Sunchea Phou is an entrepreneur and philanthropist.
She founded YaY Novelty with a mission to create a lifestyle-enhancing product that allows consumers to express their personality. YaYwallet was her first creation, born out of her frustration of not being able to find a fun slim wallet. It was also in part to generate income for her foundation Year
Position / Job title?: Electrical Engineer, Lecturer
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Astronaut, Doctor, Engineer
Fast-forward several years/decades. How did you land (or create) your current position? I wanted to do something that has a lot of math and physics in it because they were my favorite subjects.
Did you have to take on internships to get there? How important in general, do you think, are internships? Yes, I did couple of internships. I think they are great and necessary.
1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a lot of things. There was a good chunk of time where I wanted to be a veterinarian. There was a veeeerry short-lived baseball phase (I have since lost my enthusiasm for physical activity). Looking back
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I knew exactly what I wanted out of life from an early age, in a way that immediately made me an outcast. I never dreamt up an unrealistic job title, I’ve always set forth in the motion that I was to be a songwriter.
Fast-forward several years/decades. How did you land (or create) your current position? Persistence is everything. You have to know in life that there are people that are going to
We all know that hiring a PR firm can be expensive. If you’re a start up or a small business you might not know if it is worth the money. And while I always recommend PR if you can afford it, I can still offer a few tips to gain media attention on your own.
Events
This is one of the easiest and most straight forward ways to get media attention mainly because you don’t have to come up with a story idea. The event itself is the story. Also, when writing your pitch you can just use the details
Why did you seek out this particular job / start your company? I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit in working at advertising agencies and finally took the plunge (almost 5 years ago) to start a beauty company that was more in-tune to how women live today.
I am terrible when it comes to money. My parents are great. They save, they plan ahead, they live within their means… Not to mention both of them are CPAs. In the past I have made little to no effort at these things, but I do take them into consideration more and more as I get older.
When it comes to my spending habits I’m very aware of the areas I need to cut back on: meals out, Starbucks coffee or that extra pair of shoes. And while being aware has helped me take steps (fancy steps, I might add,
1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I had NO IDEA. All I knew is that I wanted to do something that would be fun and meaningful and that would inspire others.
2. Fastforward several years/decades. How did you land (or create) your current position? It
Let me caution you first. This blog post is going to be more of rant than anything else. Mostly because I have been thinking about this a lot: What does success look like to me? It is a tough question.
A few years ago, if you asked me what I would need to achieve to consider myself successful, I could have answered right away. My life would look something like this: nationally recognized in the business community, making lots of money, traveling the world for business. I wanted a fast paced, exciting life. What was missing from the picture? All