Summer 2025

Phew!

Heya! This newsletter has been long overdue. A lot has happened, some happy things, some not so much but packed with learning opportunities. Enjoy the read :)

We had all the girls in SF for 2h, tinkered with Arduino, found Shrek in my matcha latte, hosted hackathon, met Kate Rubins, Brian Johnson, Jia, my housing situation…, Pepin Lab

Here’s where I’ve been since last writing:

(April) Raleigh/Durham → Boston → RDU → (May) Raleigh/Durham → San Francisco → Vancouver → Boston → Vancouver → (June) San Francisco → Vancouver → (July) Boston → (August) San Francisco → (soon) Vancouver → Raleigh/Durham

🙂 All the things I’m proud of myself for (Summarized)

Those who are close know that I love complimenting others, but have a hard time feeling proud of myself. So here it is:

• I moved out of Duke on my own with two oversized suitcases, which I had to re-check through security at my connection.

• I called the organizer of a conference and hustled my way into a ticket (otherwise costs $4000) for SynBioBeta.

• I hosted a hackathon with some girls who isolated me and treated me condescendingly—likely because (a) I’m a few years younger, and (b) I don’t go to MIT.

• I hustled a research position at Griffith’s Group (TLDR: flew to MIT for the PI’s talk, gave her a thank-you card, got serendipitously reconnected) → fell through b/c visa

• I moved into my room in Boston in 100-degree weather without air conditioning with ~25 sq feet functional room—with help from my best friend.

• I wanted to be mentored by a PhD student, so I would work 6PM-12AM every day after my 9AM-6PM internship for two weeks and made a video explaining her most recent paper and built a project based on it. → The hustle didn’t work out, and I didn’t land the position.

For full list here.

😳 You’re goofy, Amy…

• When I crash at a friend’s place, I usually fill up their fridge before I leave as a gesture of thanks. I didn’t realize my friend, Sidd, was vegetarian, so his fridge consists of 90% chicken/beef microwavable meals…

• I’m a hopeless romantic. Went on 10 dates over span of 7 days to exposure-therapy out of it (went on one at a particle accelerator).

• I got kicked out of MIT buildings 2x for shooting my shots

• Found this lil guy on my lawn

• Emma and I went on a 10 mile walk at 4AM cause we were both fed up with life

• I was buying flowers… then I found this :)

  

💭 Lessons I learned

#1: You have to shed a layer of skin to grow. Bloody hurts in the peeling, but you always come out stronger.

#1.5: Nothing can kill you unless you let it. Some days will be harder than others, but you must put on a smile and fight through the day.

#2: Money may not buy you happiness. But it buys the ability to be independent, to buy your ticket away from those who hurt you.

#3: Everything happens for a reason. While we can only see what's in front of us, there is always a larger plan at work.

#4: The past and future are relative. Only the present belongs to you.

#5: Everyone has their own share of struggles. You’re not all that special.

#6: The idea of a "soulmate" isn't as rare as you might think. You are likely compatible with 1 in every 4 people you meet.

#7: It’s probably not going to work. But you miss all the shots you don’t take.

“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough” — Mario Andretti

💻 Projects from last while

Became co-director at HackDuke, published my poetry book, wrote a quick paper on QGAN, hosted the first women’s health x AI hackathon at MIT, ran a social experiment, attended two conferences (Synbiobeta, YC AI Startup School), interned at Massachusetts General Hospital, got $1k grant from Afore.