To define who I am, I need to know and understand who I am first. But if I let go of who I am, I'll become who I'm not. Made that myself by the way. Hi my name is Hoang Tran and I am currently a student at luther burbank high school. I play for the school's tennis and volleyball team. And in the pursuit of wanting to do business. But recently I realized that in this world people can't really be themselves. Including myself. But I also realized that other people are also realizing this too, but ending up becoming what they aren't meant to be. So I always find myself wearing a mask, at school, home, around my friends, and the people I talk to. 

Doesn't that sound upsetting. Knowing that your whole life you're just being something that you don't want to be so you can meet that person's expectation. This can also relate to business and how it works. For example, how a business presents itself to the public. This involves things like branding, marketing, and customer service. A business may "wear a mask" to portray a particular image or impression in order to target a specific audience. Like what tiktok and other social media apps are using. The reason why I decided that I wanted to do business is because number one is to make a lot of money. The most obvious and simplest answer that everyone would say. But for me it's more than just making money. I'm motivated by a desire to invent something new, find a solution to a problem, or release a new product or service. Through entrepreneurship, I can make ideas a reality.

One of my favorite movies is “The Wolf of Wall Street.” You can probably tell because I've been talking about doing business and making money. That's mainly what the movie is about. But the way he makes all that money is by wearing a mask. The way he uses it is by using aggressive and high-pressure sales techniques. They would cold call potential investors and use persuasive tactics to convince them to buy the stocks they were promoting. Another example is that Belfort and his company engaged in pump-and-dump schemes, which involved artificially inflating the prices of low-value stocks (referred to as "penny stocks"). They dissolved their own interests at a profit after driving the stock prices higher, leaving investors with worthless shares. Now that's called evil. Of course I would never do that, but it shows how people can easily change depending on who they are talking to.

In the future I want to be the best version of myself. To always be polite, kind, and humble. Always have a smile, always train very hard, always work very hard to go to a collage, make as much money as possible. Then get a good paying job. Do that for a couple years and start my own business, most likely in clothing. To make as much money as possible so I can look after the people I care about. That's the person I strive to be in the future.

In conclusion I wear a mask, you wear a mask, we all wear masks. We all don't really have a choice. I wear it to keep me, my family, and friends happy. I want to meet everyone's expectation of what I can do and achieve. But I learned to know when to use that mask in certain situations that can help me achieve my goals and dreams.  Not just me but for my family. Be good to do good.