introducing myself

[bmenzalji]

Hi Everyone!

I was born and raised in Lattakia, Syria, a gorgeous city on the Mediterranean until 1994, when I moved to good ol' Portland, Oregon. I remember the greatest shock in the states as a young kid was that cold ocean water existed; the Pacfic is not like the Mediterranean - shocking I know!

After graduating Univ. of Oregon in Business/Finance in 2008 (not a great time to graduate), I began my professional journey at a gaming startup - it was great, learned quite a bit and loved the team and our community. After that, I joined a mid-stage manufacturing startup where I co-led in agriculture division. Did well in sales and was blown away by the level of technology in agriculture - specifically, farmers were using an iPad to review satellite infer-red imaging on their crops and tapping away water flow over 2 miles of water pipe. It was incredible!

Shortly following that company's acquisition, I joined a fin-tech startup and learned the roller coasters of startups first hand. We were a small team, but after that acquisition, I left. In between all those times, I was dabbling with side projects to hone my entrepreneurial skills because it's where the root of my passion is - fundamentally understanding the power of imagining an idea and having the skillset to convert that into a tangible product/service is absolutely incredible. Plus, seeing the impact that it could have the developing world by providing jobs, education, stable incomes is truly incredible.

I've heard two camps of thoughts when it comes to developing countries and that there shouldn't be pure handouts. It's flawed reasoning, and I'm working to change that by providing the tools (education and knowledge) of what I continue to learn every day with gifted founders.

I think entrepreneurial opportunties need to flourish everywhere. Anyway, that's a bit of background on me and a bit of my future goals.

Looking forward to exploring and contributing to Steemit!

Onwards & Upwards

Comments

[steemsociety]

Hello bmenzalji! Welcome to Steemit! Hope you'll like the community here. As a start, here are 5 tips that we believe will be helpful to you:

1. Keep your passwords safe: Unlike conventional sites, Steemit has 4 types of passwords. Each offers varying degrees of access to your account, so know where and when to use each of them. Also, make sure to keep them all safe and secure.
2. Get Steem rewards: When writing a post, you'll have the option to choose how to receive your reward: "Default 50%/50%" or "Power Up 100%". As of this moment, choosing Default 50%/50% is the better option. But this can change over time. Check our post to know more.
3. Upvote wisely: When upvoting, wait at least 30 minutes after the post is published to maximize your curation reward. Also, make sure not to upvote too much too fast so as not to drain your voting power.
4. Know your Steem, Steem Dollars and Steem Power: Steem and Steem Dollars are the 2 main currencies here. Convert and power up more Steem into Steem Power so you can have higher values on your upvotes.
5. Have Fun and Enjoy!

For a detailed writeup, check our post Getting Started: 5 Essential Tips for New Users.

Good luck on your Steem journey! Follow us if you like to receive more helpful tips and maximize your Steemit experience.

[free.sbd.bot]

Hello @bmenzalji! Welcome to the community!!!

[introduce.bot]

✅ @bmenzalji, let me be the first to welcome you to Steemit! Congratulations on making your first post!

I gave you a $.05 vote!

Would you be so kind as to follow me back in return?

[bmenzalji]

thank you!

[nhutle]

Welcome to steemit !

[bmenzalji]

thanks!

[veseloff]

Hello and welcome to Steemit. I'm still a beginner, I follow you and I hope you too will follow me, I'm glad to new acquaintances. I wish good luck in the development of your blog!
Upvoted your post! 😉

[bmenzalji]

thanks!

[bofphemy]

Welcoming you on board @bmenzalji
Hopefully, you will be finding stemit more awesome community to have earlier been into, but you ve now joined.
Feel free to use your good endowed intellect to earn as much as you can.
You can follow me and i will follow you back @bofphemy

this app is really cool,recommended for you,
i still recommend,
and i will be recommending
for friends
mine with me by clicking this and i will click yours too back https://getcryptotab.com/594487
use google chrome only

[naturald]

Welcome to Steemit @bmenzalji! I'm a Brazilian living in Florida for 17 years and just started my new business. Looking forward to your future posts. Success!!!

[joeyarnoldvn]

I hope the best for Syria. I lived in Portland, OR. You are cool.