Tell us about yourself:

I am someone that wakes up in the morning and tries to make positive changes in society, one step at a time. I believe that anything is possible given the correct mindset, ambition, and effort. I believe a fear that leads to inaction is the greatest blockade towards progress. I am constantly trying to find new ways to break out of the mold and solve problems everyone faces, and I never allow fear or the thought of failure to slow me down. I was born into a family of entrepreneurs. My biological father, who died of esophageal cancer, started his own business. The man who I now call father is also an entrepreneur and a pioneer in the medical device field. My mother, who worked at Stanford, raised me to be fiercely independent, outgoing, and ambitious. When I was young I was terrified of socializing and failure. My mother helped break me of these fears. As a kid she forced me to interact with adults, whether it was knocking on neighborhood doors, answering the phone calls, or always sitting at the grown up table. Years later the independence and maturity that I learned from her was extremely valuable in graduating college and starting my own profitable company. I had to pay my own way through college. I did this by waiting tables. After college I decided I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps and start my own company. In order to do this I sold my car, paid myself nothing, and worked at a bar at night to help fund my company. Now I am proud to be CEO and founder of my own profitable online marketing company, A Family Friend Group (AFFG), and launching a new revolutionary tech company, Pied Parker. If anyone can learn anything from my story, I want it to be that they should never be afraid to talk to anyone or to go after anything. Do not approach projects fearfully and half-heartedly, and believe in yourself.

What is your innovation/idea?

Parking sucks. Even if you have a parking space, the general lack of parking spaces and the mismanagement of other parking spaces cause massive traffic congestion and environmental damage. Parking in big cities is inefficient and a waste of everybody’s time.  Pied Parker wants to change the way parking works, or currently does not work, in big cities. Pied Parker will revolutionize parking and create brand new parking spaces. We will do this by allowing homeowners to rent out their driveways when they are not home, creating revenue for the homeowners and additional parking spaces for drivers. In the future, we also aim to have free parking and garage parking on our app. We envision a world where no one has to drive around searching for parking because our app shows them exactly where to go. We strongly believe that Pied Parker will modernize the parking industry, decrease city congestion, and save everybody valuable time.   

Why are you participating in this competition?

Cancer is a topic that affects all of us. I lost my biological father to cancer, so the fight against cancer has always held a strong place in my heart. Beyond that, I have a great respect for those who have dedicated their lives to the daunting task of curing cancer, and I want to support them however I can.