With Ronda Taylor Bullock, co-founder and lead curator, we are

When Ronda Taylor Bullock enrolled in her doctoral program at the UNC School of Education in 2014, she planned to be an educator, not a social entrepreneur. Yet growing social unrest across the country drove her to become both.

As co-founder of a social startup that provides anti-racism education to families, children and educators, Bullock discusses how her research and pedagogy help shape her business decisions and why it’s critical to inspire people to become more than just cognitive allies.

She offers advice for social entrepreneurs on why it’s important to build a diverse executive board, ways to make social ventures financially sustainable, and how to maintain personal and professional boundaries when the substance of your work intertwines tightly with who you are as a person. Bullock also offers words of inspiration for students of color just getting started on their entrepreneurial journeys.

With Niki Shamdasani (UNC-Chapel Hill alumna), co-founder and CEO of Sani; and Ritika Shamdasani (NC State student), co-founder of Sani

For two sisters who grew up in rural North Carolina, building a startup that fuses South Asian fashion with the perspectives of first-gen South Asian Americans has been an entrepreneurial education on a global stage. Niki and Ritika Shamdasani launched Sani to increase the visibility of Indian culture and attire by designing the types of outfits they’d always wanted, but couldn’t find. Get their take on confronting feelings of imposter syndrome as fashion-industry novices who had to navigate the intricacies of fabrics, costs, quantities, and supply chains that stretch more than 7,500 miles between Delhi, India and their North Carolina headquarters. Both sisters discuss why mentors matter and ways to tap into second- and third-level professional networks. Get their advice on how entrepreneurs can practice patience when grinding through extended business cycles that don’t include immediate returns but set the stage for long-term growth.

With Cecilia Polanco, founder and CEO, So Good Pupusas

With Sheri Smith, founder and CEO of the Indigo Project

What if you had more than an inkling of who is most poised to become an entrepreneur? What if there was a way to identify K-12 students who may lack access to traditional resources, but who have characteristics they can use to build entrepreneurial success? In this episode, Sheri Smith describes how her venture, the Indigo Project, uses an assessment technology based on artificial intelligence to find young entrepreneurial-oriented students and inspire them to build their own ventures. What does it mean that entrepreneurs score high on individualism, innovation and futuristic thinking, but low on time management? Is their tendency to focus on external goals a help or a hinderance? And can entrepreneurial behavior really be predicted? Smith answers these questions and more. She also shares a case study of how the assessment technology helped identify students from the Navajo Nation Indian reservation who are now using their entrepreneurial spark to make an economic impact.

With Patrick Sullivan, CEO of Bonsai; and Jake Rosenfeld, COO of Bonsai

For many, the scenario is familiar: You apply for a job, and 10 days later an email hits your inbox politely telling you that you’re not getting an interview. How do you break through the hiring barrier? And how do you tap into professional connections that only the most privileged traditionally enjoy? In this episode, the co-founders of Bonsai describe how the company’s online platform flips privilege into access. Learn about their method for matching talented students and young professionals from all backgrounds with highly regarded mentors via virtual one-on-one meetings. You’ll hear the co-founders describe how their own entrepreneurial journeys inspired them to create a systematic way to facilitate introductions that wouldn’t otherwise happen. If who you know – like leaders at Google, Apple, Amazon, McKinsey, Microsoft and other top organizations – is often more important than what you know, the Bonsai team discusses why it’s critical to level the playing field and create social capital for all.

With Zac Gonzalez, Carolina alumnus and former student intern at Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Entrepreneurship Center; and Asa Juhlin, Carolina student and summer virtual intern

In the early spring of 2020, many students at UNC-Chapel Hill and other universities had their summer internships set. Then the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans. During this podcast, we’ll hear from alumnus Zac Gonzalez, who worked at the UNC Entrepreneurship Center to develop the Innovation Internship Program, which included many students whose original startup internships were disrupted or morphed into virtual gigs. One of those students was Asa Juhlin, a sophomore who spent his summer working virtually in Hillsborough for Darkroom, a full-service digital agency located in Los Angeles and founded by a recent UNC alumnus, Lucas DiPietrantonio. Gonzalez shares how the new internship program works as a matchmaker to identify meaningful, project-based opportunities at high-growth startup companies and pair them with self-starter students like Juhlin. Gonzalez talks about the benefits of interning at startups, while Juhlin describes living out those benefits firsthand as he navigated the world of online collaboration technologies and sales business culture with growing curiosity and confidence.

UNC students, faculty and staff, do you need advice about a virtual internship? Or something else related to entrepreneurship? Check out our new "Ask an Innovator" online platform that gives you a quick, simple way to get answers about your idea or venture.

""Ask an Innovator" - askaninnovator.protopia.co/

With Franklin Roye, PharmD, president and co-founder of IndyCare; and Eshelman School of Pharmacy alumnus

Imagine  that you have the flu. But now you don’t have to visit your doctor to  get tested or go to the pharmacy to fill a prescription – all while  potentially exposing numerous others. Instead, you have a telehealth  appointment, and then someone drives to your house, where they test you  and bring you the medicine you need. Franklin Roye, president and  co-founder of IndyCare, shares how his company transforms independent  pharmacies into integrated healthcare hubs that use these and other  approaches to expand access to care in local communities. Roye explains  how IndyCare had to adapt its business model during COVID-19, the value  of co-founding a company with someone you trust, what he learned at the  Launch Chapel Hill accelerator, and the rise in entrepreneurial thinking  he sees among health scientists.

With Nick Black, co-founder and chairman of Stop Soldier  Suicide; CEO and founder of GoodUnited; MBA alumnus of Kenan-Flagler  Business School.

Army veteran Nick Black’s entrepreneurial journey  began when he moved into live combat just seven days into his first  deployment. He learned to be part of a team and accomplish what seemed  impossible. But after losing many friends and fellow service members to  suicide over time – more than were lost to the enemy – he founded the  nonprofit Stop Soldier Suicide to get service members the support they  need. Black discusses how Stop Solider Suicide thinks about its exit  strategy: to find a solution so that the organization no longer needs to  exist. Hear his perspectives on learning through failure, the  difference between helping and solving, and why he launched a new  venture called GoodUnited that allows other nonprofits to create  meaningful experiences for every donor.

With Alex Brandwein, MBA student at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and founder of Brandwein Bagels

Like many entrepreneurs, Alex Brandwein found that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he had to quickly pivot to support his business and the community. Find out how he shifted Brandwein Bagels to a pre-order, pick-up-and-delivery model that gave the company a way to use fresh, New York-style bagels to bring the local Chapel Hill community together at a time when people had to stay physically separated. How did Brandwein use an entrepreneurial mindset to meet a rapidly emerging business need? How did he work creatively to make his business part of a shared community experience? And beyond great food, what are the key ingredients Brandwein thinks all food entrepreneurs have to serve up to be successful now and in the future?

With Arvind Malhotra, H. Allen Andrew Professor of Entrepreneurial Education and Professor and Strategy of Entrepreneurship, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

With the world focused on the global coronavirus pandemic, decision makers wrestle with how to solve such “wicked problems” – massive challenges that are complex, have many interdependencies and are virtually impossible for anyone to solve by themselves. During this episode, business professor Arvind Malhotra discusses a timely approach to problem solving described in his new book “Unleashing the Crowd: Collaborative Solutions to Wicked Business and Societal Problems.” Why should we avoid the temptation to break these kinds of problems into smaller pieces? What’s gained by allowing larger groups of people to define problems while they solve them? And how can we let people openly contribute multiple ideas and perspectives at their own pace? Malhotra will introduce you to a method of thinking that can influence how we address many pressing issues: from climate change and hunger to educational inequity and the current COVID-19 pandemic.