Carolyn M. (IN A NUTSHELL)

Carolyn is a junior at Stanford University pursuing a major in Economics. Growing up as the daughter of two war refugees of the Vietnam War, staying close to her Vietnamese culture has been an important aspect of her life. She grew up playing the dan tranh, a traditional Vietnamese instrument, to perform at various events including the White House’s Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Vietnam’s biggest national television network. In high school, she took a variety of A.P. courses, including U.S. and World History, Calculus I and II, and Literature. She was also President of her school's National Honor Society and Captain of the debate club, where she received third place in state in policy debate. On her own, she developed a curiosity of personal finance, which she explored further at Stanford. At Stanford, Carolyn joined various finance organizations on campus and soon took leadership positions in those organizations, such as Co-President of the Stanford Real Estate Club and VP of Recruiting of Stanford Finance. She dedicates her time encouraging underrepresented groups to explore finance as a possible career path and adopting mentees to help them through the recruiting process for various firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and KKR. She’s also the Culture Night Director of Stanford Vietnamese Association, where she plans the biggest Vietnamese event of the year at Stanford’s campus to showcase Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese students’ talents. Outside of her organizations, Carolyn likes going out for boba runs, dancing with her friends, watching basketball and soccer highlights, and playing Brawl Stars, a mobile-app battle arena game similar to Clash of Clans. As a mentor at Curious Cardinals, Carolyn hopes to inspire the next generation of underrepresented communities to pursue careers in finance, explore their family and ethnic histories, and engage in social activism.