Every year Kai Entrepreneurship hosts two trips: one to Silicon Valley over Spring Break and one to Silicon Alley (NYC) over Fall Break. The Kai Entrepreneurship trips give an opportunity for Wesleyan Students interested in a career related entrepreneurship or tech to talk to alumni and friends of Wesleyan at their workplaces. We strongly believe that first hand exposure helps students see what's possible for their future careers.
To read the reflections from previous trip participants click here. Below are the highlights from the applications from this year's accepted batch of students for the Kai NYC trip. The trip will take place from October 23rd to 28th. If you're a Wesleyan alumni or friend in entrepreneurship or tech don't hesitate to reach out to us!
Mario See
“Upon [Blake] Irving’s arrival, that ill-advised past [of GoDaddy.com] has now become a more politically correct company, which is considered one of the best places for women to work. It is always impressive to start and build your own business, but to radically change the image, direction, and culture of a company to become so inclusive and welcoming for women is very impressive (and necessary).”
Elliott Williams
“The diversity problem in Silicon Valley, I argue, stems from the fact that those who have the most access to newfangled gadgets and a highly technologically-based education tend to be privileged…If we want to wrestle with the obscene homogeneity that perverts the Valley, we need to wrestle with the underlying racism, classism, and sexism inherently in America, especially within the tech and startup industry.”
Antonia Robayo
“[Dave] Chappelle accomplishes what I think every comedian should be able to do, and that is poke fun at, as well as shed light on the issues plaguing our society. What I admire most… is his ability to provide nuanced commentary on race and race relations in our country through his skits. The misconception is that [he] is a goofball at all times, but if you watch any of his interviews you can see that he is a level-headed and articulate individual.”
Maimouna Siby
“I believe that a liberal arts education makes individuals more aware. I think our measure of success has taken a weird turn…. As students we are urged to go after more skills based education and to avoid the broader liberal-based education. The problem with that practical skills/knowledge mentality is that it kills creativity, it shuttles students into trade specific worlds (some of which they don’t even truly enjoy), and ignores the option to craft your own future.”
Jisung Jung
“Charlie Munger is not only the vice president of Bershire Hathaway, but also the life-long best friend of Warren Buffet…I was very interested in the career path he took. As an aspiring law student from Wesleyan, I was amazed by [his] successful history of working as a lawyer, an investment banker, and now the vice-president of one of the biggest holding companies….Especially, I want to know how he got to have his analytical insights he has towards society and businesses so that I can also have the insight!”
Carlos Eguiluz-Rosas
“For me, it would be Luis von Ahn. He is the co-founder of Duolingo and the founder of reCAPTCHA; his projects deal with foreign language learning and processing text information. His work is the reason why I grew fonder of Artificial Intelligence and its applications in Language Learning. I would enjoy hearing his story and the steps he took into creating these incredible softwares.”
Amanda Yeoh
“My liberal arts education allows me to understand how people function from a quantitative and a qualitative point of view. Learning to interpret data will tell you just as much about people as will studying philosophical ideas, albeit in different ways.”
Eric Zepeda
“To me, entrepreneurship means constant curiosity, improvement, and skepticism towards to status quo. Entrepreneurship requires one to constantly challenge and question the productivity and practicality of any given process.”
Khafilah Muhammad (Kai Team member)
Misha Iakovenko (Kai Team member)
"I would have dinner with Elon Musk, a great leader, a successful entrepreneur, and an extremely interesting man. To me, his unbreakable desire to succeed, his diverse interests, and the real impact of his companies represent the leadership style I want to develop in the future. Moreover, the boldness of his ideas is probably the most inspiring thing that has encouraged me to also think bold."