Starting at a very young age, I learned the value of benevolence and the importance of giving back to my community. During my freshmen year of high school, after having volunteered at many school-sponsored community outreach programs, I became determined to do more. I realized that in order for me to take this a step forward and make an imprint in my community, I had to think critically about how
I could truly make a change. In 2012 I started my own non-profit business to raise money for a charity, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). I started Shooting For A Cure after discovering a marketing void for inexpensive photography. One hundred percent of my earnings go to the JDRF, so my customers feel that they are contributing to the community as well. Interestingly, I originally discovered this organization at a Pixar film premiere, where JDRF happened to be sponsoring the evening. I immediately became attached to the mission and the supporters of the charity. My hopes and desires for Shooting For A Cure were aligned with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation beautifully; it was like we were meant to be together all along. I took my passion for taking photos and my creative business idea and started to build a small company. In order to develop a successful business I had to think critically and creatively as to what was needed to assemble all of the pieces to grow and manage a company. I learned that I needed a marketing effort to attract clients as well as an operations component to photo-shop pictures and maintain a website. Several of the pieces came easily to me, like the operations and accounting, and therefore I was able to quickly put them in place. The more challenging component was the marketing effort as it involved the promotion of my services to many local wineries, social events, and families, and all strangers who I did not know. The toughest part was hearing over and over that my business would not be manageable by myself. However, over the four years and to this day, my determination and drive has paid off. I have been able to raise thousands of dollars for JDRF; and along the way I have successfully built a large following of returning customers. I have learned a lot about myself through growing and cultivating my business. As I started to talk about my business plan and ideas for my company, many responded with doubts that a thirteen year-old kid could solely manage a non-profit business. Fortunately, all of their discouraging statements drove me to prove them wrong. I felt a fire growing within me. I was soon able to develop strong entrepreneurial instincts and gain the confidence to take an idea and transform it into a successful reality. As I collected donations from each event I photographed, my determination grew and my early fears faded. I never gave up and remained eager to take risks and think outside of the box. Amazingly, in addition to the non-profit I was pursuing outside of my school environment, I discovered a way I could incorporate my research and non-profit business work into Shooting For A Cure. During my Sophomore year of high school, I decided to begin a capstone project revolving around the incorporation of academics and philanthropy work. Sonoma Academy’s Global Citizenship Concentration was an overarching focus of study weaving together a series of classes starting in my Sophomore year with a completion of a final capstone project upon my graduation. The Connections concentration was a project linked with my non-profit business, which studied the global impact of JDRF’s presence on type one diabetes all around the world. With the knowledge and experiences I was able to take from my past classes, including International Relations, World History, and Economics, I developed further understanding of the global issues and business affairs around the world and continued with the growth of my business.
