Do What Matters

Journaling lessons learned from ambitious pursuits.  Champion of data, justice, and truth.  If one can even champion those things.

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A Hot Mess of Data

Data science is like a house party, and data scientists are the hosts. The guests are your data: and they can trickle in, or rush in all at once, but definitely at some point you don't really know who's there. When that party is bumpin', hosts have to make sure to not get shut down, limit noise, make sure nothing breaks, no guests get hurt, and that everyone has a good time just as planned. If party hosting has taught me anything, it's that nothing ever goes quite as planned.

Luckily, Week 2 of Metis gave me a crash course in data science survival skills - and we had to throw our own data party. Here I'll outline some challenges from week 2, and my takeaways.

1. When you invite all your friends, and no one shows up.

Before getting started on our first passion project, Project Luther, we had to narrow the scope of our questions. All we knew was that it had to involve predictive regression (on quantitative or qualitative data). My topic? Craft beer.

Inspired by Partially Derivative and Charlie Bamforth of the Brewing Program at UC Davis (and my own insatiable curiosity), I probed the web looking for as many variables (aka features) as I could find on craft beer brands. With the features I found on CraftCans.com and BeerAdvocate.com, I decided my question would revolve around whether or not I could predict the community ratings on Beer Advocate.com, given features like (ABV, size of the can, bitterness, etc).

In order to do this, I learned how to leverage Python packages like BeautifulSoup and Selenium in order to iterate over all the website links I had to scrape and take the features of interest. We explored strategies and tactics to navigate the robot defenses, while also being mindful of 'terms of use.' In the end, I had a local cache of 80+ HTML files to wrangle, munge, and play with.

2. When you expect your friends, and get a bunch of randos.

Cleaning and tidying up data for use in regression is a hot mess. You get multiple variables in a single column, text strings mixed up with numerical data, and features that encompass more than one 'observational unit.' in a paper titled Tidy data by Hadley Wickham, he lays out a framework for cleaning data. I did my best to follow such rules, but in the interest of time I didn't clean my whole dataset - I still had other things to do!

Without packages like Pandas, or using Regular Expressions, it would be such a buzzkill to do it all by hand. The trick is being able to clean your 'dirtiest' scrape, and conditioning all future scrapes off the dirtiest instance. Easily, this is where the majority of my time was spent - just getting everything in order. Without helper functions to automate the process, this data party would be beyond my control.

3. Damage Control! Limit noise and make sure nothing breaks.

Here's where things get a bit more interesting. In modeling predictive algorithms for beer ratings, it's useful to know what features would be good predictors of such ratings.

It's also useful to know what features might be interacting with each other. Ideally, we'd want all features to be independent variables (whereas interacting features may result from confounding variables). For example, If ABV and bitterness were related, then we may want to only use one in the model, or creatively math them together into one feature (since they interact anyway). Ideas like this keep the model predictive and adjust the data based on our modeling approach.

Along the way, I was using packages like Matplotlib and Seaborn to visualize the shape and spread of my features and ratings, while using Statsmodels in order to narrow in on P-values for each feature.

As for the rest of Week 2...

While all of this was going down, Week 2 was also the beginning of professional development activities. My careers mentor was helpful in giving me resume and job search advice, while plugging me into the right networks here in San Francisco.

This whole thing is super immersive, with high expectations on performance and effort. My success here isn't measured in grades or a diploma, but rather in how well I'm understanding the material, and whether or not I'll be ready to apply and share this new knowledge with my team, and the world.

The Pi-Shaped Individual

At the same time, I'm more than a data scientist. The above graphic shows what I hope to be my repertoire of skills by Age 27. Although I came into this program to expand on data science as a 'specialty,' this is only one phase in my larger pursuit to use my skills to serve humanity. But we'll see where this goes! Though I have a roadmap of skills, my careers roadmap is still a blank canvas.

Sometime next week, I'll recap week 3, my finished project and presentation, my initial attempts at regression, and thoughts on Decision trees (CARTs), Ensembles, and other models.

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How to Train a Data Scientist

"Be the first to tell your own story, or someone else will tell it for you."

Two years ago...

It's Summer 2015. One whirlwind summer with two professors that championed data, and I knew I wanted to use data analytics to solve awesome problems. I wanted to pursue a career as a data scientist.

My studies urged me advocate in support changing hearts and minds about climate change. A GIS class here and there and I wanted to specialize in geospatial data and humanitarian applications. A unique plant research experience led me to wanting innovate on IoT agtech systems. A student-run conference called iiData had me tinkering with SQL and signing up for random Coursera courses. A class around IT Management whet my interest in analytics and strategic consulting.

Fast forward a couple months and I was recognized in a state government hackathon for wrangling the data of California's reservoirs in the context of a dam expansion. Soon after, I was scraping data for an agtech software startup, and learning about how data impacted the 2016 presidential election through an Asian Pacific American Civic Leadership Program.

Looking forward, my faith in data science for social good in combination with the ubiquity of AI has me yearning to drive policy and industry standards in support of friendly AI. Oh yeah, and then there's the blockchain, computer vision, natural language processing, and a whole wide world of computational statistics specializations and applications.

Not like I'm learning it all at once - but the vast expanse of everything I just don't know (but on the fringe of understanding) is incredibly humbling and empowering. I want to learn it all.

Frankly, I decided an accredited bootcamp was for me after the 2016 Open Data Science Conference in Santa Clara. Metis was tabling, as were other data science bootcamp programs. The workshops were a bit over my head, and the capabilities of data scientists around me were sky high. I left with many role models, and a huge thirst for professional mentorship.

But finding and working with a well-qualified data scientist was a completely different story. Instead of fighting desperately, it was easier to jump head first into the vast ocean of tech innovation in the SoMa district of San Francisco. It's easier to hustle when you're at the center of a strong community.

At Metis in San Francisco, it's trial by fire...

For a workaholic like me, it's almost a dream come true. Unfairly short deadlines combined with an seemingly endless list of resources and things to learn. It's like a digital Disneyland - moving from scary rides to awesome rides at the speed of stamina and mental energy.

Do I get tired? Oh hell yeah. Overwhelmed? You bet. But at least I'm here, I make progress every day, and I'm focused. There's no way the incredible pyramid of support, encouragement, and privilege I've had up until this point will be wasted on me in the weeks to come.

No matter the sector, industry, or niche - I'm going to keep skilling up until I make data products my b.

This first week was a doozy.

It reminds me a lot of the data studies program at UC Davis. (To any UC Davis undergraduates, studying under Duncan Temple Lang and Joe Dumit was hands down, the greatest experience of my undergraduate career). In one week, we acquired, cleaned, explored, and presented a unique business offering using python, pandas, matplotlib, and seaborn. It wasn't meant to be mindblowingly deep, but it was meant to be instructive. Check out my week 1 project!

Apart from the academics, it feels a bit like camping. Since I can't afford to indulge in the cuisine of SoMa on the daily, I meal prep for the week and take working lunches everyday - but not without its rewards. I appreciate my fellow cohort members, and I especially admire how many of us came in on the weekend to continue working on things. There's something to this 'ride or die' mentality across a group of people who aren't afraid of getting their butts kicked by messy data and broken code.

From here on out, there's three individual projects and one more group project. This thing called data science, It's not rocket science.

To close, here's a thought that I embraced prior to my bootcamp on the "need for warriors."

The need for warriors and the nature for who has to fight hasn't evolved much and likely won't change in any near future. Drones, stealth, atomic warfare, and high-tech weaponry won't change this. There will always be the need for young men and women who are willing and able to step up and do the hard things. Nations need this.

Normal people can't do the things warriors are asked to do. They can't imagine it and shouldn't be forced to. But there are those that do. For these people though, there must be a transition from "civilian" to "warrior." Boot camp is the means of that evolution, and every part of it is necessary.

Here's to growing as a human.

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Remote working lessons learned.

As of this writing, I’ve officially wrapped up my independent contracting commitments as a data analyst for an agricultural software startup based in Hawaii.  I’ve also put commitments on the back-burner as a team member for a think tank focused on innovating the aviation industry.

Looking back, I was fresh and naive to the world of work; University doesn’t share the tips and tricks of working with clients and experienced others. ‘My remote working phase while learning and earning’, sounded great in theory.

Remote freelancing was hard. Finding jobs, building a portfolio, getting paid, all while learning as much as possible to stay on the cutting edge - its tough.  It was an exercise in futility to find the time to apply and study for jobs in the industry you intend to break into while balancing other commitments.

Nowadays I’m in the heart of San Francisco, focused on success at METIS and progressing as a Data Scientist.  But more on this in future posts.

7 lessons learned from my early career experiences:

Client Interactions Clients may say they want one thing, but not know exactly what they want or need, and it’s important to assess that going forward.  It’s probably easier to do this in person than remotely.  Feel comfortable asserting expertise where you have it.  For small teams, you’re often brought on to make ‘what they don’t know’ known.

Remote teams Remote teams was completely new to me too.  In school, having a group that couldn’t meet in person for a project was so terribly annoying, and often resulted in the team member falling behind (in moving with the team, and in contribution).  In the working world, the same is true, but there’s companies out there that have perfected it!  Looking into ‘remote working best practices’ or ‘managing remote teams’ was especially helpful after the fact, but I wish I looked into it sooner.  Just remember to exercise self-discipline, coordinated across everyone who works with you, be open to communicating your leadership and management needs, get clear on remote communication norms and try to be as accessible as possible.

Initializing new projects Pursue work in the areas in which you know what the output should look like.  What is valuable?  Value should always be in context of your clients’ objectives.  Kinda stuff I learned through determining my incentive structure.

Managing Energy Throughout a Project In the beginning, look at temporary projects and assignments as a good thing!  It keeps you from stagnating early, while forcing your goals to be practical given the short time frame of work.  It’s easy to lose motivation when you’re salaried, you have a seemingly bottomless abyss of backlogged work, and there’s limited growth and upward mobility options.  By keeping the end in sight, it also forces you to consider your path - what’s next for you following this experience?

Incentive Structure Matters As a transition from that last point, embrace the hourly pay.  I was self-conscious at first compared to friends who are salaried, but it’s really not a bad thing.  I think everyone should explore or consider freelancing and remote working at some point in their lives, as it forces you to reflect on your own value and capacity for work.  If you don’t establish what you’re worth, someone else will do it for you - and they won’t necessarily have your best interest in mind.  A great resource is “The state of freelancing, a guide to 2017″ and other freelancing communities.

Software workflows Every step is a struggle.  From getting code to work, to learning a new module or library. Workflow and proficiency with your tools really really matters, as learning on the job is often a huge time sink.  Unless you’re prepared to stay dedicated to the timeline of a project, be cautious in accepting new assignments without the appropriate training.  P.S: Github is the North Star of up-to-date software documentation.  Don’t always trust the website itself.

Mentorship Especially as an early-stage professional, work with others who can mentor you!  Feeling your way through the dark, especially remotely, is extremely difficult - and mentors exist to help you get through the hard times faster.  Your mentors don’t have to be within your company, they can be friends who are one step ahead, or informational interviews with professionals you meet through your networks.  Take all the positive feedback to heart.

Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] if you have questions!  I can’t guarantee timely responses, but can certainly guarantee a response in time.

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APALI Reflection - Campaigns, Organizing, and Public Office

For our final day of curriculum, APALI students got to experience a one-day bootcamp on political organizing and campaigning.  To say it was insightful would be an understatement.

It got me thinking about relationships between influencers in a community...

I want to narrow in on is the effect of "breadth and depth" of relationships on politics, particularly for young people.

Apart from acquiring resources, having a great team, and thinking strategically about how to exercise your power as a candidate, I think the biggest obstacle facing young people in running for office (and winning) is the breadth and depth of relationships in a community.

Some call it "paying your dues," but young people often don't have the social capital to really run and win unless they've spent years cultivating, engaging, and strengthening their local network. In it's own way, achieving that kind of soft power, or community leadership, can win elections before they even begin.

So I wonder, are all community networks created equal?

It makes sense to organize grassroots and populist support, but in some circles the elite donors enable the campaign in ways the electorate never quite can. Why in some places are populist movements more effective than the well-funded and vice versa? I think it has a lot to do with how emotional (angry and/or desperate) a specific group is to see their candidate succeed.

So how should young people begin paying their dues in a world where the social networks aren't created equal? Should we align ourselves with the frustrated populists, or tap into & manipulate that frustration leveraging resources of the elite? What is ethical LOL

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APALI Reflection - Intersections of Gender and Ethnicity and their Impact on Leadership

In reflecting on Week 10 of APALI, our discussion on gender and ethnicity made me think of this highly recommended, 15-min read. The bolded highlights interspersed are very "holy sh*t" moments and emphasize the importance of having strong women mentors.

But take it with a grain of salt.

I recognize there's a degree of self-confidence required for success in any male-dominated field. Women who have advanced in these fields usually do so in spite of their environment. The rebuttal of the “confidence gap” article I linked is that these concepts of the qualities of a "strong leader" are predicated upon the path that has been forged by men. While women in leadership may not be as aggressive self-promoters, that does not make them any less qualified to lead. What institutions can do to improve their environment for women could (and should) be combined with efforts to empower women. Electing more women from all racial/ethnic backgrounds is likely to lead to policy change. However, it is not the only factor that leads to policy change. It’s well known that because women of color (WoC) have not historically been part of a state’s traditional power structure, they do not have equal access to *formal and informal* leadership positions. I believe this article raises similar concerns, even though it focuses on the lack of racial diversity within congressional offices.

Underrepresentation manifests and perpetuates discrimination in multiple ways, including implicit bias and exclusionary social networks.

Even when a handful of women access leadership positions, colleagues (both women and men) tend to classify their achievements as tokenism and devalue these positions, characterizing the achievements as "service-oriented" rather than "leadership". Not cool.

Reflecting on these problems politics, I hope to ally in mentoring, supporting, and promoting women, especially Women of Color. What policies could diversify WoC, and diverse others, in formal and informal leadership? Do government offices need to appoint equity advisors, provide childcare, and offer parental leave? Maybe not for retired Members of Congress, but in my opinion, certainly for the diversity within the pipeline of staffers and informal leadership roles.

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APALI Reflection - Mentorship and Networking

This was a reflection during week 9 of the APALI CLP.

I don't know what I don't know.

Effective mentorship is something I've been actively chasing in these past few months, juggling multiple part time gigs between government, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, and an AgTech startup based out of Hawaii.

As a mentee, I've benefit from others suggesting content and advice to me before I need it, and I try to be just as resourceful.

On reflection of mentorship and past networking opportunities, I have three kinds of mentors that have benefit my life:

Mentors that help you through transition phases faster (coaches and drill sergeants LOL)

Mentors that grow my perspective and accountability (like a significant other or family)

Mentors that advance your readiness and excellence in a particular area (teacher-student)

Now in the above outcomes, those mentors have been different people in my life. I realize mentorship can be very niche. I really value communicating mutual goals and finding common ground, as those have been foundational to some of the best mentoring relationships I've had. For all the writing on mentorship, I think there should really be a flowchart or something on identifying the right mentor you need.

In prep for future mentoring sessions, here's some questions I have planned:

What do you really want to achieve or be? How do you want to grow?

What are core characteristics have best served you?

What do you find challenging and where do you direct your personal development?

How have you progressed and at what point were you "ready"?

If you had to train me in 2 weeks for what you do, what would we focus on and why?

What do you hope for future professionals doing what you do?

Given some of my needs, do you happen to know who can provide help?

I also appreciate networking when it doesn’t feel fake, as I think genuine networking comes out of an attitude of fostering generosity. It connects a lot with this HBR article I read about how empathy, compassion, sharing, and transparency builds social capital.

P.S. In other news, I mentored high school youth at the VISION Conference at UC Berkeley (this past weekend).  I’ll likely write on that experience soon too.

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APALI Reflection - Think Different About Charity

I recall when I was in UC Davis CKI, some of our decisions were misguided by what characterizes an "effective donation."  Ideally, we wanted to donate to causes that had little overhead, and translated dollars to impact with high throughput.  I think it was week 7? when I responded to Dan Pallota's engaging TED talk "The Way We Think about Charity is Dead Wrong."   Yeah, this is definitely the other half of the story.

I think a strong network of (profitable) nonprofits, and having capable, innovative people drawn to the sector is CRITICAL to addressing economic inequality.

It speaks to my earlier reflection on an inclusive economy - in that government should enable the "things" that help people live "middle class lives," even if they don't make middle class incomes.

One of the comments in the TED talk thread was as follows: 

"There has been a lot of corruption in non-profits over the year, which has tarnished many causes. I am very very selective in how and where I donate money these days. Also, quite often people give money and think they have a say in how it is spent, hence not wanting their money spent on advertisement. Perhaps non-profits need to do a better job at informing the people who donate, how the money is spent, how revenue has increased due to advertisement etc."

Couldn't agree more. A lack of oversight in religious charities and nonprofits often create a culture of mistrust around nonprofits. The belief that "profitable nonprofits are corrupt" is the real misconception. This problem has social consequences - one of which is a lack of funding, and another which deters talented people from meaningful nonprofit work.

I propose external oversight and internal transparency to improve the reputation of nonprofits.

External oversight could look like stronger audits or open data initiatives that nonprofits must comply with (in exchange for their tax-exempt status). Increased regulation doesn't necessarily turn people away from business - so I don't see it keeping people from operating nonprofits.

Internal transparency could be increased emphasis on ethics or public relations to issue reports and newsletters that inform people about the achievements of the nonprofit.

As a footnote, I want to see a greater ecosystem of support and funding for people that want to start nonprofits. The model could look similar to member-owned accelerators, or member-owned banks.

Member-owned "business" accelerator focusing on social entrepreneurship in Oakland: http://uptimabootcamp.com/the-community-network-effect

Community banking: http://beneficialstatebank.com/beneficial-banking

Global Alliance for Banking on Values: http://www.gabv.org/about-us/our-principles

For those who have another 15 min, this article makes a compelling case for systemic social impact.

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APALI Reflection - Trump’s America

Easily a controversial topic, but one that warrants a clear progressive analysis in preservation of civil discourse. For this class, I was tasked with responding to two Atlantic Magazine articles "How to Build an Autocracy" and "Containing Trump."

On reflection, these articles point to an array of problems, three of which I’ll mention here.

1. Polarization and delegitimization of the press. “By filling the media space with bizarre inventions and brazen denials, purveyors of fake news hope to mobilize potential supporters with righteous wrath—and to demoralize opponents by nurturing the idea that everybody lies and nothing matters.” This operating model is a contrast to the days when the free independent press was a public service, and not subject to the profitability demands of corporate media. For the public, this centers on re-envisioning what support for the media looks like (beyond viewership), in addition to the expanse of media to reach individuals it doesn’t currently reach. This two-way relationship is in great need of repair.

2.This leads into my second point - The spread of cynicism and unreliable institutions. If we can’t expect Congress to act as a check on the President, what will? The reading puts it nicely: "If people retreat into private life, if critics grow quieter, if cynicism becomes endemic, the corruption will slowly become more brazen, the intimidation of opponents stronger.” Fighting against cynicism and pessimistic conditioning involves a greater filter on “what’s most important” and “how do we get people to know about it.” I’ve found satire, comedy, and the arts to be an increasingly valuable filter against the mainstream media outlets, as often their commentary reaches people (and directs their thinking) towards the issues they expose.

3. A culture of the rich and powerful to sway systems and people to their benefit, without concern to integrity or ethics. This culture, reinforced by an unfair taxation system, a disconnect between the rich and powerful to the public systems that enabled their success, and a bias for self-interest, widens the socioeconomic gap. Interventions that include using media and close advisors to the rich and powerful could have dramatic impact on the distribution of wealth and the protection of progressive values. (In addition to tax reform)

On the upside...

This Hidden Brain episode explores the mentality of the rich, and how their power and influence is often used to bend the system to their benefit. It touches on some possible interventions.

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APALI Reflection - API Community Issues

For this week, we responded to a powerful reading on why study asian american politics.  I ended up going on a rant.

In my opinion, ethnic fragmentation and regional differences are the greatest threats to social movements that seek to promote inclusion and diversity in our communities.

Today's community organizing suffers from the failure to bridge and unify different "tribes" under the same civil and human rights causes...de-legitimizing the positive movement as a whole. And yet, as was seen at UC Berkeley in protests against Milo, the threats and unlawful actions of a few will continue to undermine the public image of the whole.

This sucks because movements are typically discussed in the media, viewed by the public, and win or lose **in the aggregate**, when often they organize on a regional or community scale.

Just like Asian Americans fought an uphill battle to challenge their dehumanized characterization as inferior aliens...legitimate social movements, including that of ethnic minorities, are being threatened by the actions of a few, stemming largely from ethnic, ideological, and cultural fragmentation.

How can movements progress seriously, without having to backtrack and respond to the negative PR, and suffer the consequences of ideological polarization and entrenching of negative beliefs?

I propose three (maybe controversial) things:

1. The products of these movements (i.e. educated children who enjoyed the rights up until today) have to rise higher, as American icons, stakeholders, and authorities, to legitimize the actions of those who came before us.

2. We have to reduce fragmentation, especially around identity politics. Early gains in Asian America were the result of interethnic coalitions. And yet, today's Asian Americans identify differently depending on their generation, educational status, and language fluency. As new waves of immigrants and refugees, have mixed with citizens today, we have to encourage more participation/education in the system, a sense of national pride, and unity in our communities - speaking out against issues that may or may not directly affect us.

Being of the same identity (or ethnicity) isn't necessary to promote inclusive ideals. This is a continuing struggle on both sides of the conversation.

3. Encourage and celebrate existence in spaces we wouldn't be expected. This promotes equity, challenges evolving stereotypes (like the model minority myth, or the extreme left), while educating ethnically-isolated communities through diversity. We tend to self-sort, and even in CA there are ethnically isolated communities. Too often an individual's success, their support structure, and resources are be determined by their neighborhood. As emerging community stakeholders and authorities, we should ask, "If we know that a certain community exists in the minority, what have we been doing lately to include them?"

We also have to support marginalized groups who exist in places of intolerance. The internet & government can assist in this area, but really, we should reduce our reliance on technology for organizing, and instead blend such tactics with interstate, regional, and national conventions. It will be much harder to deny a movement built on challenging fragmentation at every level. We also just gotta improve the quality of our organizing, but this woman says it much better than me: https://www.berkeleyside.com/.../op-ed-milo-yiannopoulos.../

So like, solidarity.

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APALI Reflection - Mexican & Latinx History

For this week, we responded to a reading on Why Latino History Matters to U.S. History, by Vicki L. Ruiz. I left with more questions than answers. I think our interpretation of reality is better served when we include the histories and experiences of all people, making it intellectually rigorous and acknowledges the diversity of opinion within the field. History isn't just about what happened and what gets taught, it's also how we think about what happened.

It's easy to argue macro trends over time. Ex. That minorities are treated disproportionately by our criminal justice system, or that white privilege is a thing. The data speaks for itself. As the fight for equal opportunity continues with this in mind...what will an "equal opportunity" society look like in the end? Intuitively, there will be winners and losers along the way, meaning many more arguments over what is fair & what is just.

And if the historical perspective is necessary now, at what point is it no longer necessary? When the social injustices or class inequalities are flipped, does that render the past irrelevant, or are they "alternative facts." In my opinion, the pushback we see today is because social "justice"...isn't "fair" to all people alive today. And if we operated in a truly "fair" society...a survival of the fittest isn't "justice" for those who started out with less.

I guess my issue is with competing lines of critical thought. How does the world of big data, probability, and statistics stack up against counter example, case study, and outliers? How can we talk to each other when our lives are shaped by very different histories?

I realize that trailblazers steeped in history have worked hard to make American opportunity more inclusive - just as Asian American leaders have for me. The door of opportunity has always opened when social science comes knocking. Built on case-study, this reading used examples, historic milestones, and assertions from influential individuals to strengthen the reality of the Latinx American experience.

These histories matter today, and to us...I just worry that when society is relying on different facts and different histories, (or "birds-eye view" statistical data vs "bottom-up" case studies) communication will break down worse than it already is. How we do science, and how we layer our arguments really matters.

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APALI Reflection - Inclusive Economies

This TED talk really says it all.

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” - Voltaire

This reflection is in response to the New Geography of Jobs by Prof. Enrico Moretti at Berkeley.  Below is the short premise of the distribution.

We’re used to thinking of the United States in opposing terms: red versus blue, haves versus have-nots. But today there are three Americas. At one extreme are the brain hubs—cities like San Francisco, Boston, and Durham—with workers who are among the most productive, creative, and best paid on the planet. At the other extreme are former manufacturing capitals, which are rapidly losing jobs and residents. The rest of America could go either way.

It’s no surprise that profit-driven business does not grow wealth equally.  For that to happen, they must counter intuitively invest in employees to impact and grow local markets (and by extension, local economies). Since market forces favor innovation, we must look to democratize the skills and intuition necessary to help spur innovation in niches, industries, and vocations where it might not exist.

Top-down approaches to Capitalism and reallocating resources is flawed, in that without a prosperous middle class (that innovates and can identify new market opportunities), opportunity stagnates. I believe in policies to increase the minimum wage (in combinaton with the privatization of social services via a network of nonprofits) to best rebuild a middle class capable of more equitably redistributing wealth.

In addition, I feel studying the signals that drive venture capitalism and foundation grants is worthwhile for policy makers to look into. By setting the economic rules by which an industry plays by, a government can signal to investors that it's worthwhile to invest in companies / nonprofits / banking institutions / wealth managers that are (1) diverse in leadership, (2) members of new communities, and (3) looking to address the social needs of their markets.

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APALI Reflection - Post Retreat

What I remember most about the APALI retreat was the feelings of community and my first deep reflection on my own civic goals. One of the best takeaways was a framework for compassionate listening.  To listen with presence and empathy is such a crucial skill for succeeding as a professional - and a human.

Moving from the upper left in the direction of the U-shaped arrow in the background:

Surface level listening is really that of hearing, but not listening...where your own judgments and opinions dominate your inner mind.

As you progress into deeper levels of listening, you begin to acknowledge and notice someone else’s thoughts.  You “hear them out.”

Empathetic listening is characterized by a genuine curiosity for understanding.  Listening with humility and presence.

Finally, the deepest level of listening is generative, whereby the experience is mutually enriching.  It’s here that you revisit your own judgments and opinions from a place of clarity.

Hopefully I can practice this on the daily.  In wrapping up the experience, I realized I aspire to put my skills in the service of public good.  What exactly that is, and whether that’s in an academic institution, government institution, or business institution, really depends on where the greatest impact is (as well as where the good mentors are!)

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APALI Reflection 2 - Dare Greatly

On the second week of the APALI program, we primed an emotional retreat with a reading from thought leader Dr. Brené Brown on daring greatly.  She proposed a transformative new vision for the way we lead, love, work, parent, and educate that teaches us the power of vulnerability.

In her book, she touched on 10 guidelines of wholeheartedness, broken down by things to cultivate and things to let go of:

Those 10 guidelines of wholeheartedness help to clarify my own self-awareness. I might have cultivated a lot of the positives...but "letting go" of the negatives are demons that I’ve yet to conquer.

This introduction, as I understand it, asks us to draw power from what makes us vulnerable to be more courageous and empathetic in every undertaking. I'm most frustrated by the fact that my internal courage rarely translates to external action. I know I'm worthy of love and connection, but I'm often dissatisfied or impatient with where I am compared to where I want to be. It's like a "second-place syndrome" where the silver medalist leaves frustrated while the gold medalist and bronze medalist are ecstatic. I can always empathize with the silver medalist.

Two sentiments have helped me as I continue to grow. I once told a mentor (30 years older) that “I felt like I was always playing catch-up, as a result of not having kept up with others.” He told me that “everyone secretly feels like they’re playing catch-up. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” I find that particularly relevant here, so nowadays I’m trying to focus less on comparison and more on doing my best in the moment.

The second sentiment is one of deeply appreciating the journey. At times, I often want the journey to realize my ambitions to be the shortest possible - pushing and challenging myself, unknowingly sacrificing my relationships and a life of balance. I think it stems from my belief that time is scarce, and I’m powerless until I’ve cultivated the skills and experience to better serve others. Having faith in my future, has been the most difficult attribute to cultivate.

I live and breathe the tension between where I am and where I want to be. It’s made me both satisfied and dissatisfied. I invite anyone to share their thoughts on how to better balance this fuzzy space between urgently chasing the future, and security in my present.

[workhard-thinksharp-blog]

APALI Reflection - On Leadership

I've been thinking a lot about power lately. In his book, On Leadership, Gardner distinguishes power as "[deriving] from money, capacity to inflict harm, from control of institutional machinery, or from access to the media, or legitimized authority." From government offices at every level, to local organizers defending rights and common sense, many people in our country today are reacting to the exercise of (and intent to exercise) power in ways that threaten our values.

Recognizing that leaders are present, available, and distinctive throughout levels of organizations in all segments of our society... what does it take to lift a demonstrated leader to legitimized power and authority so they can act in a way that appeals to our better interests and ideals?

I think Bernie is onto something. Forgetting for a moment the recent loss, a long-term to approach to reorganizing the democratic party would better serve the interests and ideals of the center-left.

In his capacity as an elected official, he's exercising his power to align action (rallies, in this case) with strategic issues. In the process, this renews a grassroots capability to organize effectively, in line with the longer-term vision of reorganizing the democratic party, which would better improve our ability to lift demonstrated leaders to legitimized power and authority.

Issues are important - don't get me wrong. I just feel that we fragment ourselves in debating too critically over issues, while opponents and top influencers (an economic elite) think more strategically about how to gain and sustain legitimized power.

If we all organize with the intent of building in the systemic infrastructure to lift demonstrated leaders to power, we can still prioritize issues...but know they are the small wins along the greater path to lift popular interests and ideals and cement them in our institutions. Gardner highlights this point (very briefly) in the final sentences of his first chapter.

I appreciate Gardner's focus on recognizing leadership, cultivating leadership, encouraging leadership, renewing leadership, and education all still play a part. However at the same time, amazing leadership will continue to be marginalized if we don't have the systemic support to see our "potential power" realized in institutions.

[workhard-thinksharp-blog]

On Working for the Government

In August 2016, before leaving my undergraduate years at UC Davis behind me, I had an extremely valuable mentoring session with the instructor of MGT120, Prof. Aram, who opened me up to my own biases regarding opportunities between the public and private sector.  That was the first time in recent memory I was conscious of my own cognitive framing around career goals, and how changing my frame led me to new questions that had to be explored. Cut to October 2016, Upon my return to San Jose, I took the plunge to learn more about the public sector via an legislative internship in CA assembly district 28.  What followed was one of the most divisive elections in recent history, with emotions running on high inside and outside government institutions.  For me, I began thinking differently about public discourse, how I consumed media, my own advocacy efforts, and responsibility as a professional and citizen to the country and communities that enabled me.  There is no better time to learn about politics and government than an election cycle and presidential transition. Government should be responsive, but also instructive.  It represents an incredible opportunity for technological innovation, as demonstrated by groups like Code For America.  It is a catalyst for engagement and community organizing, as has been demonstrated with groups like OFA and Tech Solidarity. It is an incredible platform by which services can benefit our society’s most vulnerable, given that lawmakers can agree on the “what” so that agencies can innovate the “how.”  In my personal opinion, professionals (especially young ones) in politics and government are some of the most driven, energetic, and hard working individuals I’ve ever met.  Every political cycle, new public sector “startups” are on the rise, and if they win, they “go public” with their leaders to transform government.

What began as a small experiment to explore new questions has reshaped my perspective and made me an advocate for civic innovation.

Currently, I’m moving through the APALI Civic Leadership Program based out of De Anza College.  My posts through the first week of April will chronicle some of my reflections based on assignments and discussions we’ve had in class - as I feel some of the lessons are applicable to contexts beyond the public sector.

I really just need somewhere to put it all LOL

[workhard-thinksharp-blog]

10 Guiding Principles for Lifelong Learning

Disclaimer:  This list is synthesized from my own experiences over five years at UC Davis.  I wrote this tip list for college students, but feel each can apply to professional experiences as well.  These ideas helped me find clarity in my pursuits and meaning behind my experiences.

1. Health: The number 1 way to lose study time, focus, memory, and confidence in your abilities is to not prioritize your health.  Sit next to a sick person?  Move LOL.  Try to eat nutritiously and find ways to incorporate exercise into your everyday routine, even if its just walking all around campus. It also applies to mental and emotional health too though. The number 1 reason students under perform is because they feel isolated.  Do good by your body and you'll master your mind - And a full night's sleep does wonders.

2. Hard work: Many studies have demonstrated that effective learning is a combination of time and intensity (aka active learning).  Also, that the longer time you spend struggling over material, the more likely you are to remember it.  Showing up to class and completing all the assignments is half the battle.  Whenever possible, negotiate the deadlines with profs ahead of time if homework deadlines pile up.  I personally always chose to take a 10% late deduction on assignments over not turning it in at all.

Here's a good article on testing strategies: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=0,My ultimate bible on all things personal mastery is this guy's blog archive: http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/

3. Hustle for opportunities:  Too many people I know finished university only to say shit like "I got nothing out of it" or "I never used half of what I learned in college."  True to an extent, but there are PLENTY of practical skills gained through privileged opportunities, particularly through workshops, seminars, free lectures, internships, and externships.  You qualify for SO MUCH MORE outside of school (aka foundations, private companies, scholarships, reduced price conference admission, student membership to professional societies, etc) as a student of a 4-year.  When you graduate, you won't be eligible anymore, so try and have these on your radar as much as possible (your on campus career center is your best friend - it's their job to know what opportunities their students qualify for)

4. Get involved: Education is a team sport, and I'm realizing that career paths are too.  Have a network of college friends will really help you, and investing in meaningful experiences with them (dinners, clubs, trips, whatever) will reap crazy returns later on.  When I was out chasing opportunities like conferences and workshops that conflicted with class, I had friends to take notes for me and fill me in on what I missed.

5. Pursue curiosity: It's said that what's learned in a curious state is retained later on.  Knowing this, my advice is to take courses you're genuinely curious about whenever possible (apart from the required courses for your major).  It's so much easier to get through college that way.  Also, pursue what makes uci different (scan the bulletin boards for special visiting lecturers, take the best courses with the best professors, and learn what distinctive programs UCI has compared to other UCs).  Graduating with your unique UCI advantage will separate you from another UC graduate with your same degree.  Consider minoring in something UCI is known for.  Personally, if I could go to UCI, I'd study stats since their stats and data science departments are majorly famous. 6.  Just a concept, but I found that when I ask for advice, opportunity fell into my lap.  The reverse is also true.  When you probe for internship offers or grade boosters, you'll leave only with advice to do better next time.  The trick to correcting grades at office hours is to ask "Hey on my last exam, I wanted to better understand the faults in my thinking so as to improve next time.  Would you have time to meet with me to discuss some improvements?"  

7.  If you happen to get to know a professor fairly well (beyond a classroom experience), at the end of your working relationship, ask for the letter of recommendation before you need it.  In general, ask for what you need before it becomes urgent.  Send them an email that says something along the lines of "hey, I don't need it now, but with grad school in my potential future, I wanted to ask if you could email me a draft letter of rec.  When my eventual application period rolls around, I'd be happy to send it back to you for revisions prior to my submission."  Even if you're not considering grad school, this tactic will keep doors open. 8. Skill build.  I grip with the reality that my grades aren't where I want them to be, but I emphasize skills above everything else.  I'd rather be the C/B student that can do X, Y, & Z really well, than have a 3.5 GPA.  From talking with employers, being able to outperform others in research, critical analysis, data, programming, technical communication, persuasion, organization, networking, and self-guided learning are all critical transitional skills that can cross occupations and industries - almost guaranteeing your employment.  So I focused on this, but I wish I had pursued mastery earlier in college. 9. Become a master of finishing what you start. 2 years isn't a lot of time to get involved in something and really make an impact, but try anyway.  IMO it's better to finish a couple things really well than to dip your toes into lots and have no accomplishments at the end of two years.  Use your first quarter to be adventurous and explore like hell, and then pick a couple interesting things you feel are good influences and stick with it. 10. Find value in diversity - break the bubble when you can.  There will never be a more diverse set of people in your life as there are in college.  Embrace the events and opportunities that help you engage with diversity of people, because it makes you acutely aware of places in the world that lack it.  Whether it's networking with majors different than yours, or making friends with underclassmen, or attending events that celebrate ethnicity, it all will help you bridge the socioeconomic gaps we see outside of college.  Bubble educations at ivy league universities can't necessarily speak to that. ----------------------------------------------------

Overall, no one cares how long it takes for you to graduate (you wallet might) so long as you emerge a more capable, confident, and civil human being. For me, graduation, like any self-actualized achievement in life, took on greater meaning through challenge and triumph, and all the joys along the way.

[workhard-thinksharp-blog]

It is literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don’t care about.

The next competitive advantage:

In the near future, I believe applied neuroscience (heightened cognition) is the next competitive advantage, and will realize itself at scale:

1.  Individual practices (such as meditation, nutrition, or learning strategy)

2.  Learning and creative organizations (incubators, work/play environments, knowledge transfer, and strategic recharge)

3.  Widespread structure and policy improvements following breakthroughs in measuring the leading indicators of engagement, productivity, motivation, inspiration, contribution, and leadership.

This future hinges on personal mastery becoming a widely practiced phenomenon.  

What is personal mastery?

As I constantly refine my own flavor of personal mastery, I hope to reflect and share what I learn.  Described below is personal mastery principles in a nutshell:

Personal mastery is a dedication to continuous focus, learning and growth on a personal level. 

Strive to have an honest self-awareness about strengths and weaknesses, including ignorance and shortcomings.

Have commitment, motivation and persistence to gain knowledge and skills in any given situation.

Maintain a focus on what matters over distractions.

Personal mastery requires patience, perseverance and humility. 

Complex problems are not solved in solitude, nor overnight.

Personal mastery is a life-long pursuit to which we neither finish nor “arrive.”

Basic character traits of those who practice personal mastery are:

Purposeful

Secure, honest truth-seeker and communicator

Embrace and adapt to change

Curious and hungry for better understanding of reality

Connected to others but clearly an individual

Sees and accepts their part in the “big picture,” which is much bigger than just him/her

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Everyone practices personal mastery to some degree.

Whether you’re an artist, athlete, scholar, or skilled craftsperson, you’ve found value in working hard to get you places.

Personal mastery is about the philosophy of your approach, and the ambition to grow beyond what you currently are.

How fast you grow is up to you.  How far you grow is limited only by how resourceful you can be.  Even failures are growth opportunities.  There is only one real failure of personal mastery and it is this: to stop learning and to believe you’re done is a failure of imagination.

Adapted from Dominique Crenn in her Chef’s Table feature:

[Victories] are a part of the dream. But once you realize a dream, it is no longer a dream and there are other dreams that come to you.