“Let’s create a world where each of us who asks for a fair shot, gets that fair shot.”
After his first day of Economics at Harvard, Victor left the class and never returned.
I was born in 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My parents came to the US from Taiwan, seeking a better life. They arrived in America with $300 and two laundry bags to hold their clothes. My parents were educators and to them, the most important gift they could give me was a good education.
At the end of high school, I was fortunate enough to get into Harvard. So I started there in the fall of 1989.
In a Hollywood movie, that might be the happy ending. But in my life, it was actually just the beginning of a journey. I didn’t realize how my good fortune would put a burden on my parents. They couldn’t afford to send me to Harvard, so they took out a second mortgage on their house. They could have lost everything. But it still wasn’t enough cash to pay for college. The only way they could fill the gap was to start a business. They weren’t natural entrepreneurs — they had tried before and it didn’t take off. But they had no other choice.
Victor always remembered his parents starting their business.
My parents spent countless hours learning how to start a business. Even just filing the forms required by the Secretary of State was a challenge. I started to wonder, why does society make my parents go through such hassles? The business was hard on my parents. It was exhausting, sleepless nights, tons of anxiety. But eventually it worked.
During my first week at Harvard, I attended the introductory Economics class. It was taught by a former economic advisor to a U.S. President, who talked about the machinery of the macro economy. But after one class, I left that class and never came back. The reason? Because I knew what he was saying was flawed. It didn’t account for everyday people, just like my parents, all over the world, trying to make something of themselves. Who spend hours figuring out forms in the library. Who take out a second mortgage. Who can’t afford even a first mortgage.
Victor’s life’s journey flowed from that day.
I rejected the orthodox economic thinking taught at elite institutions. Instead, I searched for the answer to the question, “How can we create prosperity by taking into account the ‘little guys and gals’? How do we remove the barriers holding them back?”
I want a world that doesn’t ignore everyday people, like my parents, and doesn't stand in their way. That’s what I’m fighting for. Because the barriers that hold back everyday people, don't just hold them back. They hold back the rest of us, and the rest of the world too.