A wise daughter of Dell

A wise daughter of Dell

Alexa Dell is the daughter of Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, who is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth of nearly $24 billion. Despite being the daughter of a computer industry pioneer, the 24-year old didn't expect to work someday in tech. Considering her family business and the environment she grew up in, however, her journey into the app space seemed inevitable.

According to Alexa, she grew up "having a front seat to the master class" headed by her father in the 90s. She said her father's work and the work of his "for a lock of a better word, his friends" in making the world more connected through personal computers and the World Wide Web.

"The idea that if we can make the world a smaller place with technology, we can really exponentially expand the boundaries of innovation and what's possible within the world," Dell said. "That movement was incredibly intriguing to me, and I wanted to be part of that."

Alexa has many interests

Alexa Dell told Business Insider at the SXSW film festival that her parents, Michael and Susan, encouraged her and her siblings to explore their interests to widen their scope of possibilities and discover their real passion. During her high school years, Alexa Dell worked at fashion houses in New York City every summer.

Despite having a large range of interests, from photography, fashion and editorial, Alexa Dell ended up pursuing a career in tech. Back in 2013, she dropped out of Columbia University to try her luck in the tech industry. Upon leaving college, she started working at a dating app company and the experience allowed her to get a glimpse into life at a startup, an environment where, according to Alexa, a person's good ideas mattered more than their age, status, or gender. This is because startups are constantly evolving and are trying to grow.

"I could much faster and much more efficiently present and execute on my ideas," Dell said, adding: "I knew the space would be best-fitting for the change I wanted to have."

Hard work is key to success

Her efforts have paid off and now she runs a business consulting firm and works as an adviser to dating app company Bumble. Dell believes that it is hard work what leads to success. Accordingly, as a child, she often visited the headquarters of her father's company in Round Rock, Texas.

From the front seat, she watched her father Michael Dell build a multinational corporation out of a startup that was based Michael Dell's freshman year door room. It was during the time Michael Dell was a student at University of Texas at Austin, that he launched the company that once was PC's Limited with only $1,000 family loan.

What she has learnt from her father, according to Alexa, is that you have to dedicate to your business in order to make it. She said, "The advice that he's given me is that hard work is really the foundation of success." She has also learned from Michael Dell, she said in an interview with Nextshark is that "no matter how successful you are, success means nothing unless it's shared. I really admire him and my mom for all the work they've done through the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and I'm so appreciative to have grown up with this mentality."

Active Lifestyle

According to Alexa, having an active lifestyle is the key to happiness. "Both my parents are very active," she said, and she learned from them that having a healthy lifestyle can foster productivity at work. Alexa Dell, for instance, prefers to take her conference calls from a treadmill desk located in her home office.

"It's great because your blood is circulating and you can think better, you can think more clearly," Alexa Dell said. "That's something I kind of learned from them (her parents)."

Alexa Dell also enjoys nature and exercising as a hobby. In an interview with Nextshark, she said, "I love going for a hike with one or two close friends. There are so many trails in LA, and if they're dog friendly I'll bring along my French bulldog Colette! If I have a long weekend, I'll definitely be travelling! I love experiencing new cultures and am inspired by all corners of the world."