Spread the Warmth, Goodwill, and Love

Grace Hsia: Energetic, cheerful, and ready to tackle hug you now. This is the story of how a writer-engineer-entrepreneur is braving grad school and running a startup. ps. She likes bicycles!

[whatshouldwecallgradschool]

WHEN I MEET SOMEONE IN THE SAME FIELD

[michiganengineering]

A late evening at work with my new friends on North Campus on April 4, 2014.

Photo: Joseph Xu, Michigan Engineering Communications & Marketing

www.engin.umich.edu

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Why aren't there more startups in Michigan?

The answer is that Michigan is a perfect spot to launch new, entrepreneurial companies! Answer by Josh Linkner:

I’ve built three technology startups in Michigan and have had tremendous success.  My most recent company, ePrize (www.ePrize.com) went on to become the dominant player in our industry.  We have about 350 creative-class team members and the company is doing great after 11 years of growth.    While there are some challenges, we have amazing talent in the region, low costs, great work-ethic, and it is easy to stand out compared to either coast.   I believe Michigan is in a perfect spot to launch new, entrepreneurial companies.  In fact, I just launched a new VC fund this month, Detroit Venture Partners.  Along with Dan Gilbert and Brian Hermelin, we are investing in seed and early-stage technology companies to help rebuild the region through entrepreneurship.   All the right ingredients exist in Michigan for entrepreneurial success.  We just need to tie them together with some connective tissue.

View Answer on Quora

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 8: There isn't a snowstorm big enough to stop a woman on a mission to spread generosity!

Day 8: Got snowed in today after the car slid back down Platt Rd (route #1) and Packard (route #2). But there isn't a snowstorm big enough yet to stop a woman on a mission to spread generosity! While working from home I saw these folks outside delivering packages and (realizing that I did not have time to make them each a cup of hot cocoa) grabbed some of my best tea so that they could keep warm back at home base or back at home. Chasing down UPS trucks for the win!

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 7: All smiles and dollars get passed onto those with greater need.

Day 7: Ran into Dan and Greg who I have seen around town and really admired for sticking around through warm and cold weather. Took the time to learn about them...both are working and (though just getting by) could not be happier with life and the warm weather. They kept the smiles I gave them and promised to pass on the dollar to someone else in greater need!! Loving that generosity is being passed onwards. (Yesterday 3/11/14)

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 6: You will light up the life of someone who is wonderful!

Day 6: I know what it is like to hit rock bottom after a break up, to feel my stomach and heart sink after noticing a key difference and wondering about what a life together would look like. I was sitting with Rashmi and I could feel my heart breaking as I listened to Kayoon who sat down at the table next to us relaying her heartaches to her friends. I was going to save the candle and hearts, but I whipped out my permanent marker and wrote what words my girls have said which have helped me most. "You are strong." "You will light up the life of a guy who is 10x better and who loves you for who you are. For you he will be a better man. Things may not be 100% perfect all the time, but there will be love to heal strong words." 

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 5: Have a seat you lovely ladies! (3/9/2014)

Day 5: Went to Starbucks early this morning with Chelsea. As she studied and I worked on Warmilu the Starbucks filled up with people and these two girls came in and could not find chairs. I could hear one of the girls saying, as she looked around the Starbucks, "I knew this would happen and we should not have come here!" So tadah! Chelsea and I gave up our chairs so they could have somewhere to sit and work.

I knew what it was like to come into that Starbucks and not find any empty seats. In fact, that happened one of the times I had gone there with an amazing mentor only to find that this Starbucks was full. Couldn't have been happier to share some seats with these ladies. 

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 4: You are Un-bee-lieavable! (3/8/2014)

Day four was very random! I saw a sign shaker standing on a street corner wearing a smiling bee costume but their head was low and their body posture was anything but happy. Pulled over and wrote "You are un bee lievable!" on some plastic hearts I grabbed after today's bridal shower.   Turns out that these silly hearts and pun brightened Michelle's day. We talked about some of my background after she saw my business card and I hope she has the opportunity to go back to school like she intends to do!

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 3: Crafting Some Snail Mail (3/7/2014)

Day 3 was all about doing something out of the ordinary. Writing takes ten times longer than typing something up....but it produced a much more personal letter! Addressed the letter to my dad to let him know how Buddy and I are doing in Ann Arbor.

Sending an email is nice but this gave my parents a nice personal item that they passed to one another, all smiles, and posted to the fridge back at home.

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 2: I met Erik Poppe, now a phone call away.

Day 2: I met Erik Poppe today who has been homeless for 4 years. After being kicked out at 17 and dropping out of high school, Erik came to Ann Arbor. Thank goodness for the Delonis Shelter and their phone...that is how he finally stepped up and called financial aid who graciously provided a Pell Grant to cover his tuition when he was accepted into WCC. His backpack, a weight bearing his (unwashed) clothing and textbooks, were a testament to the challenges he was overcoming. I learned about his life and his next big step: trying to get a job and a phone. He could not call potential job interviewers back in time and he couldn't even keep in touch with friends and family and he couldn't be as helpful of a student teammate for projects or papers and he cannot even verify his ID on any sites requiring SMS verification. Today, to help a stranger, I walked him over to the nearest phone shop (AT&T) and got him a prepaid phone with 200 min so he could better pursue job opportunities. I will email him in two weeks to see his progress in job hunting and final exams.

This is James, from the AT&T shop who helped get the prepaid phone into working order. He broke the news about what happened in the alleyway next to the shop where someone jumped from the parking structure earlier today. It stopped me and made me wonder what else I could do to be generous, something that I could do to help me touch the lives of people who are in similar bad life situations who might be considering similar jumps.

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Day 1: First act of generosity! (3/5/2014)

First act of generosity! I remember my long hours at coffee shops especially when I lived a year without Internet.  Found Adrianna (Adriana?) sitting at a Starbucks with messy enough hair that I could imagine being in her shoes and gave her $20! Next time I will try to learn more about the lives of the random strangers. 

[gogettinggrace-blog]

40 Acts of Generosity, Here We Go!

Happy Paczki Day Everyone! 

Photo Credit to: Leslieamp39s Cool Cakes from Stanamp39s Northfield Bakery Paczki 

Photo Posted by: http://lentseasonimages.com/top-5-places-to-celebrate-paczki-dayfat-tuesday-2014-2/

This year for Lent, I'm borrowing this neat idea of 40 days of giving back and doing good each day instead of giving up something (like chocolate my usual). I hope this is a way for me to learn about and apply ultimate generosity. 40 acts here I come! Tonight is all about planning and budgeting the next 40 days as best as I can!

Inspired by: 40 Acts, Doing Lent Generously, http://www.40acts.org.uk/

[hlwilsh-blog]

I came across a great article from ABC News about how young women really feel about working moms. This article is interesting to me for a number of reasons but mostly because I hope to be a mom one day and there is a very good chance I will be a working mom.

I don’t work with any working moms....

[gogettinggrace-blog]

This is such a thoughtful blog post. It really made me think when Melissa over at Yahoo created such buzz by continuing to work through her pregnancy. I would love to see more options and parents being able to choose whether they could keep working or get maternity/paternity leave during the first few months. Being a parent is hard and I can only imagine what it is like to balance that with work especially in a startup. 

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Hi! I saw your post about your HTC Evo. You mentioned that you went to Sprint and they fixed it for you. What exactly did they have to do/how much did it cost?

Believe it or not, free because they ended up grabbing a pair of pliers they had at the office and the guy was a fairly skilled technician. He pulled the charging bit back into place even though it looked completely bent out of shape. With that, the HTC Evo was back in working order for free. 

If there is any water damage though you can expect to order a new phone especially if you've fizzled the circuits or damaged the battery. I'm not sure who your carrier is, but the price of the fee depends for me (a Sprint customer) on how close I am to renewing my contract. 

Hope that this helps!

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Funding if you're based in the UK

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation is doing great things for social improvement in the UK. (http://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/) 

If you are seeking funding and you are based from the UK, this is a good source to check out. 

[gogettinggrace-blog]

Starting to plan fundraising for Warmilu and look what I found!

Alas! Warmilu is not a nonprofit...but if any of you out there are aspiring cofounders of nonprofits I have a great website for you to look into if you are seeking funding: http://www.drkfoundation.org/what-we-fund.html

[gogettinggrace-blog]

This is my Ignite Ann Arbor 7 Talk where I presented my experiences and lessons learned with Warmilu and why I am so passionate about spreading the warmth to save lives.  Talk #16 - Ignite Ann Arbor #7 - October 25, 2012 Recorded at Blau Auditorium, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI Video produced by Roger Rayle, [email protected] for Ignite Ann Arbor