Ismail Azam

a little more than 5 years ago, due in large part to difficulties his family was enduring, ish found himself with a mid-semester gpa of 0.8. at the age of 15, ish made the bold decision to drop out of high school and enroll in an independent study program and community college simultaneously– his life would never be the same. “the greatest lesson i’ve learned so far is that hard work and resilience in the face of adversity can become your greatest strength.” ish soon became the youngest student government president of his college, while maintaining a 3.9 gpa and a full-time job at microsoft. just two years later, he transferred to uc berkeley where he currently studies engineering, business, and entrepreneurship. he also teaches a course on "business networking" and will soon lead a new class: “design thinking and business innovation.” ish is also the president of product space and most recently won 1st place at the stanford design challenge, as well as 1st place at the uc berkeley