Dorothy Dinh

About

What are the highlights of your time in LFS and UBC?

My favourite highlight at UBC was the beautiful campus. I recently moved away to Toronto and realized how much I missed the beautiful scenic nature on UBC campus.

Another highlight is the Starbucks inside the UBC Life building. I showed up to that Starbucks at the same time on Tuesdays and Thursdays for over a year and eventually, the Starbucks employees knew my regular order, which I thought was so sweet!

How do you stay connected to LFS and your alumni community?

I have made incredible mentors at UBC, which has allowed me to stay connected to LFS and the alumni community. My mentors are primarily graduate students in LFS and through our mentor-mentee relationship, I am able to stay up-to-date on research in LFS and other fun news in the LFS community.

How has your degree program given you the skills to set up your two small businesses, Bare Necessity and Finding Panda?

My degree taught me valuable research skills, which I used to set up my small businesses. I applied my research skills to conduct research on social media analytics and trends, and in doing so, I was able to grow my TikTok community to 69k followers in less than 6 months.

Can you share your top tips to starting up your own business in this ever-changing work environment?

Use social media to leverage your business, by paying attention to trends and social media analytics, because social media is such a powerful marketing tool that anyone can learn how to use.

And finally, what was your favorite hangout while studying at UBC? Your favorite place to eat?

My favourite place to hangout was the new life building during my last two years because there were always places to sit, while my favourite place to eat was the Soup Market in the AMS Nest because I was obsessed with their $4 grilled cheese sandwiches.