1. Could you tell us about yourself?
Hello everyone, my name is Chamroeunsolika Porn. I am currently a dual-degree student at the American University of Phnom Penh (AUPP) and the University of Arizona, majoring in business administration. Alongside my studies, I work as a finance assistant at KPMG and as a part-time finance officer at Cambodia Youth Consulting (CYC).
As a student, I have been active in several clubs at AUPP, starting with CSEAS, where I built strong networks and found a great deal of inspiration. That experience led to my first leadership role in university, as deputy of finance and logistics at AUPP’s 5th Model ASEAN meeting, which sharpened my skills in finance, budgeting, and logistics. I also served as a junior representative in the 10th Mandate Student Government Association at AUPP, organizing events and voicing my ideas, which strengthened my ability to communicate and collaborate across different perspectives. Beyond the classroom, I also interned at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, where I had the opportunity to help organize the Digital Governance Forum (DGF), an experience that stretched me far outside the world of business into something entirely new.
As an individual, if I had to name my greatest strength, it would simply be being my parents’ daughter. The love, care, and support they have given me are more than I could ever put into words. Their love shaped who I am today, their care rooted in me the drive to keep pushing past every barrier, and their support has always been the foundation that keeps me moving forward, no matter what. Every title I hold, every organization I’ve joined, every role I’ve stepped into, traces back in some way to the two people who raised me, and I carry that with me into everything I do, both in the classroom and far beyond it.
2. Could you tell us about the achievements you are most proud of?
One of the achievements I’m most proud of is securing my internship at KPMG Cambodia and later becoming permanent staff there. My colleagues and supervisors taught me lessons, both technical and personal, that went far beyond what I expected to learn this early in life, and I’m deeply grateful for that opportunity.
Alongside that, I’m equally proud of my internship at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. As a business student, I never imagined my path would lead into the technology field, but this experience taught me things I never thought I’d need, from administrative tasks to international relations and eventually to stepping into a coordinator role. The highlight was serving as an organizer for the Digital Governance Forum, one of the biggest events I’ve been part of, where I got to learn directly from respected leaders and professionals.
Beyond that, another proud moment was hosting an event focus on inclusivity for people with disabilities, called “Tep Kaosol Khnom,” with my team. It remains one of the most memorable events I’ve ever organized. Seeing the appreciation from the people we hosted meant more to us than we could have imagined, and it reminded me why I value this kind of work in the first place.
Finally, earning the Eagle title after almost four years of undergraduate study as a dual-degree student at AUPP is an achievement I hold especially close, mostly because it makes my parents proud. Becoming an Eagle had been a personal goal of mine for the past eight years of knowing AUPP, so seeing that hard work recognized by Professor Dinesh Elango, one of the professors who has inspired me most, made it even more meaningful. Each of these achievements, in its own way, taught me something I could not have learned from a classroom alone, and together they represent the pieces of myself I am proudest to share.
3. Could you tell us about one thing or experience you encountered that changed your life?
Moving from the province to the city was the most life-changing experience I’ve had. Growing up in the provinces, I spent most of my childhood surrounded by friends in a familiar, slower-paced environment. When I reached grade 10, my parents moved me to the city so I could strengthen my English. Living in the city was drastically different, from the culture to the pace of life, and I had to learn how to live away from my parents and do things more independently for the first time. I suddenly had access to far more resources than I’d had in the province, and I made sure to use as many of them as I could, treating every new opportunity as something not to be wasted.
Along that same journey, joining the student council when I was younger was another turning point. It felt like an open gate, introducing me to new networks, teaching me how to enjoy working with a team, and building the leadership and soft skills that have stayed with me ever since. That effort eventually led me to a milestone for my whole family: being accepted into AUPP.
Another leap that was just as transformative was getting involved with Cambodia Youth Consulting. It introduced me to incredible people, valuable lessons, and advice that exposed me to many different sides of life I hadn’t seen before. That journey ultimately guided me toward my current professional field as a finance assistant at KPMG, and it gave me the confidence and independence to explore the passions I have today. Looking back, each of these moves, from the province to the city, the student council, and CYC, feels less like a series of separate events and more like one continuous unfolding, each step quietly preparing me for the next.
4. Who is the person you look up to the most?
Twenty-one years into this life, my parents remain the role models I have never outgrown, and I am a hundred percent sure I never will. They live in my earliest and most wonderful memories, the hands that fed me, the face that lit up when I came home from school, and the patience that sat beside me over homework. Now those same voices walk beside me through decisions far heavier than any assignment ever was, and their words have always felt like a quiet kind of magic, finding me at exactly the right moment and motivating me in a way nothing else quite manages to.
What I admire most is their journey, how hard they’ve worked to become who they are today, and how they’ve never once let that be reason enough to stop learning. My mother is sharp and resilient, never losing sight of her own compass even when the ground shifts beneath her. My father is discipline, steady in everything he does, leading by example, and adjusting without losing his footing. I study the way they lead, the way they untangle what seems unsolvable, the way they raised my brother and me, and it’s from watching them closely that I’ve come to hold my father’s thoughtfulness and my mother’s sharpness in the same hand, hoping to become some quiet inheritance of them both.
That effort shows up in the smallest details too, and I’m deeply grateful for every one of them from the pens, books, and souvenirs they’d bring back for their “not-so-little one” whenever they travel; the educational reels and post they’d send; the calls, video and voice messages, that never stopped coming even when they were a hundred or thousand miles away; to the enormous amount they’ve spent on my education without ever once making it feel like a burden. Their love reaches me every day, without condition and without needing to be earned, and it is exactly that love that pushes me to try, in everything I do, to be a good student, a good person, and a daughter worthy of the two people who have always been there for me.
5. What are the steps you took that led you to where you are right now?
Every step I’ve taken, from the moment I became conscious of my choices until now, has shaped exactly who I am. Each decision complements the last, from a girl picking her favorite cake flavor for her birthday to a woman now choosing her career path, and looking back, every single step still means something to me. But what has mattered most, beyond any individual choice, are the mindset and values I’ve held onto along the way, and that mindset shows clearly in the path itself.
From being a sales team member at FUSAAC to joining CSEAS to serving various roles at the 5th MAMA, IMUNA 2026, and SGA; from being selected for DCN Global and the Regen ASEAN Summit at NUS to joining AIESEC, ACIOA, and Social Incubator 2 with Impact Hub; from holding a position at CYC to interning at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, organizing at DGF, and securing a job at KPMG, through all of it, one mindset has always pushed me forward: the dedication to try everything at its best and give life a genuine effort.
None of that would have meant as much without the people I met along the way. My friends, met through several classes, pushed me toward shared goals while making the journey fun, and it was in those same classes that certain professors left their mark too. Dr. Dinesh Elango is someone to whom I owe more gratitude than words can properly hold, advice that arrived like an unexpected miracle and rewriting the course of my life. On top of that, his class was where that passion for business and technology first quietly took root. Dr. Tepmony Sim nurtured my love for math and statistics. Dr. Darin Duch and Professor Olta Myslimi fueled my curiosity in economics and international business; Professor Pisey Pin deepened my skill for accounting and finance, and Dr. Diana J. Haladay and Dr. Sophal Keo strengthened my discipline and management skill. Dr. Ilya Bystrov sharpened my skills in logistics management. On the opposite end, Dr. Kenneth Robinson sparked my interest in psychology and philosophy, while Dr. Joshua Wilwohl ignited my passion for poetry and arts. Together, they made this journey worth every step.
6. What are the happiest moments of your life?
Waking up to a rainy morning, listening to Spotify shuffle onto a once-favorite song I haven’t heard in a while, or even just catching the scent of a fruity mixed-berries fragrance I own have been some happy moments of mine. Happiness, I’ve come to notice, rarely needs any grand events, which is exactly why weighing which moment made me happiest becomes perhaps hard to trace.
Still, if I go looking for one, it’s winning my first bronze medal in an Asia International Mathematics Olympiad in grade 10 that stands out, and it mattered as much as it did because of everything that led up to it. The preparation alone was intense, and the exam itself turned out tougher than I had imagined, which only raised the stakes further given what I was walking into: my first English math competition, at a time when I had just moved to the city with only very basic English. Simply being brave enough to take on an advanced-English competition was already its own barrier, long before the exam began. So, when the results were finally published on the school’s social media, and I realized I had actually won a medal, it felt less like a win and more like proof of something I hadn’t known about myself. And it was that feeling, earned through everything that came before it, that taught me not to fear pushing past my limits, not to feel small, but to try my best to my full potential, because you never truly fail at anything if the goal is to learn.
That same lesson resurfaced again in another unforgettable moment: getting to meet and listen to the President of Singapore in the summer of 2025, after being selected to attend the Regen ASEAN Summit hosted by students at the National University of Singapore. Over the three days that followed, I listened to professionals from across Southeast Asia speak on environmental policy, sustainability, and regional cooperation. The President himself appeared on one of those days and delivered a remarkable speech, and it was his words in particular that stood out as genuinely impactful and thought-provoking, lessons that have stayed with me ever since.
7. Is there any advice for the people who look up to you?
My advice would be to find value in everything you do, try everything at its best, and give life a genuine effort; it’s something I’ve tried to live by myself. At its core, that means holding a positive mindset, one I return to whenever I’m indecisive, since being clear on my main goal makes the harder moments easier to face. It also means believing I’m more capable than I think, so I let myself push past barriers instead of stopping short of them. But chasing potential alone can wear you down, which is why I’ve always held on to a passion outside of it too, music, a show, or anything that keeps the journey from feeling dull and my goal sustained.
That same sustainability, for me, comes just as much from who I surround myself with. My own doubt fades fastest when I’m chasing what genuinely brings me joy, and joy, more often than not, comes from the people around me, so I make time for those I care about and who truly care about me, since they’ve always been my greatest source of motivation. With them beside me, it becomes easier to treat every experience, good or bad, as a lesson worth learning, rather than something to just get through alone.
All of that only ever meant something once I acted on it. Doing something has always beaten doing nothing. I’ve learned not to wait until I feel ready, because that feeling may never come; I act while the opportunity is still in front of me. I try to stay curious, challenging how I think, reading widely, and taking the opportunities that intimidate me, since those are usually the ones that teach me the most about myself. And I try to be patient, growth builds slowly through every small decision and challenge I choose to face. Nothing about becoming who you are is ever really finished, and maybe that’s the whole point.
Nevertheless. Give life a genuine effort.