August 18, 2009

This summer in California was a learning and growing experience for me. The most important thing that I have learned is that a huge part of being successful, and more importantly, enriching your life, is fostering relationships with good people.

As a student, my primary goal is to just learn as much as I can. At the West Coast Connection's (WCC) first ever Career Networking Event and Panel Discussion at Columbia, I got the chance to meet professionals who wanted to help students. The Choate Rosemary Hall alumni who made up the panel gave me and my friends a wise piece ofadvice: the greatest asset you can have as a student is a good mentor who will take the time to guide you through the process and show you the ropes. Choate has fostered a tradition of giving back and being part of this network has allowed me to reach out to great figures such as Ken Bartels, Michael Ojunga, Jan Beyea, Eric Abrahamson, and Todd Ackerman were both kind-hearted and bright individuals, passing on their knowledge to current Columbia students. Taking this advice to heart, this summer, I was very fortunate to have made connections with people who are not only experienced and accomplished but also, generous enough to give back to us of the younger generation.

West Coast Connection hosts a summer garden party with President Anthony Agoni and Columbia SoCal alumni in Pasadena

When I first entered the doors of 500 Washington Street in the Financial District, I could not believe that the Asia Society in Northern California only had five people on its staff. This group of people is incredibly efficient and resourceful.  Simply put, they rock at what they do. Each person is a huge player. Wendy Soone-Broder, Bruce Pickering, Robert Bullock, Marcus Jung, and Amanda Hoffman all were warmly patient and instructive to its student interns. At the Asia Society, Wendy Soone-Broder, who is the Senior Development Counselor, introduced me to the world of non-profit. I could not have had a more savvy or poised mentor. At tParnassus Investments office on Market Street in the Embarcaderohe essence of the Asia Society's achievement is its expansive network. Wendy does a tremendous job with outreach, fostering connections with interesting and intelligent people, so that the Asia Society is able to hold assemblies made up of the top experts in Asian topics who foster dialogue with a wide audience of eager listeners. The better the panelists, the more riveting the discussion, and the more fun and successful the event. Wendy showed me what it takes to build and maintain a network--what to research and who to contact. She is phenomenal at knowing basically everyone in San Francisco. From her, I learned that building relationships exposes you to a wealth of information and opportunity. I am very thankful to gain experience and get introduced to the non-profit world under Wendy's direction. 

My internship at Parnassus Investments, which is a leading company of the SRI arena in San Francisco, was an eye-opening experience as well. Jerome Dodson, the Chairman at Parnassus, is a fantastic role model to not only the members of the Parnassus team, but also to the gTaking a lunch break at the Ferry Buildingreater San Francisco community. Mr. Dodson believes that social values do not have to be sacrificed in order to be profitable; rather, social responsibility can be a factor in making money. These principles are reflected in Parnassus's Workplace Fund, which has been soaring in value even in this current economic downturn. The idea is that companies that treat their employees well perform better. And it all starts in Parnassus's very own office from the top down.

Mr. Dodson is a fantastic boss and person. Mr. Dodson is hard-working and professional; yet, he always has a bright smile on his face. He fosters the idea of giving back, emphasizing the importance of community service work and being a well-rounded individual, and I am very fBen Allen and me during a day at the Parnassus officeortunate to work for a company and a leader with good core human values. The Parnassus internship program is such a wonderful learning opportunity where interns really get a piece of the action. As an intern, I was not fetching coffee and filing papers; Parnassus entrusted and expected me to contribute. Although there was a lot to learn about accounting, stocks, and financials, I got the hang of it with hard work and a ton of research. And without the support and help from the other team members, I could not have gained so much great experience. Ben Allen, who is a Portfolio Manager and the Research Department head guided me through the nuts and bolts of everything.

Mr. Allen is exceedingly well-read, quick-witted yet personable and down-to-earth. I think I learned more about today's economy in one conversation with him than my intermediate micro course this past semester. He is that eloquent and smart. Also, the younger co-workers in the office, Vidya and Brenden were so welcoming and generous in offering me help and advice with getting adjusted to the Parnassus culture and understanding some of the stock jargon I was not yet used to. It is these people who are willing to share their experiences, knowledge, and perspectives that have made my time at Parnassus well worth it.

Over this summer, I was lucky enough to have two internship opportunities. Although my internships at the Asia Society and Parnassus Investments were very different experiences, they both pointed to some of the same basic lessons and shared a lot of the same values. Both the Asia Society and Parnassus Investments work hard to make a positive contribution to the community. Being successful doesn't mean throwing ideals out the window; rather, the success of these two places comes from finding the value in creating a positive social impact. Also, I realized that people who want to help you are dynamite-having these relationships really has made my time here.

Parnassus President Dodson and me take a photo together in office attire

August 5, 2009

As a San Francisco native, I'm going to talk about my favorite places to go to in the city/ things you have to go to and see.

The top 3 things you must do/see in San Francisco are: 1) sample the freshest fruit and cheese around the Ferry Plaza's farmer's market on Sunday morning; 2) get scared by the bush man in Fisherman's wharf after grabbing a burger at In-N-Out; and 3) walk along the Marina at sunset. The Farmer's Market at the Ferry Plaza is a fantastic place to taste local produce-definitely try the "Pluots": a hybrid plum and apricot. They are pretty interesting and tasty. The bush man is a San Francisco legend, who makes his living popping out behind branches and scaring the tourists. Bring your friends and a camera and enjoy watching them get freaked. Walking around the Marina on the green and watching the sun set under the Golden Gate is on the bay will probably be the moment you will give your heart to this city.

My favorite 5 restaurants to go to in the city are: The House Restaurant, Little Star, Bodega Bistro, San Tung, Nob Hill Cafe. The House is my all time favorite restaurant. As a Chinese-American, I don't like the term "Asian Fusion" but the food served here is the most delicious and beautiful morsels of goodness you will try. You MUST try the appetizer salmon rolls and for dessert, the mango tapioca pudding and flourless chocolate cake are tremendous. Little Star is amazingly good pizza. The crust is crispy and full of flavor-deep dish is scrumptious but thin crust is the way to go. Note: only open after 5 pm. Bodega Bistro is the best Vietnamese food you will ever find on the west coast. The pho here is the best noodles I have ever had in my life and I have eaten A LOT of noodles before-beef stew pho-order this. Bodega Bistro is located in the Tenderloin, which is in a bit dodgy part of town, but nothing a Morningside Height student cannot handle-just go for lunch in the day time. San Tung is the best Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area-dry fried chicken, fried rice, and dumplings here are a must try. This place is always packed with locals so be sure to get there early! Nob Hill Cafe is the cutest little Italian place that has the most delicious carbonara ever. I have lived in North Beach, aka Little Italy, all my life and have yet to find pasta that can match the carbonara at Nob Hill.

On another note, you must grab a burrito in the Mission district. 

Basically any place filled with locals is where you should sample. So tasty. 

As you can tell, the Bay Area does not mess around when it comes to food.

July 10, 2009

At the beginning of July, I left my first internship at the Asia Society and started working at my second internship with Parnassus Investments. Located on 1 Market Street right by the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, Parnassus Investments is a buy-side boutique investment firm involved with Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). The goal of Parnassus is to invest in companies that have the potential for long-term growth and that benefit the greater community in some way, whether it be through the environment, managerial principles, etc. Parnassus's holding companies are SRIs; however, Parnassus as a firm never sacrifices its financial discipline. To put it simply, Parnassus is a group that collects money from people and buys a bunch of stocks of about 40 different companies, but under the condition that all these companies have their moral and ethical principles in line.

The firm consists of 27 people, and I am the youngest intern here who have ever worked here. The culture of the office is very different from that of the Asia Society. Because it is an investment firm, the culture is fairly formal; however, we do enjoy a fair bit of humor. Parnassus is very team-oriented and the management treats its employees greatly. The President and Founder, Jerome Dodson, is generous in helping out employees with living and transportation subsidies, and even treats his employees out to Giants games at SBC Park at the company's skybox including hot dogs and garlic fries. Mr. Dodson's idea is that companies that take care of their employees perform better in the long run.

Although it is only my first week here, I have learned a lot concerning markets, stocks, and accounting. The first few days I was here, I was handed a stack of sell-side reports from a bunch of groups such as CitiGroup, Credit Suisse, etc. about NIKE. The summary was pretty understandable for the most part. The bit that I was lost on was the numbers and graphs, as I do not have a lot of experience in the stock/bond market and do not frequently keep up with DOW or S&P 500 Markets. Terminology like CFROI (Cash Flow Return on Investment) and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation Amortization) were things that I had never seen before. So the first few days I was here, I was using a lot of Wikipedia, Investopedia.com, and asking my more senior co-workers a bunch of questions. They are all extremely helpful and actually enjoy reaching out to give me advice.

In addition, during my lunch hours, there are so many delicious food options around. The best thing to do is go down to the Ferry Plaza. On Thursdays and Saturdays, all the organic food vendors are out to sell the freshest and most tasty fruits, meats, cheeses, breads, and whatever you can think of. There's an oyster place that has a good Happy Hour for raw oysters Tuesdays and Thursday and the Slanted Door is awesome for business lunches. You just can't beat the diversity and freshness of food, especially seafood, here in San Francisco. I'm looking forward to working here with the Parnassus team, learning more about investing, and enjoying a tasty summer.

June 25, 2009 

My internship is at the Asia Society Northern California, which is a non-profit organization that facilitates dialogue about Asian and Asian-American topics. Topics range from the link between Asia and the States during this financial crisis, green economics and sustainable growth, to an event called "For the Love of Ramen" with the creator of Momofuku Noodle as the keynote. The Asia Society has several branches in cities all over the nation and world, including New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, and Australia. Because the Asia Society is one of the world's most well-established and largest organizations in the world, we are able to bring in fantastic speakers who are at the top of their fields.

For a five-person office, the Asia Society in San Francisco does a lot. My title is "Program and Development Intern." Basically, I do a whole lot of different things at my job and every day is different. The project I'm working on right now is to put together an event regarding the Private Sector's investment in Chinese companies and projects that improve environmental conditions and promote sustainable growth. I am an East Asian Studies Major, specializing in Economics, specifically China. Luckily, because we are a small office, I work directly with the Program Director, who is giving me the freedom to organize my very own event. This includes a ton of research, e-mails to CEO's and directors of companies and organizations, and making phone calls to get sponsorships.

I absolutely love working at the Asia Society. Although during the events, I have to actually work, running around the Westin St. Francis to make sure there are enough chairs and hot water for coffee, registering people into events at check-in, etc., I also have the opportunity to learn a great deal from these amazing speakers. My third day at the Asia Society, I got to hear China's top-notch economist Qi Bin speak (who is the equivalent of our Ben Bernanke) and network with our sponsors, including partners and executives at companies like Deloitte and CitiBank who are committed to bridging connections with the East and staying connected with the San Francisco community.

I'm learning a lot about how events are put together and how to network. Even though simple things like sending e-mails and gathering business cards is simple and any one can do it, doing these tasks enables me to see the bigger picture of how things run. Some of it is doing what you are told to do and to do it well, but the greater part of working is to take the initiative upon yourself to do tasks that you are not asked to do-to look ahead at the next step and to do the things before your boss even tells you to do them. For example, my boss only asked for me to find out which companies were the winners of the SF Business Times Green Awards 2009. But I went ahead and researched the companies, typed up brief summaries about all of them, and researched all the companies' contact information. When I gave my boss the print-out, she said, "Sam, this is exactly what I wanted." Because I realized the bigger picture quickly, and really invested a lot of energy into my work, my credibility at the office has grown and I have quickly gained respect amongst my superiors and co-workers.