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Sophie Pellet (12): I’d definitely say I’m most passionate about business and film. My love for business is definitely tied in with my love for fashion. I took a couple business courses and did DECA earlier on in high school, and I’d say doing Incubator, which I did last year and this year was the best decision I’ve ever made.

For business, it’s actually quite a story because originally when I was in Incubator, I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I was obviously into business, but I didn’t think that there would be a way for me to tie in that with the company I wanted to make, but it ended up being the case. I’d say sustainability, fashion, and business are all very important to me.

In middle school we had uniforms, so not lots of expression you can do with that. But then during high school I started caring a little bit more because I finally had that option to care in the first place. Freshman year I started experimenting with things, and then slowly but surely I found that I really liked certain types of style like Y2K or hyper feminine stuff or whatnot. And then it just grew. I love just wearing quirky things that make me feel good. It’s obviously a way to express myself, express my tastes. For me it’s just fun. I like going to the mirror and looking and being like, “Oh, you look so pretty and fun.” 

Business and Entrepreneurship teacher Michael Acheatel: My first impressions of Sophie were, definitely from a materialistic standpoint, very fashion forward — well put together not only in terms of her looks, but just also the way she carries herself and communicates. It became very clear early on that she is a deep thinker about the problems, the customers and the strategies that she takes. She’s very methodical, asks really great questions, seeks advice and doesn’t just run off with assumptions. She’s intentional and diligent in her work. 

Sophie: I’m interested in sustainability in fashion. I’ve tried to get into thrifting, but I don’t like it. So then I was thinking of ways to make buying sustainable clothing easier. So then that brought me to the secondhand clothing subscription service I wanted to do, but it just didn’t work out. People were not interested, so I was forced to pivot because I just wasn’t getting sales. 

But when I moved on to my second business of the clothing swap app, I definitely liked this aspect of a circular closet. In my original business, once you get your box, you can also donate items, and then we would take those items and distribute it to others. It was like this circular fashion cycle, which I really liked. And so I was thinking of ways to bring that energy into my new business idea, so that really inspired me. That brought me to the clothing swap app, where it’s literally trading items. There’s nothing more circular than that.

Close friend Nat Tan (12): I would say that Sophie is not someone who would willingly get up on a stage. She would never join a club; she would never go out in school meeting to just start talking in front of a huge crowd. That being said, the things that she does really pushes her to talk. For example, in Incubator. She went to the Startup World Cup and had to speak in front of a crowd of, I would say at least 1,000, pushing 3,000. It’s definitely a challenge for her, but to see how she was this shy person and now is this super cool person who has this confidence to speak on stage in front of such a huge crowd is very inspiring 

Sophie: I was already kind of a film kid because my dad made me watch lots of interesting films as a kid, so I had a little bit of knowledge of that. I never really thought of making films. I think it was freshman year. It was Club Day or something, and I was walking past, and I saw Ethan Guan (‘25) with his Film Club booth — it was actually the first year of Film Club. And then like I saw, “Make your own film,” and I was like, “Okay, that’s definitely an opportunity,” so I signed up. 

They do this annual short film production, so I wrote a screenplay for that. It just continued from that very first film. I get inspired by random emotions that I’ll feel. When I’m reading a book, and sometimes there’s this very small part of a book or a specific piece of dialog where I’m like, “Wow, that’s so interesting and that’s so sad.” And then I start thinking about how sad that is, and then I’m like, “Let me write that down.” I put in a Google Doc to remember that feeling. I’m like, “I want to make a film that centered on this feeling or this specific action that this one person did.” 

Anything with intense emotion, usually. Maybe because I’m a Harker kid, so my life is pretty boring. So I try to find interesting stories or people with very dramatic lives because my life is not dramatic at all. 

Close friend Mendy Mao (12): She’s a very creative person. Sometimes it’s really weird to me how her mind works. She just comes up with the most crazy, creative ideas and it’s really out there, and that’s one of the things I really like about her. She’s really intense, I would say. She cares a lot about the things that she does, and you can really see that in how much effort she puts into them and how much time she spends thinking about them and putting creative spins on things. I would say that’s one of her main strengths.

Sophie: You have to work with others, and you have to get good at working with others. I’m not very eloquent when it comes to my words — although I am trilingual, so maybe it’s that. My English isn’t super great. Especially when it comes to filming, you have this distinct vision, but for me it’s all feelings. So explaining that in words is sometimes quite difficult. Learning to express the idea so that someone else can understand it sometimes can be a little hard. 

With film, I think collaboration was a big thing that I had to learn because I always knew I had to work with people, but I just didn’t like it. I remember the first day of my film class, and then Mr. Martinez was like, “Film is such a collaborative medium. You can’t make a film all by yourself.” I rolled my eyes because I was like, “Nah, you can. I’m definitely sure I can find an exception.” But then we did a couple projects in that class, and I really started to see the value in working with others. Because one, it makes it a lot more fun. In the beginning I saw making films or making art as this personal thing because it is — it’s a very personal thing. 

So I was like, “No, I don’t want other people coming in and telling me how to do things. I have this specific vision, and I have this passion. I don’t want people getting in the way. They won’t understand.” But as I continued pursuing my own projects and film class, I realized the value in having people. It’s so much more fun, and they give you great ideas. 

My favorite feeling when making a film is the feeling of passion and excitement because you’re like, “Oh, I know exactly what I want to do.” You’re just so pumped, and having that feeling with someone else is the best feeling in the world.