Standing in front of the judges at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, Angelina Mo (12) and her partner Susan Jiang (12) prepared for the final DECA competition of their high school career. 

DECA, which stands for ​​Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an international organization that prepares students to be leaders and entrepreneurs in various fields of business, hosting multiple competitions and events across the globe.

To make it to the Internationals, Mo and Jiang have been preparing since their junior year of high school. Tasked with creating an innovative product, the duo came up with the idea of Heart 2 Heart, a baby bundle  blanket, equipped with aromatherapy scent sheets, zippers for easy diaper changes, and most importantly, a feature that allows parents to record their own heartbeats and play it for their child.

Jiang, who was inspired by her mom’s stories of struggling to manage her personal health when taking care of a newborn, brought this idea to Mo to target the audience of new mothers. Aiming to take some of the load off of new mothers’ shoulders, the team’s product helped babies sleep through the night, allowing both them and their mother to be well rested the next morning.

Role-playing as influencer moms in the introduction of their States presentation, the duo stepped into their roles of stressed newborn mothers, heightening the extent of their sleep deprivation and deteriorating health. On the day of States, however, their preparation felt insufficient as their nerves grew looking at the competitors around them.

“As we were sitting in the waiting room, there were people sitting next to us and they all had their computers laid out with super-professional presentations, and all we had was a traditional poster board and note cards,” Jiang said. “So we were pretty nervous about that.”

Expecting other teams to take the top spots, Mo and Jiang decided they would be happy no matter the outcome. To their surprise, however, the results didn’t go as they predicted.

“I remember that we looked at each other and we were like, yeah, we lost,” Jiang said. “And then they said, ‘first place from Westview, Jiang and Mo’ and I shot my head back at her because we were so surprised and we were literally jumping as we ran up to the front to get the award.”

Winning the State competition moved them forward to the next and final leg of the competition: Internationals.

Mo and Jiang, who have known each other since they were in kindergarten, found working towards this large project an effortless task.

“We’ve always had good chemistry working together, and collaborating was easy because we pretty much never argue or anything,” Jiang said. 

A large obstacle, however, came in navigating the unfamiliar aspects of the competition. Having participated in only role-plays and impromptu competitions before, the Entrepreneurial Prepared Event required roughly  a 10-page business plan that overviewed everything from marketing of the product to competitive advantage over others’ products in the same market.

However, most of these requirements weren’t things they had ever learned, even in the finance classes they had taken at school.

“A big thing we struggled with was the financials portion because they don’t really teach you things like how to make a cash flow chart in school,” Mo said. “So, we had Susan’s dad work with us and help teach us what we needed to do, and we spent a long time on that portion.”

While the duo didn’t place at Internationals, they are still immensely proud of their performance.

“I think we did the best that we could during states, but this time in Internationals, we had our cards fully memorized and had a lot more movement and interaction with the board,” Mo said. “It’s a really tough competition and, at the end of the day, it’s just up to the judge.”

Both Mo and Jiang have learned so much throughout their time in DECA, not only in technical skills such as public speaking or financial and marketing plans, but also in how to connect with others and explore ideas outside of what they know.

This experience has been a roller coaster for me,” Mo said. “I think without DECA, I wouldn’t have enjoyed meeting new people as much or stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things.