And This is How it Started

In the second episode of the “Let’s Talk” installment, Yihui and Rachel discuss the skincare industry and its rise in popularity over the last couple of years. They explore how popular YouTube skincare influencers have helped shape the industry, what are some trendy products/brands, and why, as well as sharing their own tips and tricks.

Podcast Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Daniel and Miles are seniors at UCLA, majoring in Computer Science. Before the Spring semester ended, peers and students across the world found internships canceled due to the Pandemic. Daniel and Miles took this as an opportunity to build Rise, an internship program where teams are made up of aspiring product managers, product designers, and engineers to build a project over the summer. Daniel and Miles built the program and formed the leadership team in two months, with over 400 applications to join its very first cohort, and gaining sponsorship from Facebook. RISE filled a need for students who want to gain experience and opportunities during turbulent times. In this episode, Daniel and Miles discuss Rise's story, the internship program model, advice for students who want to build programs similar to RISE, and advice for students who are internship hunting.

Info about RISE: https://www.risesummer2020.org/

Podcast Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Chase Chapman is a senior at the University of Michigan and majoring in Business Administration. Chase has had experience in data analytics, finance, software development, marketing, and is the Non-Technical Education Lead at Blockchain at Michigan. Chase co-founded Decentology with her mentor which aims to assist developers in deploying blockchain applications and accelerate the development phase with customizable full-stack code. In this episode, we'll talk about how Decentology started, what inspired Chase to explore the world of blockchain, where the future of blockchain is heading, her thoughts on no-code software, and advice she has navigating the entrepreneurship landscape.

Check out Decentology: https://www.decentology.com/

Podcast Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Andrew Roth is a rising senior at Vanderbilt University majoring in Human Organizational Development and minoring in Spanish and Medicine, Health, and Society. Andrew is the founder and CEO of GenZDesigns, a marketing and advertising startup that helps brands engage and appeal their marketing strategies to Generation Z. With information overload, ad campaigns are easily forgettable so companies must find new ways to engage their audience. GenZDesigns works with prolific researchers at the world's top institutions proprietary to generate a proprietary score to ensure that the company is creating value for people, developing a "GenZ Score" that quantifies how likely their brand engages with Generation Z. GenZDesigns has also grown a community called The Loop where students around the world work together to provide insights to companies. In this episode, Andrew will tell his story on how GenZDesigns started, his advice for student entrepreneurs, challenges faced during the pandemic and growing a remote team, and his thoughts on the ever-changing & evolving marketing/influencer space.

GenZDesigns: https://genzdesigns.com/

Podcast Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Benny Rubanov '20 and Rohit Shenoy '21 are students at the University of Texas at Dallas(UTD), majoring in Physics and Computer Science respectively. Benny is currently working as a Program Manager at Qorvo, Inc. and Rohit spent this past summer as an associate consultant intern at Bain & Company. Rohit spent a year working at Fixe Food, a food startup as a product management intern and Director of Operations, and brought that experience to founding CampusOven with Benny. CampusOven is solving the problem with the lack of healthy and affordable meals on campus by creating a platform to connect caterers with college students and scheduling deliveries on specific times of the day. Since launch in February of this year, CampusOven has pivoted to focus on front line hospital workers during the Pandemic, to pivoting to B2B clients, and returning to serving delicious healthy meals to college students. In this episode, Benny and Rohit will tell their story on starting CampusOven, the entrepreneurship space at UTD, challenges they faced since launching, and advice they have for student entrepreneurs.

CampusOven: https://www.campusoven.com/

Podcast Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Mariah Manzano graduated from Santa Clara with a BS in Web Design & Engineering and minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship this past June and is now working full-time as a software engineer at Cisco. This past January, Mariah founded Opal, a "Tinder for mentorship" app that matches students with industry professionals for mentorship. Mariah wanted to find a way to allow students to grow and learn more about their passions and their dream careers. Students have a tough time reaching out or even knowing who to talk to as they navigate the job search process, rejection, and imposter syndrome. Mariah has grown her team virtually and designed Opal's matching algorithm to create the ideal match between mentor and mentees. In this episode, we'll talk about Mariah's experience growing Opal, her experience as a student entrepreneur and University Innovation Fellow, participating in Santa Clara's accelerator program, her background in app development and product design, and advice she has for aspiring student entrepreneurs.

Check out Opal: https://www.opal-app.org/

Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

On this “Let's Talk” installment, Isabela and her guest Charlotte discuss meal delivery services and their impact on the food industry. They provide an overview of the trend and how it highlights the growing importance of consumer convenience in food options, possible greenwashing, and the impact of COVID-19 on future dining experiences.

Andrea Lirio is a rising junior at Bryn Mawr College majoring in International/Global Studies. This summer, Andrea interned as an external communications intern at Fidelity Investments. Back in May, Andrea grew a 30 person team to manage Relay. Relay is a solution to a problem about finding reliable COVID-19 resources. Relay differentiates from similar products by responding to COVID-19 from a students perspective, helping and educating others about the pandemic to stay safe and informed. With students internship/summer plans rescinded due to the Pandemic, Andrea wanted to provide opportunities to create a meaningful project over the summer.  You can find Relay on their website, Facebook page, and Instagram. This year, Andrea will be spending what she calls her "Gap Year 2.0" to write her first book, "Creative @ Work" with expected publication in April 2021 while working on a fast-moving venture which consists of a TV show and product line component.

In this episode, Andrea will tell us how Relay Resource started, her TV Show Startup, her experience as a student entrepreneur, and debunking the stereotype around gap years.

Relay Resource: https://linktr.ee/RelayResource (Relay Resource website is temporarily unavailable for maintenance and updates) 

Podcast Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Maya is a rising senior at Babson College, majoring in Social Entrepreneurship. In January 2018, Maya founded Hope Sews, an ethical fashion brand focused on empowering women through cross-cultural fashion. In July of 2017, Maya traveled to Anloga, Ghana where she explored the fabric markets and tailor shops, falling in love with the wax prints. While she was there, Maya met Vida, a talented seamstress, who wants to empower women and provide them with the skills to open their own seamstress shops and allow women to be financially independent. Maya discovered that their was a problem: "many seamstresses in Ghana and around the world are unable to scale their businesses because they don't have the access to necessary resources". Sustainable development with a focus on social and ethical impact and investing in the futures of women around the world became the foundation of the brand. Hope sews is featured in BostINNO 50 on Fire Winner, Featured in Boston Voyager Magazine, Winner of B-Seeds Social Impact Pitch Competition, Winner of MASSInnovation Textile & Apparel Pitch, Winner of Steve Madden Fashion Forward Showcase, and profiled in British Vogue. In this episode, we talk about her experience starting Hope Sews, her take on the entrepreneurship space at Babson, her experience as a womxn entrepreneur and being the youngest founder in her cohort when she participated in WIN Lab's accelerator program, and challenges she faced running Hope Sews during the pandemic. You can find Hope Sews on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Check out Hope Sews: https://www.hopesews.com/

Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started

Grace Ling is a Master Student at Santa Clara University (M.S. in Computer Science), avid runner (check our her Insta @irungracepace), and founder of Design Buddies, the largest growing design community on Discord with over 5000+ members currently. In this episode, we talk about how Design Buddies started, her experience growing this community during a pandemic, utilizing LinkedIn and other social media platforms. As well as founding Design Buddies, we'll also talk about Grace's side-hustle, Candy Leaf Designs, and her experience selling her designs at expos and conventions. Listen to find out more about Grace Ling's experiences and how she discovered design. You can find Design Buddies on Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter, and Discord. 

Check out Design Buddies: https://designbuddies.community/

Socials: https://linktr.ee/and_this_is_how_it_started