When I was 8 years old, I got my first taste of doing “business” when I set up a stall at my school's annual fair. I made my first ever profit of BDT 55, roughly $0.5. I used that to go to the Eid market, eat some ice cream, watch a couple shows, have my fortune told by a parrot, and buy a kite. In school I worked part time as a printer, a teaching assistant, private tutor and volunteered as a photographer to various nonprofits my friends and I set up. I used my gigs to fuel my passion for photography which led me to build “Goats of Bangladesh”. A parody of the famous “Humans of New York”, my blog became a surprising success. At just 17, I got interviewed by BBC Trending, which then snowballed into radio appearances, magazine interviews, and most notably a keynote speech at Asian University for Women. I held strong to my passion for photography all the way into university where I worked as the Creative Director for the universities weekly newspaper, The Cord. Albeit I wasn’t the best student it wasn’t until I got hit with the dreadful academic probation that I really put my head down and turned things around and Laurier recognized my hard work by awarding me an Academic Improvement Scholarship. While on lockdown, I started selling all natural protein bars online. I would bake, package, deliver, advertise, produce content, and deal with customers all by myself. If you guessed that it sounds unsustainable, it was. I collected my profits and took a vacation.All of these experiences accumulated to help me jumpstart my professional career after graduation. So far I’ve worked with angel Investors, VC's, C-suites, management consultants, business owners, medium and large enterprises in my full time positions. But I still had to scratch my entrepreneurial itch so I started an e-commerce business with my two best friends. I believe in living for something greater than oneself, that your profession should empower you to be authentically you. My journey professionally is only beginning and I’m constantly learning, trying to improve my thinking and help provide value to those around me. If you’ve read this far, I appreciate you and would love to connect to hear your story as well!