Rey (teacher to social entrepreneur)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“I believe energy begets energy, positivity begets positivity. Small wins really lead to other things.” – Rey Faustino, One Degree

Adarsh (McKinsey to Rails developer)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“Part of job satisfaction is knowing that you’re doing a really good job.” – Adarsh Pandit, thoughtbot

Jason (sales to ridesharing startup)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

Paul Graham was like, “This could be the Altair Basic.” – Jason Shen, Ridejoy

Jonathan (White House to startup)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“If you make a line from the Oval Office to people’s offices in the West Wing, and you measure that distance, there is definitely a correlation with IQ.” – Jonathan Swanson, former White House staffer

Melanie (McKinsey to actress)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“Acting for me is the craft of self-exploration, and it’s the study of human nature.” – Melanie Kannokada, actress and model

Kevin (consulting to food startup)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“In a startup, there are many situations where you just don’t know what you’re supposed to do because you’ve never seen it before. But it’s also really exciting because you get experience you may never get in a traditional job.” – Kevin Yang, EAT Club

Stephanie (nonprofit to marketing)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“You can re-invent yourself during a career transition. Don’t be confined to who you were or what others expect of you.” – Stephanie Lai, marketer at Smule

Rachel (NGO to social entrepreneur)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“People don’t tell you how much the world is slanted toward ‘no.’ The number of times we heard ‘no’ when building Teach For China was huge.” – Rachel Wasser, co-founder of Teach For China

Linus (gaming to social entrepreneur)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“The idea wasn’t to start a company. The idea was to get this product out to everyone who needed it.” – Linus Liang, co-founder of Embrace

Rachel (finance to filmmaker)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“I think I felt I had to do certain things coming out of school, but quickly realized that wasn’t the life I wanted to live.” – Rachel Cook, Microlending Film Project