It all started my sophomore year of college in my Introduction to Entrepreneurship course with Brett Smith, now the director of the program at Miami University. In class one day, he asked us what we thought would have been people’s biggest fear. I immediately thought public speaking would be the answer. “No,” he said … and continued to tell us that the biggest fear was to not live a meaningful life. I’ll never forget it. I’m not exactly sure when I started to feel that way at a cellular level about myself and my purpose in the world, but I know now that his sentiment is right on for how I feel about my own life now, and how I’ve felt for the last few years.

I was thrilled to be able to write about what I feel like truly matters, and what I am genuinely interested in hearing about from other people I interact with, and I’ve assembled a good amount of my “essay” or “application” from my audition this week below. I wouldn’t feel complete publishing my work without saying that I owe a lot of my mentality to my amazing parents for raising me in a way that encouraged my process with open-mindedness, love and support, and to Mark Lacker, who’s been a wonderful mentor, professor and friend since we met in his Entrepreneurial Marketing course in the spring of 2011 – not to mention all of the friends I’ve made along the way who have helped shape who I am and to be a better me all the time.

#dancefirstthinklater

————

I had some natural talent before I started training for Dance Team Tryouts in 8^th grade, but it wasn’t enough to land me on the Varsity Squad freshman year of high school. I danced for JV that year, and all the while I took technique classes, stretched and worked out at home, and worked with an instructor outside of class in private sessions. I worked my ass off to be better than I was every day, and the next year I made Varsity. That part of me hasn’t stopped since high school. Arguably, that mentality has increased in volume (though it may have slowed, at times). I’ve auditioned for dance parts in musicals, half-time shows, dance recitals, dance companies, professional dance teams in three different major cities and a laundry list of one-time dance opportunities in the last eight years. I probably failed as often as I succeeded, and it is the resilience that keeps me going through the times where failure really hurts. That’s what has made me better in life – failing often, failing fast and picking up to go accomplish what is within reach if you just push that much harder and apply what you learned from the failures before.

Before I was born, my parents decided on the name “Amelia” for a baby girl. They liked the name because it means “hardworking” in Latin, and the Amelia Earhart connection was a plus. My personal goal in life has been to always be better. As a person, a dancer, an employee, a friend … if there’s something I’m truly passionate about, I don’t have a choice but to work towards being better. It’s just how I’m wired.

Dance will be a lifelong passion for me, and it’s not the actual act of dancing so much as it is the process that I’m so in love with. The first time you learn a dance step, it feels awkward, you think you look awkward, but you keep doing it, and you progressively get better. You build your confidence with practice, and your muscles memorize the movements. In practices, it’s not about being the “best” dancer in the group – it’s about looking like a team, moving as a team and doing whatever it takes individually to support your teammates, and deliver a quality product to the audience. Being a part of a successful team is like being a part of a successful relationship. There has to be a certain level of trust, support, commitment and fun.

I think in terms of dance, and this is exactly how I think about my job each day. No one is mean to stand out among the rest – we’re all working towards a common goal, delivering quality products to clients while behind the scenes, we’re making mistakes, laughing about random points of conversation, working all hours of the night to get a project completed (or whatever it takes to execute a deliverable), and doing everything possible to support the other employees, the clients and ultimately, the company itself.

“If you’re wanting to do something to change the world and make it a fundamentally better place, you need to be around the right people.” 

- Justin Caden, a 29-year-old electrical engineer quoted in a New York Times article about Hacker Hostels

A coworker shared this article with our team last Friday, and I loved this guy’s sentiment. I could not agree more. Last semester when I was in school, I wrote a couple of posts about my creativity/entrepreneurship class at Miami. I didn’t write about the last day of class when our professor posed the question:

“Where are you going, and who are you taking with you?”

I guess it’s more of a hypothetical question, but it made me think, and it made me feel inspired and anxious at the same time. Looking past my literal answer … (Chicago, and no one) … I think about how his question relates to our personal mission statements in life. People ask me all the time what I want to do – everyone wants to know everyone else’s life plan. I honestly want to change the world – it’s just that I have no idea what I really want to be doing. There is so much on my list and so much more to learn about myself and the world around me. The part I’m confident about is wanting to add meaning to my life and others’ lives surrounded by inspiring people who challenge each other and are working toward a common goal. When my professor threw out the question, I couldn’t say the same thing as when people ask what I want to do – it made me think in a new way. I didn’t have an answer sitting in class that day, and I didn’t give it much thought until I read this quote in the hackers hostel article:

“If you’re wanting to do something to change the world and make it a fundamentally better place, you need to be around the right people.” 

Lightbulb. I’m there – literally and figuratively as I sit in my desk at my internship surrounded by people who are willing to answer my questions, show me the ropes, work hard, learn from and support each other. Yeah, I could be writing this post to suck up in an obnoxious way, but I feel genuinely inspired by this place, the atmosphere, the people, what I’m learning and the work I’m doing. How many people can look you in the eye and tell you that? (I really don’t know, I just feel lucky).

So, where are you going, and who are you taking with you?

For a long time, I didn’t have a favorite quotation. Sometime during senior year of high school I had to have one for the yearbook or senior scrapbook or something that would be in print for a long time. I was really into dance at the time, and one of the quotes I connected with was this “dance first, think later, it’s the natural order,” which was promptly posted to my Facebook profile. I still connect with this quotation because of my love for dance – one of my greatest passions.

I was a ballet dropout at age three. I don’t remember why, but my mom tells me I thought it was boring. She’s probably right. I got back to dancing during middle school, taking one or two hip-hop classes a week for an hour at the studio in my hometown. When tryouts for the high school dance team were coming up, I really committed to the sport. I enrolled in several classes and learned the basics of technique, hip-hop, pom motions and kick lines, and I ended up making the JV team for Maple Motion (our high school mascot is a maple leaf). I danced on Varsity after my first year, and the dance team essentially shaped me to be who I am today. I’m passionate about dance, I love being part of a team, and that was my outlet to goof off and be crazy sometimes. It was also the most disciplined sport, and the most physically and mentally/emotionally challenging team I’ve been a part of. My coach taught me personal accountability and that I could rise to challenges along with a laundry list of amazing lessons I learned on the team. My teammates and I formed tight bonds around our growth as individuals and dancers side by side during those years – like the surfer girls from Outside Magazine article “Life’s Swell” by Susan Orlean, (which was adapted for the movie Blue Crush (2002)). Dance was a lot like a craft that was constantly tested against the competition as individuals and as a team – it was my whole life during that time. I danced my first and half of my second year at Miami, but quit because of various reasons I’ve blocked out now. It’s something that went missing from my life for a little while, and my body completely rejected my brain for cutting it out. My heart drew me back in to dance again in preparation for the Cincinnati Bengal’s Cheerleaders auditions this spring. I signed up for pre-audition clinics and registered for the May 8 preliminary audition. I’ve finally found myself again, and I’ll attribute it mostly to dance.

The other reason I connect with the quotation is for its sense of impulsivity and at the same time, a commitment to DOING the thing you’re most passionate about. (Think later as in ‘life is short,’ and ‘do what you love and do it often’ kind of attitude about dance).

“Some nights,” by Fun.

This song is all about questioning who you are and what you stand for, and that’s precisely what’s inside the video and the intended message for my manifesto, or suggested way of life from my perspective at this time.

Read the lyrics here.

Video and editing

While I compiled my manifesto, I carefully placed each video clip into the project with every intention of aligning meanings between my life, the song’s message, my body language or movements and the quotations used to fully encompass my suggestion to living the life path I’ve been on for years. Some are purely coincidental, but I’ll leave that up to the imagination to figure out.

All video was taken by the author, or by Lesley Kay Debbs, my wonderful dance teacher and friend from Juliana’s Academy of Dance. All editing was done by the author in iMovie.

Watch the manifesto:

Song of the week: “The House That Built Me,” by Miranda Lambert

When I was abroad, I liked listening to this song because it made me think of home, and it’ll always remind me of that time in my life. Being more than a five-hour drive away made me appreciate home even more.

Now for the fun stuff – pictures galore!

I’m going to do my best not to go crazy because I’m not at SXSW this weekend … and stalk the news coverage coming out of Austin these next few days.

“There is a lesson in almost everything that you do, and getting the lesson is how you move forward. It is how you enrich your spirit.” – Oprah

One of the many things I like about being a journalist is that I learn something new every day. I suppose it’s cliche to say I learned a lot in the last two weeks because I’m a student, and that’s the day-to-day agenda, but these last two weeks were special.

Some highlights …

Last week, I worked on a follow-up story on General Motor’s Truck Assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, which closed two days before Christmas 2008, leaving more than 2,000 people unemployed and the city of Moraine out of about 35 percent of the city’s tax revenues.

I made the trip Friday and interviewed the director of economic development and took photos of the abandoned plant. The story opened my eyes even more to the reality of what happened to our country in 2008 and how many Americans still struggle today to find work. In former GM Moraine Assembly employees’ case, it’s hard to find work that pays as well as GM did when the plant closed. The story was for a capstone class that is in partnership with WVXU, an NPR affiliate station in Cincinnati. I’ll have the link posted shortly.

I covered Startup Weekend at Miami University – which you know if you follow my blog already. What a wonderful experience to be a part of. I feel a little guilty because I may have learned the most out of anyone there (being the eyes and ears of an event like this as a journalist was invaluable). Plus, I just might have found another passion of mine: startup weekends.

Entrepreneur and Miami alum Nick Seguin is on the Board for Startup Weekend.

Covering the event made me realize how hard it is to be a student journalist, and how badly I want to be able to commit my time to a full-time position in the journalism world. Phone tag in between classes gets old, and keeping up with a certain beat makes it a whole lot easier to have relationships with sources and develop a deeper understanding of the key players. More importantly, I learned that these are the people I want to surround myself with – the entrepreneurs, mentors, students and administrators who are go-getters – they want to make an impact in the world, and they’re just out their DOING it. The drive, energy, passion and determination that was Startup Weekend is hard to explain – it’s just incredible. I can’t wait to take part in the next one I attend.

The sketch comedy group, Harvard Sailing Team, visited Miami Wednesday night to perform in the Farmer School of Business. I’m not allowed to post photos, so you’ll have to trust me that I was there. I do have some form of proof – they signed a wine cork for me – which made my day.

Spring Break is next week, and I’m headed to Big Sky, Montana with my family and a friend of my brother, Hank’s to snowboard, hot tub, relax, eat Food Network-like meals and catch up with the people (and dogs) I love the most. A much needed break to rejuvenate and power through the rest of the semester.

Now for some Instagram photos:

I love this message.

What a great app – makes me feel like a photographer.

Walking around Saturday evening, it was hard to find a clean white board. NomNom, the winning team, had what looked to be Pac-man sketches surrounding their ‘Revenue Models.’ NomNom came up with a smartphone application to donate groceries to local food banks.

Who has cartoons in their revenue models? First place team NomNom.

YourTurn, an online music service that connects artists and fans, had more than 13 oversized post-it notes surrounding their work area.

YourTurn works past 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

“I would’ve been so salty if we hadn’t pitched. We’ve been working since 8 a.m. and (a few hours ago) it just became an extreme reality … I had the perma-grin – I couldn’t stop smiling,” sophomore Chris Ambrose said.

(About five minutes later)

“The perma-grin’s back, dude. Shit!” Ambrose said to his teammates.

On the other side of the room, Pwason had mapped out their presentation on how to produce fair trade private school uniforms out of Dominica. That was a lot more than what they had earlier in the day Saturday.

“We were worried. We thought we were going to fail,” senior Nicollette Staton said.

Junior Aaron Flora and Senior Nicollette Staton discuss Pwason, named after the Dominican word for "fish."

In another room, mentor Al Babbington was advising two students working on GreenIV, a service that would recycle used IV bags. “Why not challenge ourselves?” sophomore Greg Brown, said, adding that science and medicine was outside his comfort zone.

Conversations started to drift to homework, group meetings or projects that were pushed aside until after final presentations. Sentiments were similar across the teams: it wasn’t happening. Sleep was another discussion.

“I don’t think we’re sleeping tonight,” sophomore Jean-Michel Kourie Frias said.
“Not when you have a bad ass idea,” sophomore Chris Ambrose replied. Ambrose and Frias were on the YourTurn team.

As a developer for the Stugl team, junior Nguyen Nguyen didn’t go to sleep until 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Stugl was an online local textbook retailer that helped students save money.

“When I’m coding and I have a problem I feel really bad and when I get it I’m really happy. I keep continuing doing it and if I walk away, I forget everything,” Nguyen said.

The developers for Stugl are all smiles despite their 4 a.m. bedtime the night before.

Things were looking more relaxed by Sunday morning. Miami alum Jonathan Poma, one of the mentors, was surprised.

“It’s unusually not busy. (Normally) between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. people are losing their shit going crazy,” he said. Poma is a strategist at DYNAMIT and operator at pomajp graphics.

Poma and VenturePax founder Danny Stull told me digital tools seemed to be scarcely used during the weekend, which was also unusual.

“Overall it’s been awesome,” Stull said, regardless of the digital deficiency. “I’m pumped to see what they’ve done and the amount of work that’s gone into it has been fantastic.”

#startupMU’s most memorable player

When I sat down with Manager of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation Nick Seguin (also on the board of Startup Weekend) Saturday afternoon, he said ‘you know who I think is getting the most out of this weekend?’ and he started telling me about this student who was on a team by himself who had shown initiative. Then, as if it was a movie, Hanqing (Han for short) Hu – the student Seguin was telling me about – sat down next to me, beads of sweat visibly sliding down his face. I asked Hu what he had been up to. The short answer was market research for his company, “Some Company Name.” Hu told Seguin and I in more modest terms that he had just returned from chasing down campus tour groups, knocking on doors of residence halls, interviewing a manager at the local Kroger and knocking on President David Hodge’s front door to ask for interviews.

“I cant even express how happy I am to hear that,” Seguin told Hu, then looked back to me. “If only just one person in a weekend realizes that … it’s a mindset thing, I want people to get it. It’s not about sitting here in your Burberry shirt and having an assumption about bars uptown,” he said, making fun of his alma mater’s stereotype. “It’s about going out and de-risking … It’s awesome even if it’s just one person and if you think like that from now on, I’m happy.”

InfoVote member senior Stephanie Woeste and Hu were talking Saturday night in the lobby.

“I was scared,” Hu told Woeste. “I’ve never talked to people (like this). After awhile you just get used to it. They don’t fight us off.”

Then Hu stopped for a second and told Woeste, “I think girls are afraid to talk to me because I haven’t showered in 48 hours.”

Hanqing Hu and Stephanie Woeste discuss their work Saturday evening.

Hu told me he had time to shower before his final presentation Sunday, which had the audience roaring with laughter and Professor Mark Lacker laughing so hard he cried.

Hu is headed back to China in two weeks after being at Miami for six years. He said he started as a botany student and just finished his graduate program thesis in computer science.

Professor Jim Friedman and Hanqing Hu before the final presentation Sunday.

#startupMU in context

The idea to host a Startup Weekend at Miami began in May 2010 with Lacker reaching out to Seguin, who agreed to facilitate the event. Twenty-one months later, the first student-only Startup Weekend acted as a trial run.

“There was a team here who was aggressive and hungry and ready to run an experiment,” Seguin said, referring to the Startup Weekend Miami team lead by Lacker.

By Sunday, Entrepreneurship Director Brett Smith felt, “Startup Weekend exceeded our expectations on every measure,” standing next to Lacker.

“What they’re doing at Stanford with the graduate people is what we’re doing with the undergraduates here,” referring to the Lean LaunchPad process used at Stanford University. “We’re going to launch businesses,” Lacker said.

Students were awarded one credit hour for participating, and teams have the opportunity to continue in a two-credit follow course with Lacker to launch their businesses before the end of the semester.

President Hodge was in the audience for pitches Friday and returned Sunday to watch presentations. During his annual address last fall, Hodge addressed the importance of being an entrepreneurial university. I asked Hodge what he thought about students working for more than 15 hours a day.

“It’s not something you want to do all the time, but there’s just such a thrill that comes from taking on a big project like that and committing yourself for 54 hours as much as you can to stay awake and keep working and keep pushing. I recall sometimes when I did that in college and graduate school … there’s nothing like it. It’s fantastic, and it helps to be in a group working collaboratively and supporting each other, which is huge if you can do it.”

And as for Hu knocking on his front door on Saturday …

“That’s the spirit of the whole thing,” Hodge said. “These are self selected people (who) come into a community of people committed to these same ideas willing to work outrageous number of hours in good spirit to help each other succeed at their ideas. That’s a pretty special thing.”

Weekly song: “Somebody that I used to know” by Walk Off The Earth

This week, a group of girls in my sorority got together to make limoncello – an Italian after dinner drink. My mom and her friends were the inspiration – they started making limoncello a few years ago to give as holiday gifts to friends and family. The recipe comes from my mom’s Italian friend. Limoncello is a digestivo, or digestive, for after a large meal. (Essentially, limoncello is simple syrup, lemon and rocket fuel that burns through the food in your stomach).

The first night, we peeled the lemons and soaked them in glass jars with Everclear (grain alcohol). In 15 days, we’ll make simple syrup, combine the soaking lemon and Everclear mixture, and bottle the finished limoncello. A shot-sized portion of limoncello is intended to be sipped after a hearty, Italian meal.

Weekly song: “Down with the trumpets” by Rizzle Kicks

Weekly photo gallery: