Latreash McCurdy embraces challenges. Finishing high school early while pregnant, she went on to graduate with mulitple degrees from state universities in graphic design and advertising (magna cum laude) while raising a kid and working full time. Voted one of the 40 under 40 rising stars in Queens NY, Latreash has 23 years of experience in the design field and is the owner of Latreash Designs,which focuses on brand development, graphic & website design, and illustrations. She advices young entrepreneursto invest in their businesses branding & marketing, utilize resources (networking, financial, mentors), embrace challenges, and build human relationships and connections. She is a member of the Southern Wake Business Alliance, which prepares local middle and high schoolers for what’s ahead in the career world. In this episode, Latreash shares her story of not just overcoming challenges but embracing them and using them as steppingstones toward success!

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/latreashmccurdy/ 

https://www.latreash.com

https://www.instagram.com/latreash_designs/

Ritika Shamdasani is one of the sisters/co-founders behind Sani, an apparel brand inspired by South Asian culture. They started off with evening wear for Indian weddings and launched South Asian fashion on Rent the Runway, followed by a big launch in Nordstrom in April 2023. Now they've broadened to casual categories like their viral loungewear and have grown exponentially because of TikTok. Their clothes have been featured in places like the TODAY show, Forbes, NYT and on celebrities like Karlie Kloss and Ashley Park. Ritika made the Forbs 30 under 30 list and shares how they built Sani over the past few years, endured challenges, and kept expanding to what it is today.

Links:

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritika-shamdasani/⁠ ⁠

https://www.sani.co⁠

Natalie Barbu is a social media influcer and CEO and founder of Rella, a management tool made for creators to organize their content and run their business. She began her social media career in 2011 on YouTube in the beauty guru phase. She has grown her following to over 380,000 followers throughout her platforms, made it her full-time job, and pivoted multiple times in her journey. She is the host of The Real Reel Podcast, a show where she speaks to entrepreneurs, business leaders, creators, and everyone in between talking about the real reel - not the highlight reel. Listen into this episode where Natalie showcases her creative genius.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebarbu/

https://getrella.com/

Lindsay Reeth is the cofounder of the Student-Made Store which is a comprehensive program that provides an effective and entirely student-run platform for student creators to reach supporters on their campus, and our growing network of campuses. Her passion is in providing a truly impactful and tangible experience to students that will help them gain confidence in their skills through the spirit of entrepreneurship. We talk journey, learnings, breakthroughs, and how to simply keep moving forward.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-reeth-26369412a/ https://www.studentmadestore.com

Jerush Christopher is a NC State grad and co-founder of Shipp- a dating app where you match with those nearby, and if you both accept, you can walk toward each other and have your first conversation face-to-face. Jerush is a genuine soul that wants to bring genuiness back into the dating game. Listen up and be inspired to communicate authentically whether you are single, dating, or married.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerush-christopher/

Christina Noel is a social entrepreneur and marketing strategist, founder of Noel and Co. which is a Certified B Corporation marketing & strategy consultancy that works with mission-driven organizations to achieve sustainable growth and scale their positive impact by empowering them to develop their ideal market positioning, value proposition, and holistic marketing strategy. Christina specialize in helping founders thrive by increasing growth & profitability and shares her real and raw journey of how she got to where she is today. She is relatable, transparent, and is sure to sustain your attention as she touches your heart through her power of story telling.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinamarienoel/

https://noelandco.io

Jennifer Capps is a lifelong learner. She is the Assistant Vice Provost and founding team member of NC State Innovation & Entrepreneurship. During her career, she has built numerous campus wide & interdisciplinary entrepreneurship programs within curricular and co-curricular spaces. Jennifer is known for her program leadership as well as student, alumni & faculty mentoring efforts. Jennifer brings her experiential education expertise to the podcast by sharing her lived expereinces, giving advice, and showing up radically herself.

Haley Huie brings a vibrant sense of adventure to this episode as she shares her journey of travels and exploration that brought her to where she is today. Haley is an educator, entrepreneur, venture coach, and strategy consultant. She is the director of the entrepreneurhsip clinic at NC State and helps students build their creative ideas into start ups. Tune in to hear the advice she gives about stepping outside of comfort to build resilience.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleyhuie/

Josiah Hall is a recent NC State grad who shares his experience of service with a local non profit throughout his college years and his journey of starting his junk removal business 5 years ago in high school. His calm dedication to service and the youth will inspire Gen Z listeners to start today and keep going through the hard times because your commitment will pay off!

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiah-hall-360295182/

Dr. Emily King is a Child Psychologist, and former School Psychologist, who provides parent consultation to parents raising neurodivergent children and teens in North Carolina. Emily provides online education opportunities for parents through "Parenting On Your Own Path" course and online training for educators through The Neurodiverse Classroom™. On this episode she brings important knowledge for parents and educators to have and encourages them to ask if what they see in the student is a common mistake, or is it a skills weakness.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilywkingphd/