INTERVIEW

What is your career ambition and what are you doing or planning to do to accomplish that goal?
My career ambition is to eventually kindle my entrepreneurial spirit and open a business I can call my own one day. However, a near-future goal would be to enter the finance industry, either in investment banking or venture capital, because they are very dynamic professions, aligned with the world at this very moment. I have finished an undergraduate degree in Economics, with a primary study in Developing Economies, and I hope to finish my MBA by the end of 2011.

What is the craziest thing you have ever done?
The craziest thing I have ever done would be the OSIM triathlon that I participated in last year. Two weeks prior to the event, I realized that I did not know how to ride a bicycle (it’s true!), and I went from zero knowledge to riding in a straight line (no curves for me, thank you!). On the actual race, I fell off an amazing six times, and I still have the scars on my body to prove it. However, it also showed that as long as there is a will, there is a way!

What is your strongest quality?
My strongest quality would be my undying optimism. I believe in the best of every situation, and it applies in my professional and personal life. Come on, let’s face it, no matter how terrible a scenario may be, it could probably be worse! Take, for example, perhaps you have just dropped your wallet; count your lucky stars that you still indeed have your loved ones around you, all your fingers and toes intact, and most of all, your health. We often take many luxuries we have for granted, and it’s important to take a step back and be gratified.

Name one personal accomplishment that makes you especially proud.
A personal accomplishment I am very proud of would be my involvement in my university campus. As president of the Chinese Student Association at my university (University of Texas at Austin), we held many social events to bring the Asian Americans together on our campus and promote community activism. What I am most proud of would be our active involvement in the Ronald McDonald House (a halfway house) in my final year, and spearheading awareness of domestic violence. It was a very fulfilling year, and I am proud to say my successors have continued in it.

What is the most important thing you want the judges to know about you?
What would I love the judges to know about me is that I am just an ordinary guy lucky and brave enough to take on extraordinary opportunities.  I love life, and I am truly grateful for all it’s thrown at me, from my physical achievements (obesity to the shape you see now), and my professional achievements (Best in Company, Top Midshipman), the romances in my life, and the friends I have been so fortunate to meet. I do not shirk from adventure, and I love trying new activities, whether it’s as menial as tasting new foods to more adventurous, such as sailing or diving. It is this veracity that’s made me the guy I am today, and I do not regret it at all one bit!