Hi friends! I’m Tobi Yoon! I’m a second-year biomedical engineering, entrepreneur, and dog lover! I also own a startup (more on that later). I’ve lived at the Lassonde Studios for the past two years, and I’m stoked to show you a day in my life!
8 a.m.
We’ve got a long day ahead of us! I try my best to wake up at 8 a.m. I live in a loft at Lassonde Studios — here’s a photo of my living room. Last semester I woke up every day at 6 a.m., but that trend was short-lived because it was absolutely awful.
Here’s a photo of my yummy breakfast I bought at the Miller Cafe, right downstairs from my dorm. Ninety percent of the time I eat breakfast down here I’m in my pajamas. That’s the beauty of having a cafe only a few floors from your room — no shame.
9:30 a.m.
Off to class! On Mondays, I have two classes: biosignals and organic chemistry I. Biomedical engineering is a pretty intensive major — full of heavy research-based courses.
12 p.m.
I work in a research lab at the U’s institute of neuropsychiatry. I work in Dr. Sara Weisenbach’s MACALab (Mood and Cognition in Aging). MACALab’s overall goal is to find ties between aging and various brain functions. I’m currently quantifying diseased clusters in the brain called white matter lesions (WML). Learn more at https://macalab.wordpress.com/. I can’t provide a photo of my lab for security reasons, but here’s an example of the MRI scans I look at (found at https://bit.ly/2Wj0UsX).
3 p.m.
I’m a TA for Gen Chem Lab. It’s a lot of work, but I love my students and I think it’s fun and rewarding! My goal is to spark at least one student’s passion for science. Sadly, I don’t have a photo of me in lab, but here’s a photo of me doing a demo for the American Chemical Society!
4:15 p.m.
When I’m not doing science, I’m the director of events for Lassonde’s competitions team! We host competitions like the Utah Entrepreneurship Challenge (UEC). UEC is a business model competition where student entrepreneurs can win funding.
Me and competitions go way back. In 12th grade, I competed in the High School UEC with my first startup. On competition day, I immediately fell in love with Lassonde Studios. I was lucky enough to win the grand prize — and a scholarship to live at Lassonde as well. That week, I committed to the U. Learn more about the UEC at https://lassonde.utah.edu/uec! Here’s my awesome team.
5:30 p.m.
Once a month, Get Seeded happens right in the Miller Cafe. Get Seeded is another pitch competition, similar to UEC. Although I’ve never competed in Get Seeded, I know many student founders who have — and it’s a great recurring opportunity for students to try their hand at getting funded.
6:30 p.m.
Now I’m working on my startup, FemTech! FemTech encourages women to take care of their reproductive health — starting with a redesign of the medical equipment currently used in female pelvic exams. By redesigning the painful tools used during exams, we will effectively facilitate a more comfortable experience for women — thus encouraging them to follow through with their regular checkups. Despite the stigma around reproductive health, it’s a vital to our wellbeing — and ultimately, FemTech will make it easier for women to take care of themselves.
FemTech is my third startup. After years of exhaustion, I finally let go of my old startups to pursue FemTech. I think there’s a widespread fear around leaving startups – just because it was your first project doesn’t mean it’s The One. That’s the beauty of being a Lassonde student entrepreneur — they support me through successes and failures alike. I’m lucky to belong to a space that encourages me to continue innovating however I can.
This is my desk — it’s right downstairs in the Neeleman Hangar at Lassonde Studios. I applied for it through the Company Launch program, where I have access to resources that help my startup grow. It’s still set up for my old startup – but I can’t wait to fill it with FemTech. Learn more about Company Launch at https://lassonde.utah.edu/launch
That’s all for today — thank you all so much for coming along the ride with me!
