Where Andrea is from

Lima, Peru

 

Interview

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

I wanted to be an astronaut. I always loved to go to the NASA and see what was going on outside the earth. I was very curios and loved the galaxy topic.

 

What was your dream when you were 18 years old? What was the reason?

I wanted to be a psychologist to help others with whatever I could. I was passionate about from my role helping people and making them feel better and happier.

 

What made you start thinking about social entrepreneurship/social enterprises

When was that? I wanted to make a change in the world. I always thought that we are the ones that make the changes in society and is our responsibility to improve people’ life’s that had no luck having the same opportunity as me. That was during my whole adolescence until now.

 

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

A very important role. In the last year’s social entrepreneur have made a lot of impact, helping and improving in others life’s. They are a big player to change the world.

 

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

Be bold, be passionate, don’t be afraid of following your dream. If you believe in yourself and in what you’re doing, you are going to achieve a lot of amazing things.

 

What is your favorite quote? Who said that quote?

“Dream big and dare to fail” (Norman Vaughan) / “The best way to predict the future is to create it” – Peter Drucker

 

Who Andrea is

Andrea is one of the most sociable, outgoing, easygoing…hmmm, is this too much? Haha. Just kidding. What I said is completely true. She is such a sweet and kind person in our class. What I need to mention about her is hospitality. She welcomes everyone, literally everyone, takes care of them and looks after them.

She notices very well who is feeling weak at something and gives them a hand. I do not know how she does this. Sometimes I think that she might have a superpower, because she always finds anyone who needs help and is already right there next to them when I find it out that they indeed needed some help.

What’s more, Andrea is a unbelievable observer with a broad vision and wide perspective. When our class did Secret Santa and I was the organizer, Andrea let me know that one of our classmates was hesitating to be a part of it, even though I had already made sure that every single classmate was willing to do the event together. If she had not told me that, the Secret Santa may  have ended up being a catastrophe.

Andrea is filled with energy all the time. Curiosity is also one aspect that she possesses and, combined with her energy, it makes her such a traveler. She is always somewhere else. I am wondering “does she have wings, so she can fly?” Visit her Facebook page and you will see her beautiful smiles across many Asian countries in the last few months. Actually she is very active with the smile like that all the time, especially because she is a runner. Run, run, run…you had better keep up with her.

Andrea is like a sunflower for me. I associate her with “positive,” being open, and yellow, which is a color of energy and faces the sun, which is a powerful energy source.

 

Awesome Episode

After the Hult Prize regional finals last March, we celebrated the victory of Musana Carts at a club. I do not remember how we ended up doing that but Andrea and I danced bending down, bending down and bending down. She told me later that her knees were hurting the next morning and she had no idea why, but she eventually figured out why. It was because her friend, I mean one of our classmates who was there, told her that she was dancing with me. Needless to say, I have squatted at the gym so hard to prepare for dancing with Andrea since then. That is the only way to protect and prepare myself to dance with her, haha.

 

The Power of MSE

What Andrea 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 Andrea 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!!