From getting her engineering PhD at MIT to becoming a partner at McKinsey & Co, Vanessa Chan had a strong track record of achievement. After some soul searching, she decided to challenge herself in a new way, inventing a solution to tangled headphones. What followed was an adventure, from appearing on national TV to having an entire Amtrak train rallying to her support. The best part: she has only just begun the entrepreneurial journey, and she's bringing her kids along for the ride.
Advice:
- Relationships are so important; carve out more time to spend on making new friendships and helping people.
- There are more hours in the day than you think – use them effectively.
- Kids are vey resilient and only know the reality you create for them.
- Use the quality time with your kids so that you don’t feel guilty about taking that work trip.
- Marry the right person; you will need a partner along the way who can share the load.
Key notes:
- Vanessa is the inventor of Loop-It, headphones that are a tangle-free necklace.
- Vanessa graduated from MIT with a PhD in engineering and spent 14 years working at McKinsey.
- Loop-It was funded through a kickstarter campaign where it raised $35,000, beating the original $15,000 target.
- Loop-It was entered into a competition on the Today Show and is now sold on QVC.com.
- Vanessa sits on the board of her daughter's school, helping the next generation of young entrepreneurs as a mentor.
- Vanessa has involved her children in the whole process from prototype to sale.
- She is showing her children the process of trying and creating a product.
- Vanessa is co-president for the Ellevate Network Philadelphia chapter.
- Insecure overachievers are people who have been working hard all their lives, becoming trapped into seeking the next big achievement so that they fail to see things more broadly.
Quotes:
"If these kids can do it, I can as well"
"It's been like drinking from a fire hose"
"This has been a journey I'm taking with my children"
"If you want to become a basketball player, don't hang out with swimmers"
"The best advice I've got on my journey so far was from my kids"
