As a 4-year-old, my eyes were glued to the TV.
When the cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed, I would ignore the gunshots in my neighborhood.
As a single mother, my mom saved up for 6 months and finally afforded us a Cello. Enrolling me in <_y>- a free after-school music program and listening to <_z> - the founder and the Orchestra Director ..
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9-11 is a reminder of our family's deepest anguish.
My uncle, a star trader, maneuvered a technique in a trade that works only in 1 in a thousand times. To show his commitment to the investing strategy, he bet on a rising internet startup - <_y>. The crash of 2001 wiped out his entire savings. The note in his Queens home, before he ended the humiliation, was a moment that my grandmother ..
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Ms. Y’s helpless cry on the phone froze me.
I couldn’t advise how to manage her SNAP funds when she revealed that the job loss of her partner triggered his violence.
Recouping from the trauma, she received her first warning for missing work and the second warning from school for children’s poor grades. The fainting spell from type-2 diabetes didn’t ..
I saw stars for ten seconds before hearing Robin, our Team Physician.
I blacked out on the stretcher.
Medicare mandates 20% of the total cost of rehabilitation as a co-payment – a cost that was too steep for our family. I tried to overcome the cost by scheduling therapy services that accepted payments in installments. The lack of timely intervention cost me.
2016 college football was the last I could play.
The frustrating 3 months forced me to write the best practices to recover from ..
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<_x> had one of the best media coverage and goodwill among the residents of New York City’s three boroughs.
When I volunteered to help the team streamline their operations, I noticed that the promotions they ran from July to September for the best giving season – Oct to December, resulted in inquiries spilling over to January to July next year.
Often with requests for donating winter clothes or deliverables that are apt for the winter, the customer management team offered contacts of alternative charities or government organizations for such donations, missing a huge opportunity ..
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As the core accounting person managing 138 subsidiaries at <X>, I witnessed the transition of businesses from startup to mature companies, technology expenses shadowing operational expenses, and regulatory changes stalling reliable cash flow businesses.
Instead of letting external forces determine the future, our Founder/CEO would often share, “Only dead fish go with the flow.”
Embracing a mantra of entrepreneurial thinking ..
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My parents grew up in abject poverty in the Dominican Republic. Immigration to the US changed our destiny. Without education, my parents had to take minimum-wage jobs. While the family found stability, I struggled in Grade 8th.
The principal suggested that I shift to a special-ed school. Mrs. Y dared to take a stand against it. She sat with me, encouraged me to read the question word by word, and queried to find what I understood. With the support of a psychologist, I was diagnosed with a learning disability.
Unlike dyslexia, I took ...
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I never imagined I would be working for Gucci in New York City.
15 years back, the walk to the bus stop was a life and death choice. After 2 consecutive days of nervously walking beside the echoes of gunshots, my mother decided to switch to a school 1-hour away.
In 2009, something magical happened. Cincinnati embraced community schools.
The neighborhood violence stopped.
Communities, businesses, and non-profits ..
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The 21 hours of continuous work that caused the death of an analyst – although tragic, was a secret rite of passage for all junior bankers, even in 2023. After a stellar 2021, large M&A didn’t happen as we anticipated in 2022. 2023 started on a rough note when the CEO mandated a return to office. Junior Bankers protested. My first year physically in an office was spent managing conflicts.
Attrition was expected, but ..
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While working with retail startup <X>, we witnessed a 15% attrition of customers in September despite our innovative personalized offers. The entry of the retail giant A had begun the price wars. Driven by panic, the CTO raised feature requests that showcased high-priced products first in search results, nudging ‘impulse’ purchases.
The strategy, although advantageous in the short term, had a disastrous ..
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