Very Short Interview No. 1

For this assignment, I decided to interview a person who I had the privilege to meet through a close friend of mine. She is the founder of  Sparks Magazine which was founded in 2010. Sparks is a Asian American publication with purpose of bringing a greater representation of the Asian American community to modern-day media. I know this assignment asked to interview someone who has had 10+ years of  experience but her story and her determination really captivated my attention.

I sent over three questions that I really thought were important questions for me to ask as a student.

1.) What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Kevina L.: To be an entrepreneur means to have a strong vision. Simon Sinek's TED Talk describes leadership as "starting with why." An entrepreneur can't become an entrepreneur by him or herself because he or she needs to be able to inspire a group of people to accomplish a specific goal. When you have a purpose and a strong vision in front of you, you're not only motivating yourself to persist through a startup journey -- you're also inspiring a team to bring you to the next level and even add more creativity to the mix.

2.) Time management and scheduling has to be a big part of your daily life. How do you cope with the stress and burden that comes with being an entrepreneur?

Kevina L.: It's definitely hard, and I've fallen into many "slump" periods. But I think what helps me the most, just like being able to inspire a team, is that they're able to inspire me equally. When I know that my organization has been able to help someone accomplish a personal goal, I know that it serves a purpose. I take tremendous pride in what my teammates accomplish, and when I see their passion in helping develop this organization, it motivates me to take a deep breath and just keep going.

3.) What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your path as an entrepreneur?

Kevina L.: Because I didn't go to school for business, I wish some of my journalism classes had been a little more business-focused. While I learned a lot about editorial processes and general industry knowledge, I believe any journalism student could have benefited from learning about financial sustainability of a publication and the business realm of running such an organization. Student journalists may one day aspire to be editors, so why not equip them with the business knowledge they need to become leaders?

Through this interview, I learned that entrepreneurship is not always about one person but it can consist of a group of people working toward a specific goal. I always had the mistaken belief that entrepreneurship is something done by one person. I failed to realize that to achieve YOUR goals, sometimes you will have to have a group of same minded people around you that contribute in someway. I also noticed how eloquent she was in her answers and she was very passionate about everything that she said. If someone was to interview me in the future about entrepreneurship, I would want to be able to talk about it as passionately as she did.