How do you achieve your dreams? Do what you love.
Peter Tsai is living proof that if you do what you love you will achieve your dreams. Peter was our guest in last nights #FierceChat and after chatting with him it was very clear that he loves what he does and is flourishing both in his career and personal life.
Peter was born in a small town near the Appalachian Trail in Oak Ridge, TN where his father worked as a scientist. He lived there for the first 10 years of his life, often spending weekends enjoying nature either hiking or fishing. His family then left the small town life and moved to the big city (Atlanta, Georgia) in search of new opportunities.
Melton Hill Lake, Oak Ridge, TN
Peter lived in a suburb of Atlanta where he attended the same junior high and high school that media mogul and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest did. After graduating high school, Peter realized that in order to achieve his goals he followed his passion for computers and enrolled at Georgia Institute of Technology where he graduated with a degree in computer science. After graduating college in 2002 he was offered a great career opportunity at Dell Computers in Austin, TX as a computer engineer. Peter has thrived at Dell using his passion for Social Media and technical savvy to advance to his current position of Systems Management Technologist. He loves living in Austin because it’s the perfect mix of big city attractions and small town charm.
Austin City Limits 2011 Skyline Golden Hour
Both of his parents are from Taiwan and they moved to the States in the 60s. Because of his parents ties to their home country he has had the opportunity to spend several summers in Taiwan and China absorbing the culture and taking in the sights. Growing up with such diverse cultural experiences has given Peter the drive to further explore the world and learn all he can about different cultures. One of his personal goals is to visit every continent on earth and in the chat he told us that he only has two to go, Africa and Antarctica.
Another “bucket list” worthy accomplishment Peter has experienced is getting his coffee book published. Having a book published was something that he never imagined when growing up. In the chat Peter told us that this opportunity came because of his involvement in social media and when presented with the opportunity he took full advantage and made it happen. He thinks it’s pretty cool to go to a book store and see his creation on display. He is a strong believer that the world has a lot to offer and you limit yourself from seeing the big picture if you never venture outside of your own corner of the world and make things happen for yourself.
In addition to travelling and photography he thoroughly enjoys food blogging and has done so for a few years now with two of his good friends. You can check out his food blog here.
In his travels around Austin and around the world he has eaten a lot of weird stuff including silkworms, crickets and spiders in the States, kangaroo, crocodile, and emu in Australia, stinky tofu and duck tongue in Taiwan, pig intestines, brain, and cow tongue in Mexico, durian, turtles, and mantis shrimp in Southeast Asia.
Of the weird things, kangaroo, emu, and mantis shrimp are some of his favorites. His everyday favorite foods are authentic Asian cuisine (like his mom makes) – fortunately there are some great Taiwanese restaurants in Austin where he can get his fix.
Something that would surprise you about Peter is that growing up he was very shy and kept mostly to himself. In #FierceChat he talked about how people with niche interests can easily find each other through social media. Peter is a great example of doing just that. It’s only been in the last 5-6 years that he’s really come out of his shell after finding others who are into the same things he enjoys doing. So many opportunities have arisen for him since becoming social online and for this he’s truly grateful.
Peter’s place of employment, Dell Computers, has gone through many changes in the last several years and Peter has done his part to contribute to the cause. Historically Dell has been known as a make to order computer business focusing heavily on consumer products. Today, however, Dell is a $60 Billion dollar business who’s focus is “Delivering technology solutions that enable people everywhere to grow and thrive” and “At Dell, we believe that technology exists for one reason . . . to help people and organizations do and achieve more.”
As a result of their re-branding they have totally restructured their approach to customer service incorporating principles of social media, taking engagement with their customers to a whole new level. In December they installed a new Social Media Command Center in an effort to stay in contact with their customers around the world. Data collected has shown reduction in negative complaints about their product proof of the importance of listening and responding immediately when complaints are encountered on the net.
As you can see Peter has done a fantastic job managing his career as well as his personal life. He has accomplished much through his passion for social media and has carved out a successful path for his life.
Social media is all about diversity and inclusion. The variety of people that the platform allows you to engage with is infinite. If you start out taking baby steps like Peter did and engage with others who share your interests and passions, you too can achieve your dreams
I leave you with this quote:
All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence
Photo by Peter Tsai
FierceChat 