Leo Lu: Who You Are

 Hello everyone! My name is Leo Lu. I am from Chino Hills, California, a town on the east side of Los Angeles that is most well known for an outstanding basketball run the last few years. It is a pretty big town that has a lot of family homes. I come from a family of immigrants, as my parents left China in hopes of giving my sister and I a better life.

I hope that in the near future, I will graduate from USC and continue pushing my sneaker store business forward. I hope to open more locations and meet more clients to help me expand my business. I plan to get there by putting my all into my business as I have the last six years, and I know that with my experience in the industry, growth is the only option. 

My father Luke and I are extremely similar. When I was young, I was often called "Little Luke" by my family friends. We looked alike, were very close, and my hobbies were aligned with my father's interests. He is also an entrepreneur that grew his own business, so in a way, I feel like a carbon copy of my father.

I am unlike my mother in many ways. She is an extremely different person compared to me. She does not have entrepreneurial spirit, whereas I do. Although I love her dearly, I feel that most of my behaviors stemmed from my father, not my mother.

I have extreme expectations for myself, as I threw myself into the fire of owning a business from the age of 16. Even since before that, I had known that I would be an entrepreneur somehow, but I just did not know how I would get there. I set high expectations for myself to live up to on a daily basis.

There are other business owners that I look up to and can admire their successes. For example, Michael Rubin is someone I admire a lot for growing his company into a billion dollar company. He seems to carry great passion for his business, something I can relate to as well.

I feel a special connection with lions, and Leo the Lion seems to be a common name for lions in general. I also feel a connection with lions because they are known as the leaders of the jungle, whereas I feel I perform best as a leader in a group setting.

A significant childhood encounter with nature was when I was at my neighborhood park with a friend. We decided to have fun from rolling down grass hills and hugging trees. I then proceeded to realized that I was allergic to grass and specific trees, and I had severe hives all over my body for three weeks. My significant childhood encounter with nature was a very painful and scarring experience.

My sun sign is 15 degrees Leo.

My moon sign is 14 degrees Leo.

My rising sign is 24 degrees Virgo.

Comments

  1. Araz MehrabiAugust 30, 2024 at 3:08 PM

    I also had a painful first encounter with nature. It looks like we both ended up at the doctors office as a result.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aidan Bloomstine WRIT 340 BlogSeptember 2, 2024 at 1:21 PM

    Wow, starting a business at 16 is very impressive. There is a lot of wisdom in knowing what you want to do, committing your mind to something, and figuring it out as you go. I think it eliminates much of the anxiety in starting a new thing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BenSeptember 2, 2024 at 5:32 PM

    Starting a successful bussiness in such a competitive space - especially in L.A. - is super cool. I don't know much about the shoe market but it seems very difficult to get a foot in the door.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mo'September 3, 2024 at 11:03 PM

    Very inspiring to learn about your journey with your business and how far you've come with it! Growing it to as far as having a store in Hollywood is HUGE and very commendable, I respect the grind heavily and can't wait to see where it goes as it continues to grow and expand!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Scholar PfeifSeptember 4, 2024 at 11:23 AM

    I remember the days when I was a kid watching the Ball Brothers highlights at Chino Hills. I would love to hear more at some point about what it was like living in that town when that basketball team was in its prime. Did they ever inspire your love for sneakers?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alex NSeptember 4, 2024 at 11:33 AM

    Leo, I spent a lot of time in Chino Hills when I was little. My grandmother is from Chino and I had numerous baseball tournaments at the Field of Dreams in Chino Hills.

    ReplyDelete

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