Happy Accidents!

Blog Post #9 - 2/1/21

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This recent week, I made progress on my research portion of my original work, had a mentor meeting, and was able to touch base with Mr. Pirtle on my current progress and the next action plan.

My action plan consists of finishing the research for the chemical compositions of mica-free cosmetics and starting on the next portion of the project, which involves starting the actual business plan. The things I will start on and hope to finish by 02/12 (before my next mentor meeting) is getting a general idea for the company name, logo, and small brandings, while also starting on some marketing strategies.

Now to go over what happened in my mentor meeting - we talked about my original work proposal, where I went in-depth into how I first got into this idea and where it could go. We tossed around many great suggestions and overall it was a really positive experience, so I really hope everything goes smoothly with my original work in the coming months.

As for the happy accident, I wanted to talk about how ironic, or better yet, coincidental our situation was. The work I happened to choose to do was on the child-labor mining issue of the mineral mica - how ironic is it that my mentor had a father growing up who was a coal miner in India? Every day he'd work in the coal mines, which is just as tough and dangerous as the mica industry - miners would face hard and long hours of work with little pay, and still be put in just as much risk with getting exposed to too much black soot into their lungs, developing diseases. At the end of the day, these miners would come out looking super shiny with glimmers all over their skin - because as they mined coal, mica would get on them as well. Having a mentor who knew so much about mica singlehandedly was unexpected - and me choosing this topic had nothing to do with her having an entire background with mining in India. We both just happened to come together on this issue, which is why I am so glad I have her as a mentor; she's able to connect to my work on a personal level, and is more knowledgeable and useful to help make this project a success.

As you can probably tell by now, I am so excited for my original work. I really think it could be a good experience for me to apply everything I've learned into a real scenario - and who knows? If it goes well (or even better than expected), I want to carry this project out beyond just ISM. What if I was able to make an actual business out of this idea? What if I was able to find investors who'd help me make it a reality? What if I can actually become a young entrepreneur with a goal to help these kids, make an actual impact? These simple thoughts and questions I ask myself every day make me shudder - thinking about something so big and so good for me is unfathomable. I want to dedicate all the time I have to making this the best possible experience for me, and that starts with the work I choose to put in today. Until next time, see you.