Tech Exposure Day 2023

I got to carpool with another PayPal volunteer as we were both staying at the same hotel. Once we entered the underground area, we were ultimately blown away as we walked into the stadium. I could not believe that we were literally on the field! It was a surreal feeling and made the experience that much sweeter. We set up our booth with our PayPal swag of stickers, notebooks, pens, flags, and more and had a couple of tokens for the Scavenger hunt where they would answer questions to be entered for a $1,000 scholarship, PS5, and more. I also got to connect with fellow PayPalians ( Mario, Mukesh, and Katie) who I had never met before. It was inspiring to hear their backgrounds and the excitement that they had as well around making an impact in these students’ careers.

The students started coming in and before we knew it, we were talking to groups of students who were curious about PayPal, what internships PayPal offers, and more about what I do at PayPal and the Pay Later space. It was amazing to hear them share about their career aspirations such as a Software Engineer, Pilot, Cybersecurity, Social worker, psychologist, and more. I was also able to help those who didn’t know what they wanted to pursue as a career yet. By mainly asking more about what they enjoyed doing for fun, students shared that they enjoyed drawing art with pens, drawing graphic designs digitally, and making a game on a calculator. There were so many great questions being asked as well such as “How does PayPal prevent fraud?”, “What coding languages does PayPal use?”, “Does PayPal have jobs in marketing? Or social media?”, and “Do you feel represented as a woman in tech?”. The morning flew by so quickly that I was shocked when it was 1:30 pm and it was time to start packing up our booth. We only had a few stickers left too!

As the event was ending, I managed to get a dance video to also capture my excitement and joy. I’m so thankful for this opportunity, being able to share it with the other PayPalians, and I left Atlanta with a full heart.

I arrived on Wednesday around 3 PM and managed to get in a couple of wins:

1. Visit the Georgia Aquarium.
2. Meet up with my coworker and his wife for dinner.

My plane had arrived earlier than expected so I went to the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in the United States and was able to spend 2 hours in the aquarium! Once I had entered the aquarium, I went straight to the Ocean Voyager exhibit. I was amazed by the whale sharks, the different fish, the tunnel, and the large movie-screen-like view of the tank.

I managed to get some dance videos too in both the tunnel and movie-screen-like wall of the Ocean Voyager, and by the belugas as I feel that I’m able to remember the experience better through improvisational movement in real-time. In addition, I saw the belugas, sea otters, deep sea fish, and sea lions. I also crawled through the 3ft tunnels to experience how tall the puffins are and see them up close.

I was able to meet my coworker and his wife in-person for the first time and we walked around the Ponce City Market before deciding what to eat. Both curious about the ramen scene and having a craving for ramen, I got the opportunity to choose where we went for dinner so I chose Ton Ton Ramen & Yakitori. I got the Hakata Tonkatsu Classic and the broth was so savory! Afterwards, we still had some room for dessert and got Salted Caramel Brownie gelato at Honeysuckle Gelato. It hit the spot!

I also got to stay at the Marriott Marquis and was blown away by both the architecture and just how many floors there were. The elevators looked futuristic and were so fast! I stayed on the 30th floor and had a great view of the city. This was only about a 5 min drive from the stadium.

While my time in Atlanta was short, I’m so grateful to have been able to share my experience and connect with local students in Atlanta, appreciate the sea life, and last but most certainly not least, get to meet up with my teammate in person. There’s a lot of inspiration in Atlanta from the art to the studies and I’m so thankful to have been a part of Tech Exposure Day and represent PayPal!