Entrepreneurship motivates me because it allows me to take my ideas and turn it into real and impactful. I've always been drawn to both creativity and problem-solving, which is what led me to pursue a double major in Entrepreneurship and Literature at Duquesne University. While the two field of study seem different, they both have shaped the way I approach entrepreneurship. Literature had taught me how to understand people, perspectives, thoughts, and emotions, while entrepreneurship has given me the tools to think strategically and act on ideas. Together, they've helped me realize that successful businesses are nit just built on numbers, but on connection and purpose. My experiences in college have shaped my ambition to be a business owner. Through projects, research, presentations, and collaborative work, I've learned how to take a holistic approach. Rather than focusing on just one aspect of a project, I've developed the ability to consider multiple perspectives and think how different pieces will all connect. This has given me a unique perspective I find was missing a lot in my group work throughout undergrad. Many of my classes required real-world application, whether through data analysis, presentations, or building structured plans from ideas. These experiences have helped me to develop critical thinking, adaptability, and attention to detail-skills that are essential in my entrepreneurial setting. I've learned to take initiative, manage responsibilities, and follow through on ideas, even when the process or idea is challenged. Being a student in Pittsburgh has also influenced my perspective. As the city continues to grow for its reputation for innovation, I've become more aware of the opportunities that there are within an entrepreneurial environment. Seeing ideas evolve into successful ventures before my eyes has only made entrepreneurship feel more attainable and exciting. It changed my mindset from preparing for a career to thinking how I can build something successful of my own. Entrepreneurship represents independence, creativity, and social impact to me. It's not just about starting a business, but being able to recognize opportunities, take risks, and create something that will resonate with people. My undergraduate experience has help me to shape values I'll carry into my future ventures, including authenticity, creativity, and focus on personal fulfillment. I'm motivated to build a business that reflects my own perspective while still creating something meaningful for others that fills a gap I see in my community. I want to build my work that is intentional and genuine rather than being driven my external success. As I continue to grow, I'm focused on developing the confidence, experience, and independence needed to create something that connects with my personal values while still contributing to a community like Pittsburgh's evolving entrepreneurial landscape.

Losing a parent is never easy. Being away trying to better your future makes it harder. This past April I lost my dad to frontal temporal dementia. This was a battle he faced for many years. The interesting about his situation is that no one knew what he had. All throughout high school, my dad wasn't the dad I knew. No one thought to look at dementia as a possibility because he was "too young". This caused many misdiagnoses which led to treatments that ended up furthering his dementia without doctors knowing. This also caused severe distress to his body. He was a middle school history teacher for most of his career. When he left his job, that caused a lot of stress on our family. Both me and my brother made sacrifices to help our mom. My brothers both stayed home from college and postponed going to grad school to help financially support our family. We had a lot of hospital bills to pay. My dad wasn't accepted to any nursing homes in our area which meant he was placed in a home about 2 hours from us. In this time period we lost everything. We lost our cars, we lost our jobs, we lost funding, and there was a lean put on our house. All the while I'm trying to complete high school online during covid and keeping up a full-time job to help pay bills. The plan was for me not to go to college. It was a decision that I had made early in my high school years. I was determined to stay and help my mom in any way I could. I ended up submitting applications to two colleges during my senior year of high school. Months later, I got accepted to both. This was a struggle for me. I kept the fact that I applied and got accepted by my mom for 4 months. It ended up coming up in casual conversation, and of course, my mom being my mom, she was thrilled and really pushed for me to go. Fast forward the second semester my freshman year, I get a call in the morning while I'm at work from my mom that my dad passed away. I immediately started feeling all the tings I was afraid of feeling. I had this huge sense of guilt that I wasn't there. So, this most recent semester, I decided to stay home and help support my mom while taking all my classes online. I'm not going to lie, I was probably the hardest semester I've ever had, but I keep looking towards my end goal. In a few days I leave to England. I'm going to be studying at the University of Sussex for a whole semester. That's what I've decided to do with my moms blessing. I'm trying to become a better version of myself. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my dad. Being that I was around 15 when he got sick, I feel like there was so much I never got to ask him, or talk about, especially regarding my future. I'm looking forward to completing my degrees and living a life he would be proud of.

With trying to plan my future, I rarely get time to relax. When I do, I find myself always in the same position. I'm always watching some literature film cuddled up with my mom and my cats. It has become some sort of ritual for me.