5:01 Hustle

Meet BJ & Wenitte, co-founders of Mandla, innovative, black owned e-learning language app created for those who seek to strengthen their unbreakable connection with their African roots. Mandla strives to preserve and promote African cultures through language, empowering our community of thinkers, dreamers and doers everywhere. Mandla will launch in Fall 2021, and combine education with gamification and socialization. Join their hundreds of users as a beta tester, and help contribute to their mission!

Connect with BJ & Wenitte via email: [email protected], and follow them on IG & Twitter @mandlaapp

Meet Phoebe, a Chinese-American immigrant, Stanford dropout, 2020 Thiel Fellow, and founder of Pareto. Pareto is building the human API for business operations with a women-led and operated task force that combines human quality assurance with machine automation, enabling seamless SMB business automation at scale. As featured in Forbes, Pareto is committed to helping women in developing economies master the foundations of company building, connect with world-class entrepreneurs, and earn meaningful work opportunities.

Meet Chinmayi, an undergrad at Columbia and founder of Simply Neuroscience. Simply Neuroscience is an international, student-led organization that focuses on neuroscience and psychology education, outreach, and awareness. Initially started as a personal blog, Simply Neuroscience - over the past two years - has grown into a team of over 300 volunteers running 25 initiatives, and a community of over 50,000 Gen Z’ers spanning more than 120 countries.

Listen to Chinmayi discuss her passion for neuroscience, psychology, and their multifaceted application in other fields within STEM and humanities.  She shares her story of how she grew from a personal blog to an international community, and the unique ways she harnesses the power of her community for content creation. As a 3x TEDx speaker, and founder of Simply Neuroscience, Chinmayi explains that everything she does boils down to her core mission: pursuing the brain, unlocking the future... one neuron at a time.

Make sure to connect with Chinmayi on IG @simplyneuroscience and join their incredible organization as a volunteer or engaged community member! 

Meet Maggie & Trisha, rising seniors at Brown, and co-founders of Pointz. Pointz is a mobile mapping app that acts like a safety focused "Waze," designed for bike and scooter riders. Maggie & Trisha have completed Brown's B-Lab, were featured in Bloomberg radio, and named a top 10 startup to watch in 2021 in RI.

Listen to Trisha explain the tech and process behind mapping the US, creating proprietary "quiet networks," and crowdsourcing data from micro mobility riders. Maggie delves into the insights gained from customer discovery interviews, and the beta test conducted in Providence. Maggie & Trisha share their personal stories of how they decided to pursue Pointz, formed relationships with biking communities nation wide, and are making micro-mobility transportation safer and more accessible for everyday people.

Reach out to Maggie & Trisha on IG @bikepointz to join their beta test, and be sure to download the app when it launches in August!

Meet Tiffany, a dedicated social entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Fulphil, a social venture that teaches marginalized youth social entrepreneurship to solve the real-world problems of their local communities. As recognized in Forbes and her TED talk, Fulphil as inspired ~ 3,000 youths to start their own companies, helping them get into college and even provide for their families.

Listen to Tiffany share how her core motivator in life - to save lives and make a difference - led her to discover the power of social entrepreneurship, and bring entrepreneurship education to students in underserved communities. Tiffany discusses how she's created and distributed successful curriculums in social entrepreneurship, 21st century soft skills, fundraising, DEI, and sustainability, and how she's equipping youth with the resources and authority to create new and innovative solutions to tackle the most pressing societal problems through business. 

Reach out to Tiffany on IG @fulphil_  to join her inspiring initiative and help her empower, as she says, "the people closest to the problems," as they are "closest to the solutions."

Meet Abbie, co-founder and CEO of ResusciTech, a startup that is commercializing a smart-phone based CPR training app with the mission of giving people the power to save someone’s life, enabling them to take action in emergency situations with training and real time feedback. ResusciTech has developed patent-pending, smartphone CPR feedback technology with the goal of improving outcomes with cardiac arrests occurring outside of hospitals. ResusiTech was named one of the top ten startups to watch in 2021 in Rhode Island, and recently received a $40K grant.

The app - SMART Certification - is out in the app store. Download the app, and get CPR certified for free! Reach out to Abbie via IG @resusci.tech

Meet Anita, graduate from Carthage College and founder of the Honey House, a local Chicago honey store that sells honey, organic tea, canned goods, and more. Her property has ten beehives, hundreds of thousands of bees, and she takes the honey straight from the hive to her jars in her store. 

Listen to Anita share the source of her inspiration - her Uncle Alex - and how she developed an incredible hustler mentality at such a young age. Anita highlights the specific jobs of various bees in a colony, the therapeutic effects of beekeeping, and the health wonders of honey. Anita retells the incredible story of the grind to build a physical store, construct all the shelves, label the jars, build her website, and oversee hundreds of thousands of bees. She discusses how honey helps her with her broader goal: spreading awareness of health and well being, both for individuals and the environment. As Anita continues to grow, she always comes back to her core value: maximizing impact in her local community. 

If you are ever in Chicago, you need to visit her store! It is an incredible piece of land and she'll give you a private tour. Also, if you are interested in beekeeping, maximizing local impact, or wanting to befriend a true hustler (but incredibly sweet person), reach out to Anita on IG @honeyhouse_ab

Meet Diana, co-founder and CEO of IncluDesign, a design firm creating adaptive products that empower individuals with disabilities. IncluDesign is releasing their first product, the LapSnap, after reaching their $10K Kickstarter goal in one week! The founders of IncluDesign began by participating in Brown’s 2020 Breakthrough Lab Accelerator, and since then the company has been featured in Providence Business News and been named one of RI Inno’s top 10 startups to watch in 2021.

Listen to Diana share how she created a major in Industrial Design, taught herself how to sew and develop a prototype, figured out how to partner with a manufacturer, and used the Human Centered Design Process. Diana highlights the differences between the terms "differently abled" vs. "people with disabilities," and discusses how she conducted dozens of virtual interviews, analyzed user feedback through online check-ins and surveys, and distributed prototypes to wheelchair users across the United States for a four month trial. 

If you are passionate about creating products for people with disabilities, reach out to Diana on IG @inclu.design, and be sure to donate to their kickstarter campaign!

Meet Tessa and Sagie, Executive Director and Program Director of Debate Spaces, an education non-profit that uses debate to foster civic engagement and connect middle school students from around the world. Currently run by Harvard graduate students and a team of pro-debaters, Debate Spaces operates under the mission of crafting and developing strategies to make the world a better place, through debate. Since its founding in 2017, Debate Spaces has impacted over 400 students from urban and suburban middle schools around the world.

Listen to Tessa and Sagie discuss Debate Spaces' pedagogical approach, and their ultimate vision to foster community building where people from around the world can engage in empowering dialogue. Tessa highlights the power of debate with regards to self-empowerment and advocacy, and shares stories of students using debate to enact change in their local communities. Sagie discusses "the superpower" of your voice, and illustrates how debate is the bridge between knowledge and action. 

If you are a middle schooler - join this program! For everyone else - get involved with Debate Spaces by volunteering as a judge or recruiting students. Be sure to follow and DM Debates Spaces on IG @debatespaces 

Meet Vanessa, co-founder and CEO of Pawsible, a young non profit providing financial and community support to volunteers raising future assistance dogs. Pawsible operates financial support programs such as Rasier Relief, Puppy Starter Kits, and Raiser Sponsorships to help offset the intense and challenging costs associated with volunteer puppy raising. Through a growing chapter network, Pawsible offers financial support to over 500 volunteer puppy raisers across five assistance dog organizations.

Listen to Vanessa highlight her experience raising guide dogs, building an all female and non-binary identifying team, and creating Pawsible's most popular blog series: Racism in the Dog Community.

Pawsible’s ultimate goal is to make puppy raising a more inclusive, equitable, and accessible experience. Whether you’re interested in joining their team or becoming a volunteer puppy raiser, you can check out ways to get involved on pawsibleinc.org/get-involved or DM them on IG @Pawsible.inc. Also keep an eye out for their Fall Internship application, Puppy Raiser Scholarship, and more, launching this summer.