Did you miss out on MOCA’s inaugural Experience + Exchange: A Conversation Between Entrepreneurs presented by the MOCA’s Young Professionals Program (YP)?
E+E (side note: I’m a fan of acronyms and alliteration) was conceived as the anti-traditional panel. The goal: bring together two individuals (an established professional and an emerging talent) in a common field and ask them to share their stories and journeys with each other and with the audience. We hope to connect young Chinese Americans and Asian American professionals through meaningful conversations (big emphasis on conversation) between all participants.
We were extremely fortunate to jumpstart our E+E series with “Entrepreneurship” and invited Danielle Chang, Founder of LUCKYRICE and Shawn Liu, Co-Founder, Harvest to join us for the evening. Daniel Blank, YP member and an entrepreneur himself, served as the event facilitator for the evening (shout out to Daniel and his Bureau Blank crew for helping brand the E+E event!).
Though both Danielle’s and Shawn’s businesses are similar (Danielle’s LUCYRICE is preparing to launch its digital initiatives as an integrated media+events company with a focus on Asian food and culinary culture; Shawn’s company developed Harvest, a web-based software for small businesses), it was interesting to hear their respective anecdotes. Sometimes funny—Shawn had shared his prior experience as an artist’s assistant, and having to do everything for him, even laundry! And sometimes unexpected—Danielle comes from a family of entrepreneurs, and yet when her parents found out what she wanted to do, there were big sighs and “aiyahs” all around.
I really commend both speakers for their bravery to take the plunge to do something that they truly believe in, even when faced with obstacles (and sometimes having to start all over). However, there were some constant themes throughout the evening: creativity, spirit, and fearlessness are part of an entrepreneur’s DNA; one should take what they learned (failures and all) and come out with something better; and you should focus on the future instead of dwelling in the past.
There was an awesome turnout and great feedback–but you don’t need to hear it from me, check out the entire event right here: http://www.mocanyc.org/support_MOCA/membership/mocayp
Look out for more information on our next E+E event on May 19th on “Community Champions”—see you soon!
Want to see more events like this? Want to make your mark? Get involved! For more info on YP please email yp@mocanyc.org.
Jenny Wong
Development Manager
Filed under: MOCA, Public Programs, Bureau Blank, Danielle Chang, Entrepreneurs, Experience & Exchange, Harvest, LuckyRice, Shawn Liu, Young Professionals
