There are plenty of of misconceptions surrounding coding, many view it as a career for geeks but breaking this myth is Michelle Sun, Founder and CEO of First Code Academy. With both beauty and brains, Michelle Sun launched First Code Academy, a coding school for kids in Hong Kong in 2013.
Growing up, Michelle wasn’t a tech- geek but a straight A’s student interested in maths. After graduating with an Economic degree from the University of Chicago, she hustled her way through the world of finance as a banker for Goldman Sachs. During this time, she was exposed to the technology field and learned how to code. This lead to shifting from the financial world to the technology industry. She headed to Silicon Valley and spent weekends teaching young students how to code at a community program at Stanford University which laid the foundation for First Code Academy. We chatted to Michelle about her greatest accomplishment and some of the low points in her career.
- A growth mindset: an entrepreneur’s job is all encompassing and ultimately involves solving new problems every day. In order to be resilient from setback and challenges, one needs to focus on a growth mindset and view challenges as opportunities to grow.
- Persistence: building a startup involves getting our heads bang on the wall all the time. Believe in your ideas and do not give up in face of rejection.
- Optimism: choose to see the bright side of each incident and focus on the long term goal.

- Barcelona: I love the happy, passionate people and of course the beautiful Gaudi architectures.
- Cape Town: I visited there for World Cup and can’t wait to be back again! It’s a beautiful city, Table Mountain was surreal, and drive to Cape Point was breath taking. I also loved playing with Penguins up close :)
- San Francisco: I lived there for 1 year and a half and it changed my life. It’s a place full of possibilities, where people are keen to help each other fulfil their dreams.
- Leather jacket
- Converse shoes
- Black skinny jeans
- A basic DVF wrap dress
- Black suit jacket
- Family and
- My iPhone and wifi
- A good book
- A good workout
- Feeling inspired
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