My mother learned English by reading, which showed me the power of storytelling as a way to teach and influence others. It definitely influenced me, because when I wrote for an entrepreneurship magazine in college, I wound up profiling founders and talking to venture investors on a regular basis. While still in college I launched one venture and co-founded another, and then became head of growth for Dorm Room Fund. Helping founders and students create companies and achieve their goals is an endless source of excitement and inspiration.

General Catalyst’s Rough Draft Ventures runs on those same energies, so I jumped at the opportunity to join the firm and pursue my passions surrounded by so many experienced investors and operators. The student entrepreneur ecosystem is evolving rapidly, because it’s made up of digital natives with a strong proclivity to develop solutions for themselves – becoming founders and CEOs is no longer such a great leap. What they need is patient capital, precision advice on how to form companies, and wisdom when times are tough.

I look forward to identifying and supporting student founders through Rough Draft Ventures. From my own experience it’s clear that literature majors at small colleges can found companies just as readily as engineering students at the big schools. I am personally excited about edtech, CPG, mental health, and other fields where data science plays a major role.

My personal passions have roots in my experience growing up in an immigrant family. I love empowering young people through education and by providing access to resources and opportunities that may not be available to them yet. I believe in enabling people not just to work within a system, but to break it for the better.