Posts Tagged ‘ traveling ’

Past and Future Travel Plans

I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates recently; I am trying to get back into this, but now with school starting up again, it may be a bit difficult. In any case, my past winter vacation was filled with quite some traveling — I returned to Taipei, Taiwan once again for about 10 days to visit family and actually met up with quite a few of my Berkeley friends in Taiwan! The latter half of my break included my visit to New York City.

So it has always been a dream of mine to live and work in NYC after I graduate. Honestly, I think it’s the fact that it’s a large city, and with large cities comes the romanticized view of what life is supposed to be like in a huge city. Anyhow, I hadn’t been back to NYC since fifth grade, which was the first time I visited the east coast. My sister and I went to New York during early January, which is supposedly one of the worst/coldest times to visit, apparently. It was freeeezing cold and I literally felt like I was in a refrigerator whenever I was outside. I wouldn’t say that my visit will deter me from searching for a job there post-graduation, but I think it isn’t a “priority” to find a job and live in NYC after I graduate. Perhaps it’s the freezing weather that is a bit scary for me (seeing as I am a West-Coaster, after all). But, after much reflection, it’s also the fact that NYC may not be the optimal place to find a job in the social entrepreneurship / social enterprise field. SF one of the major hubs for social ventures nowadays, and while I am sure NYC houses some great social enterprises as well, there are just more options in SF. But honestly, who really knows until I start looking for jobs (which will not be until next year anyways) whether or not NYC may or may not be a potential place after all?!

To speak of my future travel plans, I will actually be traveling with two of my best friends to Europe this summer! I am beyond ecstatic, as I have never had a chance to travel with friends (it has always been with family and family-friends, which has also been amazing to have the opportunity to have traveled with them). We will be going to London, Amsterdam, Athens, and Greek islands Ios, Mykonos, and Santorini. I will then be leaving the trip early, and my friends will be journeying onto Rome, which I am terribly jealous that I will be missing but am nevertheless happy beyond belief to have the chance to travel to Europe this summer!

If you have been to any of those places and would like to make suggestions as to what is fun, interesting, and amazing to do, please let me know!

2010
01/31
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Social Entrepreneurship

Today, I came across an article: The business of doing good: How to start a social enterprise. Over the past year or so, I’ve learned about “social business” (as first introduced to me through Muhammad Yunus’ book, Creating a World Without Poverty), its principles nicely defined on Mike’s blog post. Since then, I’ve browsed the web, searched for articles about social entrepreneurship/social business, and read about different accomplishments by social entrepreneurs. I’ve decided that the terms “social business”, “social entrepreneurship”, and “social enterprise” all pretty much embody the same message – using business to provide a social benefit. The three terms do mean different things, although I think as of now there has not been as much distinction between the three. The “business of doing good” article, I believe, refers to “social enterprise” as also a “social business.” I just came across an article that defines each, which after reading, I believe my goal is a social purpose business (“social business”).

The article that I came across today just so happened to very concisely put together different aspects of a social enterprise, so I figured I’d share (for my own future reference as well) parts of the article.

What exactly is the difference between an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur?

Social entrepreneurs differ from their traditional counterparts in the way they view the world. If your sole concern is to expand your own bank balance then the sector isn’t for you but if you want to make a difference beyond putting the odd pound in a charity box, setting up a social enterprise could be the perfect way to achieve your aims.

I remember the first time I was introduced to the concept of a “social business.” For the longest time, I knew I wanted to “use business to change the world”, as I used to say. I didn’t know that such a concept was already in place and in practice (this tends to happen quite a lot – humans are way smarter than I give them for..naive me!). I remember being thrilled by this realization.

So how does a social enterprise “provide a social benefit”?

How you decide to invest your profits is another key early stage decision. Some businesses give away their income, while others provide a product or service which directly benefits a social cause and reinvest the profits back in the business for staff and product or service development issues.

What I’ve always dreamed of is the latter part – using business itself as part of the solution, directly benefiting society in some way.

Lastly, the one aspect of starting and running a social business that both daunts and excites me is that not only does a social business provide a social benefit, it must — as all businesses must — be profitable. There are reasons why businesses are successful. And although I sometimes do not like to admit it (and sometimes do not support the most “profitable businesses”, since some businesses/corporations engage in exploitation, etc.), at the end of the day, money a one of the most key factors in a business. But this is why a social business makes perfect sense to me:

Cliff Prior, chief executive of social enterprise funding body UnLtd, believes persistence is key. “It’s tougher for social entrepreneurs because they’ve got to watch a double or even triple bottom line rather than solely cash and profit,” he explains. “They will face some obstacles and lack of understanding from potential investors or business partners so they must have an extra degree of resilience to tackle it.”

So, at the end of the day, the conclusion is the same one I arrived at last year, when I found and realized that starting a social business is my life calling – that not only do I have to be great, I have to be exceptional. Now the question is – do I have what it takes?

Sometimes I feel like I do, and most other times I feel completely inadequate. I always feel as if I have no experience, no knowledge of just what “social benefits” I’d want to target and provide. I see so many problems in the world — even just in the Bay Area or even back home in Orange County — but I don’t seem to know where I’d ever start to tackle the problems. I also feel as if me being in school doesn’t help much either, because although I’m living in a community where hunger and homelessness is a prevalent and serious issue, I don’t feel involved enough in attempting to alleviate the problem. My work with the hunger and homelessness campaign I co-ran last year, along with my experiences volunteering at a youth shelter, and even my participation in planning a hunger & homelessness conference don’t seem enough. I only feel as if I am just on the outskirts of fulling understanding the issue.

I think what I really need to do is get out there and allow myself to experience full immersion into a community, with the real locals, for me to even begin to understand the underlying problems of a greater issue, but I don’t think me being in school will really allow me to do that. Or am I just making excuses for myself? There is a time for “book learning” as they call it, and there is also a time for “real-world application,” and right now I’m only getting a small dab of each. I think I’m going to look into some programs or “travel scholarships” (read: The Fulbright Program) to further enrich my knowledge, so that I actually have a clue about what I’m talking about and then one day (hopefully not too far in the future) start a social business.

2009
04/05
CATEGORY
Academics
Life
Social Entrepreneurship
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Tahiti!

View from the hotel in Papeete at 6am in the morning.

View from the hotel in Papeete at 6am in the morning.

My family and I went to Tahiti for vacation this winter break…we got back on Christmas day; a 5-day vacay. It was definitely relaxing and very nice to have some summer weather! We went to two islands: Tahiti Nui and Moorea. Moorea was a 30 minute ferry ride from Papeete (which is in Tahiti Nui). The beach was beautiful (as you can tell) and the water was quite warm..and the waves were perfect to play in!

We spent 2 days in Tahiti Nui. We went to a museum to look at some cultural aspects of the Tahitian island. The Tahitians were mainly polytheists but were also influenced by the French with monotheism…The museum also introduced the history of coral reefs and volcano/lava (which is why there was black sand in Tahiti) as well as Tahiti’s main exports– vanilla, coconuts, and pineapples. Everything in Tahiti was EXPENSIVE as hellll because basically everything was imported. All meats are imported; they have cows locally for the milk and that’s basically about it!

Botanical gardens in Tahiti. Beautiful!

Botanical gardens in Tahiti. Beautiful!

We spent the next two days in Moorea, which is a very tiny island as I said just a 30 minute ferry ride from Papeete. Moorea seemed more touristy but at the same time had a very small-town-like feeling. I’m sure those who live in Moorea all know each other. There honestly wasn’t much to do in Moorea except stay in the resort and play in the waters…Well, they have some pearl shopping but I definitely cannot afford that! I wished we had gone to their local shopping markets..they looked like flea markets, but we didn’t get to go since they are closed on weekends and everything closes down on Christmas eve!

The bungalows we stayed in. There is a ladder to get in the water!

The bungalows we stayed in. There is a ladder to get in the water!

These bungalows we stayed in were absolutely amazing! This is what I imagined when I thought “Tahiti.” You are basically free to go in the water whenever and snorkel. These bungalows are in a lagoon so the waters are quite shallow. But let me tell you: there are sharks, eels, stingrays, and other dangerous fish that come out at night! Definitely creepy and scary. There are TONS of fish in the waters, especially since there are mini coral reefs everywhere. We would take back bread from the restaurants and feed the fish. Once you drop a couple pieces of bread in the water, all the fish come rushing. It’s pretty cool.I only snorkeled once becuase I tend to get scared of the too many fish…but my dad and a family friend found tons of sea urchins and oyster-like clams! Pretty cool!

All in all, my trip to Tahiti was really great. Here are some interesting things I learned –

  1. In Papeete, there are almost NO traffic lights. Everything is traffic circles. But, there are tons of auto accidents that happen. Some roads are right by the waters but have no protective wall/barrier so when people drunk drive and cause a car accident, cars fall into the ocean..quite scary.
  2. According to one of our tour guides, the population in Tahiti–about 50% of them are under 21, so there is going to be major problems with their form of “social security.”
  3. A large portion of the population there is also obese..why, we don’t know. My dad guessed it was because they used too much coconut oil. Don’t know if that’s true..haha.
  4. Moorea seems to have no waste management system implemented. Those living by the resort in Moorea burned their trash. Every. single. day. It smelled like shit and it is so damaging to our atmosphere. THANKS A LOT!
2008
12/27
CATEGORY
Family
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Roz

Twenty-one years old as of May 22nd. Attends the University of California, Berkeley. Works hard. Sometimes takes life way too seriously but is beginning to accept life as it is. Thinks too much. Loves music. The color yellow. Enjoys political discussion and involvement in world issues. Liberal. Interested in sustainability, green business, social business & entrepreneurship, and Web 2.0. Contact me?

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