Rebeca Hwang: The power of diversity within yourself
Rebeca Hwang: El poder de la diversidad dentro de uno mismo.
Rebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, investing in solutions for women and empowering their choices. Full bio
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for my mother to come back
esperando a que mamá vuelva
una cirugía por cáncer ese día.
had cancer surgery that day.
de muerte era ser enterrada
was to be buried back home in Korea."
and when the shock wore off,
después del sobresalto,
resonaban en mis oídos.
to be buried back home.
¡de vuelta en casa!
a Argentina hacía seis años,
to Argentina six years prior,
ni de qué íbamos a vivir.
or how we were going to make a living.
who had lost everything,
que lo habían perdido todo,
to rebuild our lives.
para reconstruir nuestras vidas.
que después de todos estos años
that after all these years,
a mí ser enterrada algún día,
to be buried someday,
yo consideraba mi hogar
a lifelong quest for my identity.
una búsqueda de identidad interminable.
ya soy 80 % vaca al día de hoy
that I'm probably 80 percent cow by now;
a la mantequilla de maní.
I felt very much Argentinian,
me sentía muy argentina,
en la secundaria,
of middle school,
entró al salón.
came into the room.
y dijo:
el español con fluidez,
in Spanish already,
coreana o argentina, pero no ambas.
either Korean or Argentinian,
a mi antigua identidad
decidí ir a Corea,
I decided to go to Korea,
finalmente un lugar al cual llamar hogar.
a place to call home.
with a Spanish accent?"
con acento español?".
because of your big eyes
ojos grandes y un lenguaje corporal raro".
demasiado coreana para ser argentina,
too Korean to be Argentinian,
para ser coreana.
fue esencial para mí.
un lugar en el mundo para llamarlo hogar.
in the world to call home.
tipo de japoneses que hablan
who speak with a Spanish accent --
para ser exactos,
Argentinian accent --
significar una ventaja.
that was rapidly changing,
que cambiaba rápidamente,
obsolete overnight.
podrían volverse obsoletas de pronto.
for that 100 percent commonality
coincidencia perfecta
I was the only overlap
yo era la única coincidencia
usually in conflict with each other.
usualmente en conflicto entre ellos.
of the different versions of myself --
versiones de mí misma,
reinventarme a mí misma.
to reinvent myself at times.
debo confesar que era una mega-nerd.
thick glasses, simple hairstyle --
lentes gruesos, peinado simplón,
because I shared my homework.
porque les pasaba las tareas.
identidad para mí misma,
a new identity for myself,
too much credit for that.
si pueda tener mucho crédito.
pero lo bueno es raro".
que mis asesores bromeaban
that my advisors joked
in "random studies."
"estudios aleatorios".
un montón de identidades distintas.
a lot of different identities.
emprendedora, innovadora social.
entrepreneur, social innovator.
estaba tan confundido,
que mis amigos lo llamaban
puede ser muy complicado.
resistencia por momentos.
mi doctorado,
no parecía tan interesante
didn't seem as interesting
muy tradicionales padres coreanos,
traditional Korean parents,
que iba a abandonar el doctorado.
from my PhD program.
éramos la primera generación
generation to go to university,
una familia de inmigrantes,
this was kind of a big deal.
this conversation was going to go.
esa conversación.
yo tenía mi arma secreta.
a secret weapon with me,
de todos los graduados
the average income of all of the graduates
los que habían abandonado
of all the dropouts
había sido definitivamente sesgada
was definitely skewed
mi búsqueda de identidad
is no longer to find my tribe.
aceptar todas las posibles variantes
permutations of myself
la diversidad dentro de mí
tres años uno y cinco meses el otro;
and five months old today,
y cuatro idiomas.
with three nationalities
mi esposo es de Dinamarca de hecho,
is actually from Denmark --
suficientes choques culturales en mi vida.
culture shocks in my life,
serán los primeros vikingos
will be the first Vikings
crecer la barba cuando sean grandes.
growing a beard when they become older.
that their multiplicity
encontrarán que su multiplicidad
muchas puertas en sus vidas,
for them in their lives,
de encontrar coincidencias
to find commonality
globalizado cada día.
increasingly global today.
ansiosos y preocupados
anxious and worried
irrelevante un buen día,
irrelevant someday,
propia narrativa e identidad.
narrative and identity.
su singular combinación
their unique combination
y culturas y habilidades
and cultures and skills
utilizadas para alejar
to alienate what looks different,
sino para unir a las personas.
realmente espero que encuentren
that they find tremendous joy
estos territorios desconocidos
uncharted territories,
her last lesson to me.
la última enseñanza que me dejó.
volver a Corea y ser enterrada allá.
about going back to Korea
descansar junto a su hijo,
de que se fuera para Argentina.
she moved to Argentina.
el océano que dividía
puntos de coincidencia.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rebeca Hwang - InvestorRebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, investing in solutions for women and empowering their choices.
Why you should listen
Rebeca Hwang is co-founder and managing director of Rivet Ventures, which invests in companies in women-led markets where female usage, decision-making and purchasing are crucial to company growth. Hwang is also co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup YouNoodle, which connects top startups with opportunities for growth. She also co-founded Kalei Ventures, a venture fund focused in Latin American startups.
With a background in chemical and civil and environmental engineering from MIT and Stanford, Hwang's work has garnered three US patents, and she has 17 pending patent applications in her portfolio. She has been recognized as one of MIT Tech Review's "Top 35 Global Innovators under 35" and as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Hwang serves in the Board of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, which annually runs GEW in 170 countries and gathers 10 million participants. As the co-founder of Cleantech Open, she has helped more than 1,000 cleantech startups raise in excess of $1 billion in external funding. In addition, Hwang is a lecturer at Stanford University and teaches technology entrepreneurship.
Rebeca Hwang | Speaker | TED.com