by Dia Hemanth, 2024–2025 Miss CEO Ambassador
Failure is an inevitable part of life, but how we handle it can define our future success. I learned this lesson in one of the most embarrassing moments of my life: a group presentation for a business case competition. During my turn to speak, I forgot what I was supposed to say. My mind went blank, and I stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity (around a minute in reality, but long enough to make me want to disappear).
At the time, this failure was almost too painful to think about. I avoided replaying the moment in my head, and tried to pretend it just didn’t happen. However, the weight of that embarrassment didn’t go away, instead becoming a constant reminder of my incompetence. For a while, I thought the best solution was to bury the memory and move on. But, deep down, I knew that wasn’t the best way forward.
Eventually, I made a decision that changed everything. Instead of trying to erase the moment, I decided to learn from it. I made it my mission to improve my presentation skills. I started small: first by watching TED Talks on effective presentations. I then practiced my body language: how to stand confidently and make eye contact. I even rehearsed in front of a mirror, delivering the same lines over and over until they were second nature.
This process wasn’t easy, taking countless hours of practice and several more presentations where I still stumbled. But slowly, I began to notice a difference. My confidence grew, my delivery became smoother, and most importantly, I stopped fearing the opportunity to share my voice. I now teach large classes about personal finance through my nonprofit, Cents for Teens, and I led a college admissions conference attended by over 300 people. By speaking in front of those audience, I felt miles apart from the girl who froze during that presentation.
This transformation taught me an invaluable lesson about failure. Failure isn’t something to be ashamed of or erase. Instead, it’s a powerful learning opportunity, a moment to reflect and grow. The key is to reframe how we define failure. It’s not when we do poorly at something. Failure is when we don’t try at all or when we refuse to learn from our mistakes.
Had I chosen to forget about that embarrassing presentation and not learn from it, I wouldn’t have achieved some of my proudest accomplishments. I wouldn’t be teaching teenagers about personal finance, a topic that’s both my passion and an essential skill lacking in many communities. I wouldn’t have been able to guide students through the daunting college admissions process. Most importantly, I wouldn’t have become the person I am today.
If there’s one takeaway I’d like to share, it’s to not let failure define you. Take those moments that you’re embarrassed of and turn them into opportunities to grow. Even when you stumble, you’re learning and building skills that will serve you in the future.
Remember, success isn’t about never failing. It’s about always getting back up, learning, and trying again.
About the author:
Dia Hemanth is a Senior at Los Altos High School in Los Altos, CA. She loves giving back to her community. She founded a nonprofit called Cents for Teens to build financial literacy among teens. Through workshops, camps, online courses and social media, Cents for Teens has educated over 1200 teens in personal finance topics including budgeting, investing, taxes and more. In 2024, Dia ran the first Cents for Teens 3 in person summer camp on financial literacy at the Los Altos Community Center and it was a huge success. She also runs a community called HighLite where she connects high school students with college students for mentorship while raising funds for nonprofits that fund education. She organized the HighLite College Conference in 2023 where she brought together 344 high school students to learn from college freshmen and raised $3185.42 for Jusoor, an international NGO that funds educational programs for Syrian refugee youth. These funds allowed Jusoor to fund educational programs for 300 high school refugee youth. Dia is the Fundraising Commissioner at Los Altos High School where she runs fundraisers to raise funds that allow the Associated Student Body (ASB) to hold events to increase engagement and belonging in the student body at large. In her Junior year she raised $1000 to bring the ASB budget from red to black. She was also asked to step in as Junior Class Treasurer mid year to manage the $60k budget for the Class of 2025. She serves as a team lead for the Shower and Laundry program at a local homeless resource center called Hope’s Corner which provides showers, clothes, supplies and meals for the unhoused community in and around Mountain View, CA. She also works with a sister nonprofit called The United Effort to connect unhoused patrons with public assistance benefits like state funded housing and free cell phones. Overall Dia has volunteered over 500 hours at various nonprofits and has received several awards for her community service including the Congressional Award Gold Medal, The Girl Scout Gold Award, Presidential Volunteer Service Award Gold (2x). She is also a finalist for the 2025 Cameron Impact Scholarship which is a four year full tuition impact based undergraduate scholarship. Dia is interested in studying and doing research at the intersection of Business and Economics and wants to become a Social Entrepreneur. In her free time, Dia likes to bake bread and make stamp collages bringing new meaning to her grandpa’s old stamp collection.
