Even though it's never too late, start early.

Hi Everyone! My name is Ellen Wang and I am a Grade 11 student at Victoria Park C.I.Today, I had the pleasure to attend the Illuminate National High School Leadership Conference with over 170 students globally. Here is my blog which strives to highlight what I learned about Finance and CPA.

"The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority" - Kenneth Blanchard

In the opening keynote, I had the pleasure to learn about the experience of someone who went through lots of changes to really find out what she wanted to do. I relate to this as the vast majority of my family members are engineers, but I wish to be a computer programmer.

As there was an emergency circumstance, we got the opportunity to listen to Alina's inspirational story. She really showed us how to come out of low times and prosper again to become as successful as she is now.

Workshop 2 really taught me about money. The time value of money and the power of compounding was really emphasized and they successfully convinced me to start investing early. I have a few sources of income currently so I'll be sure to look into that.

In the last keynote, she really inspired me to help others and accept help. I can have a big ego sometimes, once I even cried because my mom helped me solve a math problem that I couldn't do because I didn't want to acknowledge that I needed aid. She really showed that needing help isn't a negative thing.

I consider myself an entrepreneur as I like to take risks. I love challenges and the unknown. I thoroughly analyze situations and take the path that I believe would offer the most benefit. I apply this to math competitions when I can choose to take a risk and fill in a question or play it safe. For a five dollar business, I would to tutoring.

I would be looking forward to doing more conferences. NHLC really left a good impression, it taught me about investing and finding myself, and I would love to attend more!

Thanks for reading!!

Ellen:)