About Me

Hi, I'm Stephan Bordellier. I'll start off with some facts I usually don't tell people unless they ask. I hold 3 citizenships. So yes, I carry around 3 passports. Thai, Swedish, and French. It started from the beginning. I was born with two, Thai and French, which I got from my half-French mother. In Thailand, I studied in an international French School for a while. This is where I learned to switch between languages and cultures before I even knew what that meant. Then when I turned 8 I moved to Sweden. Here I studied for a decade. Yes, 10 years away from home. It was hard but I got to learn the language and immerse myself in a culture. This is where I got my motorcycle license, fun fact! And also the bike I love the most was a Honda which was made in Thailand and imported to Sweden. It felt like that bike and I had the same story. Both of us were made in the tropics but had to learn to work in the cold.

Experience in Sweden taught me many things. I learned about sustainable design, gender equality, and what it is like in the dark, cold, and dry winter. In contrast, Bangkok was really hot and humid, and there are more gender expectations there. Living between these two opposites changed how I see things. This environment is actually where I first started learning how to make a website. It was in grade 10. Before that, I had made some games, but the structure of web design really clicked for me there. Maybe the Swedish focus on clean design rubbed off on me.

After finishing high school I went back to live with my parents for a year. Then again I went away to study overseas. This time was the US. New York University had accepted me into their class of 2027. It was exciting. The first time coming out of the subway was like I walked into a Spider-Man movie, like really. I was looking up to the skyscrapers hoping I saw him. In my 2nd semester here I got much more serious about iOS development. I mean I started accepting it. In college, MacBooks made up the majority of what people had. I always had used an iPhone as well since I had a bad experience with Android. But being here made me realize it was time to learn for real how to make apps for the ecosystem everyone around me was using.

My father really wanted me to go into business. I was even accepted into a prestigious school for it. But I wanted to pursue my passion instead. It was a difficult choice, but I chose engineering. Now I am looking for a way to combine these worlds. So maybe fintech will be the middle ground? It lets me use the technical skills I love while respecting the business world my father values.