“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Money is the most important thing in life. Well, not actually, but if you're poor it can make a difference. I want to contribute to improving people's lives through a career in economic development, with a focus on providing microfinance services to low-income people in developing countries to help them break out of poverty.
I want to keep on challenging myself in small or big ways, just as I did years ago when I left Greece for the first time in my life to attend Brown University, or more recently when I overcame my fear of speaking in an HBS classroom. I want to live my life with strong emotions, as indifference would suffocate me. But I also don't want to ever stop appreciating the small simple things – watermelon makes me happy.
I want to stay close to my country and the sea, which will always bring me back to images of my childhood: Sunday trips with my family to the beach and a nearby Greek tavern, and the times my grandmother used to sneak me Greek coffee behind my parents' back. I want to capture memories with my family and friends to have something to look back on. I want my kids to draw pictures of what they feel like rather than what they are told to. I want to teach them how to be themselves, show their creativity and be kind.
I want to keep on challenging myself in small or big ways, just as I did years ago when I left Greece for the first time in my life to attend Brown University, or more recently when I overcame my fear of speaking in an HBS classroom. I want to live my life with strong emotions, as indifference would suffocate me. But I also don't want to ever stop appreciating the small simple things – watermelon makes me happy.
I want to stay close to my country and the sea, which will always bring me back to images of my childhood: Sunday trips with my family to the beach and a nearby Greek tavern, and the times my grandmother used to sneak me Greek coffee behind my parents' back. I want to capture memories with my family and friends to have something to look back on. I want my kids to draw pictures of what they feel like rather than what they are told to. I want to teach them how to be themselves, show their creativity and be kind.
— Philia Hiotis