I’ve always wondered what it would be like to work for Facebook. I have always admired Mark Zuckerberg and applauded his desire to make the world a better place. I even admire his (lack of) fashion sense. 


When my friend who works for Facebook invited me to visit her there, I had to include it in my itinerary despite my very short trip to the Bay Area. My son and I were in California for another college admit week. This time it was at Stanford. 


 I didn’t realize how enormous the campus is. I had imagined it with just one building but it had several buildings that expand to more across the street. It was like a small village. 

I also noticed all the blue bicycles that employees use for transportation within the Facebook grounds. I was really excited to be there and I was hoping I’d bump into Mark Zuckerberg and take a selfie with him (haha)! 


My friend met us where we signed in by the iPad station. She brought us to the main cafeteria for breakfast. They had an impressive spread of breakfast foods, smoothies, juices, breads, and more—free of charge—for the employees and their guests! What a treat! After breakfast, she took us for a tour to see the main street that was modeled after downtown Palo Alto. I looked everywhere hoping to find the guy in a gray shirt but there was no sign of him. 

My friend showed us the different restaurants within the campus (the employees have different choices where to dine everyday, also free of charge for them!). 


There’s also a coffee shop, a barber shop, and a gym that they can use during or after work hours. I would’ve been ecstatic if I had the chance to try out the organic cafe, Harvest, a farm-to-table type of place. When my son wanted to drink water, my friend showed him what seemed like a vending machine except you didn’t need to pay for anything because you can just open it and take whatever drink you want. 


Mark Zuckerberg is obviously a philanthropist at heart and on the day we were there, they were celebrating Global Causes Day, a day when Facebook employees give their time to support the causes they care about. 
 

I was excited to see Partners in Health on the board. Dr. Paul Farmer, the co-founder for this wonderful organization that started in Haiti, is one of my heroes. If you are interested to find out more about him, you might want to read Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. 


Of course, the tour wouldn’t be complete without going to the Facebook gift shop. My friend gave my younger son a few months back a shirt that everyone absolutely loved! It had this quote written on the shirt “pretty like daddy, smart like mommy.” Every mom who saw the shirt wanted it, but unfortunately it can only be found at the Facebook store. I wanted to get another one in a bigger size but it only went up to size 10 for kids. I did like the #BeTheNerd shirt, however, my son may not! 😄

I didn’t get to see one of my most admired people on earth, but I was content to be physically there, the company he built to bring one and a half billion people worldwide closer. Thanks to Facebook I get to “see” my family and friends who are thousands of miles away from me. The world is no longer a big place because of it. 

Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg! Hopefully I’ll get to meet you someday!