Confessions of a Cat-holic (169)

Amanda had a best friend from the engineering student council too. She was just as hot as Amanda. Her name was Nathalie Torres. Nathalie was probably the most talked about female from the engineering school. She took care of her looks; I had never seen her with messy hair or unready for school. She always had a bit of makeup in fashionable outfit. The most important thing was that she was incredibly nice to everyone, including me. She wouldn't have that bitchy face even though she knew she was attractive.

If you saw her in person, she would break all the stereotypes you had for an engineer. She was a mechanical engineer which didn't make her any less feminine. She was half Korean, half Latino, therefore she was fluent in many languages including Spanish and a bit of Korean. She had been in a digital marketing specialist for many years. She worked at I&CO as the Director of Data at I&CO (Inamoto & Co.), which was a business invention firm out in Brooklyn and she helped create new products and services for great clients like Uniqlo, ASICS, Toyota, and Ajinomoto. She was also a teaching fellow at Cornell Tech and Georgia University. The class was about the entrepreneurial spirit. She also enjoyed speaking at a range of events, from a marketing conference in Brazil to welcoming the incoming class of 2024 at her alma mater, well, Columbia University. She was also passionate in hatha yoga and playing games (video, card and board). She had developed insight methodologies and led execution with client teams to humanize data and research. while she was at Digitas, AKQA, Deep Focus.

Sammy and Nathalie Torres both participated at the Date Auction organized by Korean Student Association at Columbia, well, they were both Koreans, right? Sammy, however, lost to Nathalie Torres who received the highest bid at the event. I was quite sure that the guy who offered the highest bid for Nathalie Torres was Leon Williams. That was how they went out on a date. But that was it. Nathalie went out with Brandon Schoettler in an official relationship when they were in college. Brandon Schoettler was also on the engineering student council. He had been working as the managing director for US rates sales at Lehman Brothers, Nomura and Morgan Stanley in New York.

Another notable female representative from Columbia was Kathy Gong Xiaosi. Even though I had never actually seen her in person, I had seen her enough on the press. She got into Columbia the same year as me and I knew about her story from local newspaper Wenhui Po before college even started. She was a maker by passion and by profession. Kathy was awarded as Asia's Top 100 Talents in 2019; ranked in China’s Top 100 Talents by Generation of Tomorrow in 2018; and named her MIT's 35 Innovators under 35 in 2017.

Kathy was China's youngest National Chess Champion and a chess master. She still played chess competitively. During years 2013-2016 Kathy was a member of Foundation Board in World Economic Forums Global Shapers Community. In 2013-2014 she held the Co-chair position in APEC Women Leadership Forum. As a serial entrepreneur and a hardcore gamer since a child, Kathy co-founded WafaGames in 2017 with her two co-founders. WafaGames was dedicated to creating only games that are purposeful and insanely difficult. Prior to cofounding WafaGames, Kathy founded ai.Law which was successfully acquired, a legal robotic start-up that reduced the barriers and costs of engaging legal services and makes law affordable. Since its inception, ai.Law served 3 million users, and 67% of them were women. Kathy was Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Council (CPPCC) in Chengdu; Member of the Foundation Board of Global Shapers Community World Economic Forum (2013-2016); Co-chair of APEC Women Leadership Forum in 2013-2014; and, Image Ambassador of Chengdu’s Young Entrepreneurs.

By the way, Gong Xiaosi went out in an official relationship with my friend from Georgetown, Nicholas Zhang Xinliang. Nicholas Zhang Xinliang was the grandson of former commander-in-chief of the Department of Defense for CCP China.

Nicholas Zhang Xinliang wedded the Wang Yang's daughter Wang Xisha and started Magnolia Capital Management after working at the Soros Fund and UBS in Hong Kong.