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CEO & Executive Producer, Serenity Forge

Why did you decide to come to Leeds?
Before transferring to Leeds, I was studying actuarial science in Illinois. As far as I can tell, Leeds is the best business school in all of Colorado and has the strongest quantitative Finance program, which is what drew me to it. Also, growing up in Boulder, it made sense to go somewhere that has a strong culture that I knew I will be able to immerse myself into.

Could you share an experience (or two) that was particularity memorable at Leeds?
1. I was the student who worked with David Kohnke in the Office of Information Technology at Leeds to establish the Excel Help Desk in the Leeds library. David was looking to start a new program in which someone would be on-call to help anyone with their Excel needs, and I happened to be very good at Excel. After I was hired, David and I worked together to explore how this role shaped up, and in the next couple of years, I worked out of that office in the library helping students and faculty—to the point where people from all around the campus would come and ask me questions on Excel topics. It was a tremendous experience for me being a part of such a new program, taking the lead on building data tracking systems for the Help Desk, working with so many people over the years.
   
2. I was part of the Diverse Scholars Program (DSP), and during my junior year at Leeds, the DSP students were invited to (former) Dean Ikenberry's house for dinner. I remember that honor so vividly because it meant a lot to me as a Chinese-American student to be appreciated by the Dean himself. Dean Ikenberry talked about how important the future generation was and how much he personally cared about the mission to drive diversity at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder. It was a huge boost of motivation that ultimately made me have my lifelong appreciation for Leeds.
   
Any particular professors or mentors that influenced you while you were at Leeds?
Sally Forester: Sally's mentorship programs are amazing, and she's always so welcoming. I had great interactions with her during school and even now as a Young Alumni Mentor. While I was on Leeds Council, I ran into some trouble due to inexperience, and Sally has always been there every step of the way to guide me.
   
Catherine Milburn: Professor Milburn has the best combination of passion, expertise, and professionalism. As a part of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility’s SRE certificate program, I deeply enjoyed her classes and mentorship. She also led our trip to meet Warren Buffet during my senior year, and I am eternally grateful for that experience.
   
Roberto Caccia: I've probably learned more finance from Roberto than anyone else in my life. Roberto's expertise and passion for finance is unmatched at Leeds. I was part of his Investment Banking Seminar class, where we had tons of hands-on experience valuating Facebook's IPO—skills that I use now on a daily basis running my own company. Roberto also led several treks in investment banking that I participated in, such as treks to San Francisco, Chicago and New York City. All of them helped me gain valuable insights that I carry with me every day.
   
Professor Donchez, Professor Madigan, and Professor Stockton all had amazing classes with meaningful projects that I learned the most from during my classes at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ. Without their classes, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing today.
   
Some others who were strong mentors and are no longer at Leeds include: Professor Alan Jagolinzer, who is still a good friend of mine, Katie Connor and Mary Banks. Professor Jagolinzer was the person who helped me make the decision to pursue my goals in life. He gave me the wisdom and courage to be successful in my field.
   
Katie Connor was another great mentor of mine during school. Katie worked tirelessly for all of the students at Leeds and helped me find new opportunities in my career. Every chance she could find, she would spend time with the students (including myself) in learning more about our needs. She connected me with tons of amazing people who became my lifelong mentors and friends. I definitely wouldn't be where I am today without Katie.
   
Lastly, Mary Banks has been an amazing mentor and truly a good friend. She worked so hard with Roberto to bring the Finance students opportunities. She also worked very hard on all of the treks we had and helped me personally with career advice and goal setting. Despite ultimately not pursuing a career in investment banking like she hoped I would, Mary was able to provide opportunities for me to make that decision for myself. Otherwise, I never would've been able to.

Where has life taken you since you graduated Leeds?
After I graduated from Leeds, I immediately started working out of a friend's basement, running my then scrappy startup, Serenity Forge—with the goal of creating meaningful, artistic video games that do good for society. Over the past four years since I graduated, we grew from a couple of college kids in a basement to now 16 full-time developers in an office in east Boulder. I serve as the CEO and executive producer at Serenity Forge, mainly in charge of big-picture decision making as well as creative direction. We have launched more than 10 different video games across PC, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. In addition, we work with institutions such as children's hospitals and aquariums, creating experiences that are educational and inspirational for terminally ill children to play and feel a sense of wonder and freedom during chemotherapy. Our games have been selected at institutions such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Denver Botanic Gardens. Personally, I have been selected to speak at TEDx¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ in 2016 and was just selected as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2019.

What is one piece of advice/best practice that has stuck with you throughout your career?
The best advice that stuck with me was I learned when I was interning at the Federal Reserve during my junior year. I had a chance to speak with the former chairman of the Fed, Dr. Ben Bernanke. I asked him, "What kind of advice do you have for college kids like us going out into the real world?" His answer was that there are tons of very unfortunate people in the world, such as in Africa or rural China, people who have to be forced into doing what they have to in order to survive. He said that if you're one of the lucky few in the world (like us) who is fortunate enough to choose what you want to do rather than be forced into what you have to do, that's how you really make a difference in the world, and that's how you find true happiness.

Is there anything else you would like to share?
If you'd like to find out more about me and/or Serenity Forge, you can visit the Serenity Forge website at or reach out to me directly via Twitter . Thank you!

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January 2020