Paris Interdonato-Carreras

I'd say the people around me. I tell people when I public speak to get over yourself as a fun hook, and what I mean is that instead of just constantly worrying about producing everything perfect and staying so focused inward, look outward and embrace learning as much as you can from those around you. I've always looked to network with new people, even just to learn. I tell them I want to learn, I understand that I'm starting from one place and I have a lot to go, and I value the wisdom of others. I feel like we all have something to contribute. One of those people is my mother - not only is she my co-founder, but ever since I was young, she's always believed that I could do more than I thought I could, and she's always just thrown me right into the pool of whatever work. She brought me with her from when I was a teenager to her actual job to do some work for whatever company she was working for when she was still in the nonprofit sector, and she's like, oh, Paris is smart, she could do it. And I had no prior experience, I just had to learn and figure it out. I'm very thankful that I have a person, especially a woman in my life, to look up to, that would just push me. There was no room for should I, shouldn't I, can I really do this - it was like, well, you're gonna do it, because now you have the opportunity, and if you don't do it, people are counting on you, so just do it. And I always did.

An opera singer I was learning from told me that people love helping students, so as long as you are a student, use that. I think it's even true for recent graduates now - people see how hard it is, but people love sharing their wisdom, so let people share their wisdom with you. You can really learn a lot from that.

I'd say talk to as many people as you can, and if you're an introvert and you don't want to have verbal discussions, you don't have to. You can message in Reddit forums and Facebook groups, exchange emails, you could just do phone calls if you don't want to do a video call. Before choosing what you want, it's good to just hear from other people who have maybe been taking the journey, and everyone's journey is 100% different from each other. Even just messaging someone over LinkedIn that is in an industry that you're considering, in a fellowship that you're considering, and saying, hey, I'm really interested in this, I was wondering if I could ask you a little bit about this, about your experience, I'd love to connect. People love helping students, so as long as you are a student, use that. And I think it's even true for recent graduates now - people see how hard it is, but people love sharing their wisdom, so let people share their wisdom with you. You can really learn a lot from that.

Speaking from the startup sense, the biggest opportunity and challenge really is AI. It's an opportunity in many ways because it's something new that you can make an application of your product, and it makes it easier to have a smaller team, which is great for people who are bootstrapping and first starting. On the other hand, right now it's hard to cut through all the noise. A lot of people, especially last year, were creating what investors like to call another ChatGPT with a skin on it, which basically means they made something that looks a lot like ChatGPT but it's only meant to do one specific thing, which is basically what a custom GPT is anyway. Because they're using that buzzword AI, there was this interest at first, but I think it was hurting investors a bit too. So now the challenge is not whether or not to use AI - if you have a tech startup, AI is most likely going to be a piece. But figuring out how it fits in the puzzle. AI should not be the entire puzzle at this point. All of the biggest models are really out there or they're being developed. Now it's figuring out how to use what has been put out into the world to actually solve a specific problem, and to take a piece of that and apply it to a regularly coded product or built product, and use it effectively where you're not just trusting this new piece of technology to blindly do all of this really sensitive work for you.

I'd say accessibility is always a big thing for me, and I think a lot of times when people talk about accessibility, right now it's mainly focused on disabilities and people with disabilities, and I have them. But it's not just about that. It's about financial accessibility, it's about understanding different walks of life, and I always try and break down as many barriers as possible in both work and professional life to connect with those around me. In college, I was an RA and then Assistant Residence Director my senior year, and I oversaw the building that had international student housing, and I was not an international student, I did not have immigrant parents, and the only language I spoke was English. The people on my staff were from different countries, some had immigrant parents, they all spoke multiple languages, and I joked I'm the only one here that can always speak English. But it made me mindful, and the reason why I was put in that position is because I've always been very good at just comfortably embracing other people. People tell me they feel so easy to talk to, I feel very comfortable, you're not awkward even though you're not from the same identity or something. I think maybe it's an autism thing - I'm recently diagnosed so I'm still learning more, I just got my official diagnosis last year. But I think at the end of the day, I realized how much anxiety we all have all the time. You just need to try your best to be a good person and to let other people shine with you.