Today is my birthday!

Dear friends and colleagues,

Happy to say that today is my 29th birthday! I am so blessed to have given the opportunities I have - the wonderful family and friends, education, mentors, and sheer number of lucky breaks, that all I can be is grateful.

A bit of a personal update today. It is a story of sacrifice, love, and north star.

First of which is sacrifice. As a first generation immigrant, the story of love and sacrifice is not uncommon. Earlier this week, my father got a certificate for his 20 years work anniversary as a computer engineer. At first he was embarrassed when my mom showed it to me, because it was an award on a plastic plaque that looked like it came from the dollar store.

For 20 years, he worked the same job with the same salary (which I out-earned first year out of college). When I got a free ride to a Canadian university and had to choose between that and Penn, dad took out all the savings that he saved to buy a house and put it all into my tuition.

Now his plastic 20th work year plaque is sitting on top of my dual-degree Penn and Harvard MBA diploma.

The second theme is love. Love from family and love from friends. Besides my family, throughout my 20s, I have been so lucky to have made friends that I could count on. I’m not a huge believer in surface level human connections, and have been deliberate in choosing my friends - whom I can have deeper conversations with. If you ever want to have a real conversation about anything, shoot me an email at kathxcheng@gmail.com. Real conversations are uncomfortable at times, but the bond runs much deeper and lasts. My friends keep me sane (sometimes insane) and most importantly, keep me grounded.

Third theme is north star. I don’t know a lot of things, but I am absolutely certain about my purpose. I am passionate about bridging the gap between business and sciences, and always will be. Ever since I stepped into the lab when I was 16 and entered the biotech competition (and did not win), I knew it was my purpose to help bring life sciences innovations into reality through business and science.

To my 100 subscribers, thank you for being part of the journey! I will continue to create interesting content, healthcare or personal learnings.

To a great year to all,

Katherine