This summer I entered the world of writing about high-powered, driven entrepreneurs for Inc. magazine while living in New York City, and found myself inspired to work as hard as I possibly can, give back to the people and places that have given so much to me and to never give up on anything — not stories, not your quirky ideas, and certainly not your passions. I immigrated to the United States from the Philippines with my parents when I was two years old and grew up in the metro Detroit area. For college, I chose to attend Wayne State University after earning a spot in their honors learning community/scholarship program called the Journalism Institute of Media Diversity, and I am currently a rising senior pursuing three bachelor's degrees — print/digital journalism, political science, and history — with university honors.

 

Prior to coming to Inc., I've worked to hone my reporting and researching skills by working for my college newspaper, The South End, and completing internships with the Detroit City Council, Hour Detroit magazine, Metro Parent magazine, the Democrat & Chronicle — part of the USA Today Network (Rochester, NY), the Detroit Metro Times and the Detroit Free Press. Throughout these experiences I've found myself completely fascinated by people and their stories, but during my time at Inc., I was able to gain new skills, become a better fact-checker, and start thinking about business in greater dimension than I had ever before.

 

I'd always thought of business reporting as Wall Street stocks coverage and stories about tycoons that run our economy experiencing incredible highs with devastating lows, sprinkled with jargon only decipherable by investors and financial analysts. Except, Inc. offered a look at startup culture, mom-and-pop ventures, and self-starters that took huge risks and ended up making millions. It's hard not to be inspired when working at a place that deals in stories like this. Forever thankful for the ASME experience, and the mentors I've met along the way, I know the lessons I learned from working at Inc. and living in Manhattan have done much to shape my outlook on life and journalism going forward.