Where Aimee is from

Cavite, Calabarzon Region, Luzon, Philippines

 

Interview

What was your dream when you were a kid? What was the reason?

As a child, I had a lot of dreams. The specific ones I remembered were – marine biologist, journalist, hockey player, and pastor.

Marine biologist because of the movie “Free Willy” and I wanted to explore the ocean.

Journalist because I liked writing and it seemed like an awesome and adventurous job. And I loved the traveling and the being in the middle of the action.

Hockey player because of the movie “Mighty Ducks” and I had a crush on Vincent Larusso aka Adam Banks… hehe

Pastor because I was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the age of 12, and I really wanted to be a missionary.

 

What was your dream when you were 18 years old? Why?

I was a university student at this point, and taking up BS Accountancy. But my dreams still involved being a journalist and a youth pastor.

Journalist because throughout High School and University, I was part of the student publication, even becoming editor-in-chief during my senior year, but this was not feasible because as a Seventh-day Adventist, we keep the Sabbath (Saturday) and do not work. I knew that journalists were always supposed to be available to cover the events, regardless of time.

Youth Pastor because I was very active in youth ministries, in the training of young people. Even if I was still young, I was already a veteran with leading teen programs. I knew that I would be effective in ministering to the teens. This dream later evolved into being a TEACHER instead. To touch lives of young people directly through the classroom.

 

What made you start to thinking about social entrepreneurship/social enterprises? When was that?

I never really thought about this before coming to Hult… or rather, before my recruiter mentioned the MSE program, but even then, I didn’t know what exactly the MSE or Social Entrepreneurship entailed.

My interests were more involved with social development and disaster relief at this point, because in 2013, I was able to volunteer for a non-profit organization, and I spent 2 weeks in the disaster zone, and it made me question my current profession which was as a writer for a graduate school. I wanted to be in the disaster zone and cover the stories of people living in the horror of post-disaster.

This feeling of wanting something more led me to attend an MBA fair, where Hult was one of the schools present. I just submitted my name, and later got a call… and somehow things worked out til I came and met you… and the rest is history.

 

How much do you think about entrepreneurs play an important role in the world?

Social Enterprises is supposed to become the norm if we want to solve the world’s problems. As social entrepreneurs, we bring this mindset wherever we go, either in affecting our workplaces or in creating our own business enterprises.

Social Enterprises should become the norm…the standard.

 

What would you say to future social entrepreneurs / those who are interested in social entrepreneurship?

It’s not an easy road…but press on. Those who have gone before you have made the path clearer to follow…they are willing to help.

What you are trying to do is a lot bigger than just making a profit. It is about creating a change that will impact the lives of present and future generations.

 

What is your favorite quote? Who said that quote?

“God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad… One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad.  It cannot do anything else.  The real question to ask is: Where is the salt?” – John Stott in The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p 65

We have this message/mission that we have. We should not stick to ourselves, in our tiny little communities, but we should go out and educate people about social enterprises. People out there have no choice but to do things the way they have always known how to do things… now it for us to go out and share what we have learned and start the change we want to see.

 

Who Aimee is

Aimee is cute and sprinkles her smile across any group that she is in. You can see that through the photo of her, right?

Aimee loves helping people and it makes her a beloved supporter of you. I do not know why but she comes to you every time you need someone’s help. I sometimes feels that Aimee is like a 360° camera which catches and observes others around her. I know so many people who are willing to help people and you might say the same, but it is not easy to notice that you need help. When you want to ask for help, Aimee would be there for you. She is that kind of person.

Aimee is a good presenter as well. I like the way of her public speaking. It is like having a conversation with the audience by using informal techniques like asking the audience, “right?” Her presentation is never one singular way but it does involve others in “the conversation.”

Aimee is the kind of person that you are comfortable to be with. She will be with you, support you in any way that she can and cheer you up. She demonstrates  what “hospitality” really means.

 

Awesome Episode

Aimee is an excellent writer. She was one of the Global Ambassadors at Hult, posting about what was happening at Hult International Business School.  She wrote about Musana Carts, which is a social venture that Manon, Taliey and I built through Hult Prize. For the article, Aimee interviewed Team Musana.. What makes Aimee an excellent writer is that she respects interviewees. Of course she wrote the article, which could have contained only her perspectives, but she interspersed words that interviewees said, which are our words, not just Aimee’s words or from her point of view. There was no “ego” in her article. Here is the article that Aimee wrote about us below,

http://www.hult.edu/news/the-rise-of-musana-hult-prize-regional-finalists/

Aimee is an excellent word artist. It really shows her personality.

 

The Power of MSE

What Aimee is holding is a symbol called “go-en(ご縁)”, which means ‘fate’, ’destiny’ and ’special tie.’

I believe that it is meant to be that we met in San Francisco! I studied Social Entrepreneurship with Aimee for a year, saying “We will make the world a better place.” I would love to spend the rest of my life with MSEs (Master of Social Entrepreneurship; my classmates) until the very day I die. They have already completely changed my life.

At the same time, however, I also think that we should not be together all the time, because that is not the reason why we learned Social Entrepreneurship. That is not how we will deliver the impact we want to give to society and to the world.

I think MSEs are like dandelions. We were seeded at the first day at Hult and we bloomed on our graduation day. Our mission is that we spread all over the world like dandelions and seed the future, the next generation, from each place where each of us has landed.

本当にありがとう(Honto ni Arigato-); Thank you very very much for everything!! The world needs you! Let’s make the world a better place together!!