Business Initiatives

Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition

My project: Inspirit

Empowering neurodivergent people to enter the workforce with confidence.

Inspirit is a social enterprise that helps neurodivergent individuals build job skills, gain real-world experience, and connect with inclusive employers.
One in 15 people is neurodivergent — yet many are excluded from employment not because of ability, but because of stigma and lack of opportunity. Inspirit exists to change that.

The Problem Neurodivergent people (including those with ADHD, ASD, dyslexia, and related differences) face: High unemployment, Limited access to work experience, Bias from traditional hiring systems. Most existing platforms only offer online job boards. They do not prepare people for work or help employers understand their real potential. Our Solution: Inspirit creates a bridge between neurodivergent talent and the real workplace through two core services Work Training & Experience Participants receive hands-on training and paid work experience inside Inspirit-run partner businesses (starting with restaurants), where they learn: Communication & teamwork, Customer interaction, Job-specific skills, Workplace confidence. This gives them something far more powerful than a résumé: real experience. Human-Centered Hiring Connections Instead of anonymous online applications, Inspirit hosts: In-person meetings, On-site observation, Real working interactions, Employers can see people in action, and participants can find workplaces that truly fit them — reducing hiring mismatch for both sides

Dream Utility Project

My project on Dream Utility started not with scientific experiments, but with observations of tired classmates, and sometimes, myself. Moving to highschool, I kept noticing complaints and an overwhelming atmosphere of tiredness. “I stayed up until 2.” “I couldn’t sleep till 3, and had a weird dream.” “I’m too exhausted to come to school.”

We all joked about it, but why did it keep happening? Is it just because of all that workload? The more I listened, the more I think that we ignore our emotional health by not fully understanding our own sleep.

This is where I started: I began collecting data on sleep patterns, emotional correlations, and dream recall. I realized that teenagers not only struggle with sleep, they got too used to it, and barely reflect on it. It’s about our rest, our emotional balance, and how our minds continue working long after we close our eyes.

My technical solution is an AI-supported dream diary that can help students record and analyze their “weird dreams” while I try to analyze their sleep patterns and health. For now as of the end of 2025, I have completed several beta-test rounds. My next steps will be on a project portfolio as well as a research paper on the importance of sleep. My final goal is to raise awareness of high school students’ well-being through sleep science and with the help of AI.

Family Restaurant Management Experience

My first exposure to business management was from my family’s restaurant, Carys, through the many crowded dinner rush. My family owns a western-style restaurant in Shanghai, and I spent weekends there. Wiping tables, greeting customers, helping with menu design, asking for feedback, and every small decision that affected how our restaurant ran.

I started asking questions: which dishes sold out fastest, and which ingredients stay in the fridge longer than they should? Which customers always return, and who never comes back and why? Why did weekdays have surprising revenues while sometimes it doesn’t on the weekends? To answer those hidden questions, I began tracking patterns, comparing sales across days and dishes, and thinking about how pricing, portion size, and promotion might influence what people ordered and how they experience food in our restaurant. This was my first hands‑on lesson in real life decision‑making and market behavior.

A restaurant is more than a place that serves food. Many things are happening behind the counter every moment. Over time, helping with these choices and seeing the success in our family business taught me more than every Economics class: successful business starts with listening to those you serve. And that’s another strand of my life that made me want to understand market dynamics even more, and build products that people can come back to, creating value that lasts longer than a good meal.

Other than these business logistics, the most meaningful parts of our restaurant’s work has been hosting events and activities for children with Down syndrome. I am always aware that I want to be part of the force that provides a comfortable space for Down syndrome children. During these events, we adjust our service pace, create quieter corners, and design simple, welcoming activities so that everyone feels comfortable staying longer and staying together. I helped set up spaces, welcome families, and talk with parents about what their children enjoyed most. Seeing how small changes in environment and service could make the restaurant feel genuinely inclusive showed me that sometimes the most important return is not financial, but the sense of belonging a place can offer.

Working at Carys is a precious opportunity that has taught me lessons that no textbook alone could provide. I learned to see a restaurant not just as a place that serves food, but as a living system of supply chains, pricing decisions, customer logic, service design, labor distribution, and brand identity—all connected to the community it serves.

Tracked weekly sales by dish to identify low-turnover items.
Helped organize inclusive events for children with Down syndrome and their families, adapting service style and layout for their needs.