Hi there! My name is Christy Kim, and I am a junior studying environmental studies and economics here at Pitt. Along with my academic studies, I have had the pleasure of being the Program Associate for Social Media and Communications for Pitt’s Student Office of Sustainability (or SOOS, for short). The SOOS has given me the opportunity to connect with like-minded students who are passionate about environmental issues, and it was through the SOOS that I met some of my greatest friends and coworkers.
My journey. Many people in my family own small businesses, my father, my mother, my grandfathers, my grandmothers, and my cousins, for example. I've always admired the creativity and drive of business owners, and growing up I knew I would want to have my own someday. In the past decade, my career path has shown me the ins and outs of small business. I've worn many, many hats—from creating visual retail displays to marketing to project management. Meanwhile, I began teaching yoga, which nurtured a deep care for helping people live with more awareness and connection and today I am also the co-owner of Inspirit, an online space to engage with other curious humans to deepen and expand the ripple effect of yoga.
While I was in college, I did everything imaginable to stay away from a corporate career. The junior-year-internship-with-a-large-firm to senior-year-job-offer pipeline always struck me as the quickest path to my soul being crushed. Just by participating in the process, I felt guaranteed to fade into a state of middle management comatose. In hopes of avoiding that, I worked almost entirely with small businesses and community organizations while at Pitt. I wanted to have complete control over my professional life, and that was how I decided to do it.
What you will read below is a collection of opinions and (hopefully) practical suggestions. If you're looking for referenced materials, I guess you should look elsewhere, but if you're interested in picking up some pointers or discovering something that makes you realize that you're treading in the footsteps of others, then I suggest that you read on. NOTE: in some of the answers, I exaggerate for effect - that is deliberate. I wanted to create a contrast frame that would make you sit up and really think...
If there is one word to describe me, as a student, an entrepreneur, a family member, a friend, and everything in between, it would be that I am a dreamer. Dedicated to my studies as a marketing, supply chain, and business information systems major at the University of Pittsburgh, I am passionate about acquiring all of the necessary skills needed in the business world to apply to my future endeavors. For as long as I can recall, my dad has imprinted the genuine fact that having general skills in your toolbox will propel you through any job or task you come across. Learning about how to market a business properly through data analytics to understand how to code an official website is all relevant to my current business I started a little over two years ago now.
2022 has been a year full of adventure, new beginnings, and incredible memories here at the Big Idea Center! With another year in the books, we would like to take a moment to look back and reflect upon the stories that 2022 has brought us as we highlight our 10 most popular Big Idea Blog posts of 2022! We hope that as you browse these insightful articles written by Pitt alum, current Pitt students, Big Idea Center staff, and more, that you gain inspiration from their points of view as well as additional knowledge to further equip you on your innovation and entrepreneurial journey as you head into 2023! Happy reading!
We have a new face on the Big Idea Center team! We are excited to introduce Josie Stein, our first-ever Student Marketing Assistant! In this newly created role, Josie will help support our center's marketing efforts as we rapidly expand our services and offerings. Get to know more about Josie in this fun Q&A blog article!
What does civilian life look like after active duty? For some veterans, they forge their own path by pursuing entrepreneurship. Veteran entrepreneurs bring a unique perspective to the table: from the battlefield to the business world, they bring unmatched tenacity, dedication, and discipline which serves them well in both areas. In honor of Veterans Day, our latest blog article highlights Patrick Jardini, U.S. Air Force veteran, Pitt alum, and Owner/President of American Gas Lamp Works, as he shares snippets of his military experience and how he incorporates the lessons learned into his entrepreneurial philosophy.
The world of entrepreneurship is riddled with risk, and just the risk of experiencing failure alone is enough to make most people feel uncomfortable and doubt themselves. However, Pitt medical student and Founder/CEO of Korion Health Anna Li has a different approach to failure -- she has learned to not only embrace it, but also transform it into an empowering asset. In celebration of Women Entrepreneurship Week, Anna shares how her personal and professional life experiences have shaped her encouraging philosophy towards failure and discusses some key insights on adopting a similar state of mind about this daunting topic.
