A Mind at work
I recently returned back to my alma mater, Bates College, to share some perspectives about entrepreneurship based on my experiences covering healthcare, DTC, and retail at Google. It was such a pleasure to share the stage with two phenomenal women (Julia Sleeper of Tree Street Youth, Mbali Ndlovu of Lukafit) and Chris Barbin, a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley who served as our moderator.
It took me 27 hours to arrive in Cartagena. Originally, I was supposed to arrive at a leisurely pace, mid-Friday on a direct flight from JFK. Angela and I had reserved a street food tour months in advance and I had Google translated dinner reservations to Spanish so that we would arrive with a plan in motion. What transpired was a series of events that led me to toss my head back and laugh because there’s only so much that you can control for, even with the most impeccably detailed planning.
Earlier on this year, I decided that I wanted to work on becoming an exceptional public speaker. I already do a lot of speaking for a living, but the art of storytelling is one that is constantly evolving as our attention spans, technology and platforms evolve over time. Throughout highschool and college, I dedicated so much time towards becoming a budding writer and journalist, but I let some of those talents fall by the wayside when I opted to go into the corporate world.
In late July, I invited Dr. June Chin and Wendy Nguyen (Wendy’s Lookbook) to share a medical and retail perspective about CBD at Talks at Google. 2019 is a year where CBD seems to be one of the most prevalent buzzwords in health and wellness. Kiehl’s launched a Cannabis Sativa Facial Oil. In Beverley Hills, Barney’s launched “The High End,” a cannabis lifestyle shop. The alleged anti-inflammatory and healing properties of CBD were being touted in so many consumer products, which led me to want to learn more about the science and application behind the marketing.
I’ve never been the type of traveler who enjoys going to a resort and laying out under a linen cabana for a week’s time. Since I’ve been the trip planner for my friends and family for as long as I can remember, this is rarely what our travel itineraries look like and I’m happy when everyone leaves with incredible stories from the very private, unique, and off the beaten path experiences that I’m fond of.