I was invited to apply for a complimentary student ticket to the 2024 Forbes Under 30 Summit. I applied, was accepted, and decided to make the trip to Cincinnati! It’s been awhile since I did “One Day in the Life” so I figured I’d do another version, but this time with a day that is quite different.
Here is Forbes Under 30 Summit - Day 1: Kickoff
8:00 am: Wake up. Get ready for the day.
8:30 am: Breakfast at the hotel. Sausage, biscuits and gravy, and apple juice.
Breakfast to 11:15 am: Chill, watch some YouTube, listen to music.
11:15 am to 1:15 pm: Work on an assignment for my Seriously Comics course. As a senior, I'm exploring outside of my major and general education requirements. For this assignment, I analyzed the visual elements of a title page from Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther’s Rage.
1:15 pm to 3:00 pm: Create social media posts introducing the members of a committee I'm on for the Chinese Adoptee Alliance (CAA), a nonprofit supporting adoptees from China.
3:00 pm to 5:15ish: Work on an essay about the film Chan is Missing for my American Cinema course. I talk about how mise-en-scene is used deliberately to humanize the Chinese American community.
5:15 to 5:35ish: Get dressed! The dress code is smart casual, and for some reason, I think it's wise to wear a suit. Oh well.
5:40 to 5:46ish: Rideshare to the event.
5:48 to 6:13: Register, get my badge, and an Under 30 water bottle (pre-filled). At this point, I'm quite nervous so I take sips from my newly acquired water bottle as I walk onto the green in front of the venue and scope out the environment. There are beverages, tacos, tables, outdoor furniture, and Forbes backboards for photo ops. I decide to head toward the food and manage to snag some of the beef tacos before they're gone. As I eat, I talk to a group of people on the green before heading into the venue. It’s hard to speak with a mouthful of meat, that’s for sure, but I do get to mention how important it is to vote, especially for young people who have low turnout!
6:13 to 6:36ish: Inside the venue, there's a floor level in front of the stage, but no seats. As a short person, I know not only what aching knees and feet feel like from standing, but also an aching neck from craning to see above the crowd. So, I choose to sit on the first elevated level, find a seat I like, and text family members. Soon, someone sits down next to me with chocolate covered strawberries so I inquire about where I can find them.
6:40ish: After minimal searching...success! There's a table with strawberry cups. Also, they have truffle popcorn and charcuterie cups. This is unusual for me, but I'm not feeling the charcuterie cups so instead retrieve my cup of popcorn and stand in line for chocolate to be drizzled over my strawberries.
6:50 to 7:00ish: Talk a bit with other people next to me, find out what they do/study, and more about their interests.
7:00ish: The start of the event: Opening remarks by the Executive Director of the summit and from the CEO of JobsOhio.
7:10ish: Xandra, the Cincinnati-based DJ comes on.
7:40ish to 7:50ish (time gets kind of hazy here, wasn’t checking my phone as much): Shaboozey takes the stage and sings his iconic country hit among others.
8:33: Metro Boomin starts djing his own music.
9:00ish: I feel done for the day and leave the venue, catching a ride in one of their interesting-looking carts back to my hotel. I happen to meet a really cool person in the cart who encourages me to continue going down a policy pathway!
9:20ish: Call my family and debrief the evening.
11:00ish: Finish my drafts of the social media posts and submit them.
11:10ish: Start writing this blog post.
Wind down, chill, go to sleep.
