Northern California. I was born on August 26th, 1998 in Folsom, CA, USA, about an hour east of the state capitol in Sacramento and a couple hours further from the Bay Area.

While some of my early childhood was spent nearby in El Dorado Hills, my family soon moved to Placerville — a smaller town ~45 minutes away toward Lake Tahoe — where I lived until after my first year of high school. We then lived in Ahwatukee, Arizona for three years until I graduated, returning to Placerville upon my admission to UC Berkeley. A majority of my extended family is also located around the Bay Area.

Every year on the first day of school, my mother would ask what it was I wanted to learn, and every year, without fail, my response would have something to do with math. I would apply what I learned to solve my own problems outside of class and in other fields like Engineering, so the answer to what I wanted to study in college was very straightforward.

While planning my years at UC Berkeley, I saw there were two choices: Pure and Applied Math. I have always been more interested in the application than proving new theory, and Applied Math allowed for a concentration in nearly any given area. I chose Data Science not only because of my own interest in artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation, but also so I could create data-driven solutions to a variety of complex problems.

I like fixing things, helping people, and solving problems. This would provide the skillset I needed to do exactly that whenever, wherever, and however I wanted or found necessary.

One aspect of Psychology is to objectively (or as closely as possible) explain human cognition and behavior — what people think, do and feel, and why. The other aspect is its credibility: scientific and statistical methods to conduct experiments and reach conclusions through the analysis of large datasets. It’s an application of math that helps me answer important questions with meaningful solutions and so much more.

In short: effective time management. I find relief in switching between various tasks as well as several recreational activities like mountain biking, playing tennis, talking to friends and listening to music.