DEEP BEDI IS RETHINKING HIS APPROACH TO LIFE
“I’m not going to lie, when I showed up on campus my freshman year, I thought the place was a bit of a country club. Beautiful buildings. Stunning landscape. Amazing views. The vibe just felt different than anything I had experienced to that point in my life. But, as I’ve learned since, different is good. No, different is great!
Coming from a liberally minded upbringing and a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco, I never in a million years would’ve imagined one of my best friends at USD would be a member of ROTC. But that’s exactly what’s happened, and I’ve learned so much from him in a variety of areas.
That’s the really cool thing about USD; because of how small the campus and the classes are, you really get to know people. My perspectives on life have changed so much, and that shift in thinking has manifested itself in how I approach everything from schoolwork to potential business projects.
My degree is in industrial and systems engineering, which sounds pretty niche-oriented in terms of my career path. But to me, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I love business, and I’m constantly thinking about new ways to connect the research and problem-solving components of engineering with the innovation and outside-the-box perspective you need to turn a good idea into a successful professional venture.
Right now, I’m developing two websites that I’m really excited about. One is cloudeas.com, and the basic premise is to create an online community for people who have some really great business ideas, and who are looking for feedback and collaboration. In a way, it’s like a Facebook for aspiring entrepreneurs. I like to call it social ideaism.
I’m also working on a site called chargesocial.com, which offers customers the opportunity to invest money from their credit and debit card purchases toward a charity of their choice. Much of the inspiration for this site came from USD’s commitment to social responsibility.
We’ve all heard, ‘Every little bit helps,’ or ‘A little goes a long way,’ but as president of USD’s Student International Business Council, I got the chance to see firsthand just how vital our support can be to those less fortunate.
About a year ago, I took a trip to Sierra Leone in West Africa with some fellow USD students, and we worked with a nonprofit organization called Peace-Links to provide support for aspiring women entrepreneurs in the region. We taught them how to market the Gara, a traditional piece of clothing commonly worn in the country, along with basic business practices like accounting, inventory and marketing. We had women traveling from all over the country just to hear us talk. That’s when it really hit me how what we might deem as a relatively simple and straightforward project could have such a profound impact.
Sometimes I have to laugh when I think back to my first impressions of USD. I never would’ve guessed that a place I kind of wrote off at first glance could’ve made such a huge impact on my life. But I guess it just goes to show that you can never judge a book by its cover.”
— Deep Bedi ’11, BA,
Industrial and Systems Engineering
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