Excerpts from my UCLA Anderson essay about my family

My family situation had much influence on my outlooks on life and work. My parents are both self-employed. My mother started her own business ... Her career grew fast ever since; even faster than my father’s. She is stubborn, bossy, ambitious, and both a workaholic and a perfectionist; whereas my father is more laid-back and pessimistic. On weekends, my mother would be on her phone, strategizing promotions to attract more clients whereas my father would go to the town square to play kites with his friends. ... My mother used to advise me not to be too content in life like my father and to always be ambitious. Often time, I would remind her that had she not marry a person as contented about life as he is, no one would be there to remind her to take a break and enjoy her hard work. Having these two significant yet contradicting figures in my life reminds me to strike a balance between career, hobby, and family every single day. Even now, while I also work full time, I am taking an oil-painting class, a past-time hobby of mine and spending my evenings and weekends playing with my year old puppy.