Where Annette is from

Bayamón, Puerto Rico

 

Interview

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

I wanted to be an archaeologist. I have always loved history, foreign cultures, ancient treasures and sites, dinosaurs, and others.

 

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

I started a bachelors’ degree in chemistry to become a Pharm Doctor. The plan was to work for a big pharmaceutical and develop/enhance solutions that could provide a better living for the people that needed it most.

 

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

I realized that big corporations need good people as well. I wanted to be like Robin Hood, without the “robber” part. I believe that big companies can utilize their annual budget for social good and charity in a more efficient and better way, without green washing. I decided to opt for the MSE program a few years ago.

 

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

I believe that social entrepreneurs have the best of both worlds. Contributing with ideas and strategic plans that can enhance profits while developing neighborhoods in need and giving the tools to people that need them most, for them to succeed and become self-sufficient.

 

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

Go for it! It will be hard and you will reinvent yourself constantly. You will be the future business-leader and the role model to those you serve.

 

What is your favorite quote? Who said that quote?

“Around here we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney, Film Producer, Director, Animator, Entrepreneur

 

Who Annette is

Annette is an achiever. She is a “project manager” sort of person and loves accomplishing something. ’Busy’ is her “favorite” word. She is always busy doing something This indicates that she is workaholic. In addition, public speaking is her thing — it shows confidence and persuasiveness.

Annette was an HSA, Hult Student Association, member in our class with me. She is a substantial leader not only in our class but also with the HSA members. The HSA is a good position to liaison between our school and students, so she suggested several cool ideas in HSA meetings and took the initiative to implement those ideas. She was well connected to the other HSA members and still knows them very well. It was very easy organizing events or projects among other programs at the HSA because of Annette. She is also popular at our school. As I often sat next to her dealing with the HSA stuff with her, people would come say “hi” to her, or she would say “hi” to her friends passing by. Y She could not stop saying “hi” because her friends came one after another!

Oh, and I cannot skip this part of Annette; she is a selfie lover. It is OMG. Her Facebook posts are filled with her selfies. It is fun to see them because she changes her place to stand every time so she takes you many places with her photos.

 

Awesome Episode

This is an episode of how Annette led a project in the HSA. An event that Annette organized was called “Global Village.” This was a large-scale picnic among other cohorts at Hult which took place in Golden Gate Park. The concept was that each person brought meals of their countries at the picnic. As might be expected, many nationalities came to have fun at the picnic; the US, Japan, China, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Norway, Iran, Canada, and more. We enjoyed each meal, making new friends, chatting with each other, playing volleyball, football, frisbee and so on. The picnic was definitely a bridge of global students and countries alike, a gathering that we were thankful that Annette built. It was such a beautiful day.

 

The Power of MSE

What Annette 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 Annette 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!!