Taylor Swift's Song 'Shake It Off'

Taylor Swift’s song, “Shake it Off,” marks her creative foray into pop from country. The lyrics “I’m dancing on my own. I make up the moves as I go” especially encapsulate the mantra when I chart my own creative path. It reflects courage to be on my own, not subscribing to others rules and expectation, and adapting to the tribulations that come my way.

As an engineer in the corporate setting, I was venturing into completely unknown territory when I started my bubble tea business, Urban Leaf. I shadowed a food truck for two months, talked to and surveyed customers, and entered myself into a business plan competition to prepare myself.

Despite all this planning, I ended up sitting around for weeks with lackluster sales at various farmer 's markets and events. I had to figure out what was wrong. When an onlooker made a snark “I do not know what you are selling," I promptly stood in front of the stand. I had to admit: one, there was no clear signage of the vates of brown and white liquid and two, I was boiling under the hot houston sun.

I had to adapt based on new information, and thus, improved the business my tripling sales the next event.

With experiences such as these, I realized that the uncharted path is what excites me the most. I’ve come to embrace ‘dancing on my own’ and navigating through the challenges that come to play. Like Taylor, I’ve grown into my creative self, having to switch careers from engineering to design, which will continue to drive my future