I first heard about Alice Lee last month through Twitter. Amid a flurry of 140-character statements, the headline about a Wharton student skipping class and deserving a job at Instagram caught my eye. Instagram? Skipping class? My mouse honed in. I arrived at Dear Instagram – With Love, Alice, a website with pretty cursive typeface floating daintily…
Everyone is jumping on the storytelling bandwagon. I say that not in condescension, but in gladness. Before KONY 2012 went viral and was touted as a new media sensation, storytelling was already recognized as a crucial vehicle for awareness. Done well, it made all the difference between Hollywood classics versus duds, election winners versus losers,…
Idealism at its best, but it’s always important to set missions and goals. 1. I believe the next generation is charged with a challenge: to coalesce gracefully with a rapidly evolving world, 2. I believe the current status quo in institutional education does not equip us with relevant tools to meet this challenge, nor does…
Have you ever thought about how certain people entered your life? Not why, but simply how. What event planted the seeds for that life-changing friendship? Partnership? Love? The answer is often as mundane as, ‘I had no choice. We were forced to work together on a group project.’ Or as awkward as ‘We both really liked…
Some of you may be familiar with Foursquare, the fast growing location-based mobile application that encourages people to explore local businesses and check-in for points, potential discounts etc. Like many, I was initially a bit hesitant with the check-in service because I couldn’t quite understand its value. Two years ago, I asked an early Foursquare adopter…
How did we ever find good restaurants and services before the Internet? I remember the days when observations like “Mrs. Smith told me that her friend’s son’s girlfriend’s mother’s ex-husband recently opened an Italian restaurant that’s pretty decent” were considered highly useful. Based on these sole recommendations, off we’d go to the pizzeria- such adventurers-…
Read more Lesson #3: Beyond the transaction, connecting is key.
I’ve been in New York for 3 days. So far, Jay-Z’s wisdom has proved on point. Big buildings provoke inspiring thoughts and beats indeed. Aside from its beauteous concrete jungle, New York City has overwhelmed my senses with people. They flood my conscience: fast talkers, knowledge dispensers, young dreamers, drunk loungers, jaded locals, brusque transit…
On the eve of Black Friday, all was quiet in the house. Our tummies were filled and it was time to go out. (Okay, the holiday allusion ends there.) My parents were thinking about getting a new LCD TV so we did our research and saw that Best Buy had a great $400something deal for a…
Today marks the last day of classes for the Spring semester. On a lighter note, it’s also my last day of class as an undergrad at the University of Florida. The feeling is surreal. As I step out of my comfort zone, at this place which I’ve been lucky to call home for the past…
What gives rise to the trends that stick? The small things. What makes an obscure idea a sudden hit? The changes that are barely noticed. If you haven’t already gotten it by now, an epidemic is not made through the big and flashy. According to writer Malcolm Gladwell in his best-selling book, The Tipping Point,…
The Social Files 