03:33,360 --> 01:03:40,640
am very very aware of and you know financial independence literacy is so important especially

753
01:03:40,640 --> 01:03:46,560
with like the way education institutions are structured in the US so that is definitely very very

754
01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:52,720
helpful the the fellow program yes for sure well thank you yeah we just want people to uh it's we

755
01:03:52,720 --> 01:03:57,600
want people to have a life that they actually like to live not be working a job you hate because you

756
01:03:57,600 --> 01:04:02,560
bought a bunch of stuff you don't need and just you know slogging through life so if you make some good

757
01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:06,560
decisions outside of what you earn you can uh you know you can live the kind of life that's in line

758
01:04:06,560 --> 01:04:12,000
with your values so uh that's that's great to hear so well hey thanks again so much for joining us

759
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:16,160
today we're we're so happy to finally meet with you and I'm glad we could help support you on uh

760
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:21,280
your your mission here your your story how you're going through school and I'm glad we could

761
01:04:21,280 --> 01:04:27,200
support you at Stanford thank you so much for the support of course all right I'll take care we'll

762
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:38,960
talk to you soon thanks a lot bye bye

Thais Estrada-Nunez: Nonprofit Founder at 15 | S2 Episode 1

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