And This is How it Started

Karly Hou is a sophomore at Harvard majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. With friends, Karly launched Wave Learning Festival back in April 2020 n response to long-standing educational inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a few months, Wave Learning Festival was able to serve 300+ free, live, engaging seminars on diverse topics like "The Mathematics of Burritos" to "Quantum Physics". Wave Learning Festival was able to serve curriculum to 12,000+ students from all 50 states and 62 countries around the world. Wave Learning Festival partnered with 600+ schools and community organizations serving low-income and homeless youth to ensure their resources can reach those who need them most. Wave Learning Festival has also launched our free tutoring program, college application series, and career series to provide support and guidance to students making their way in online school. In this episode, we discuss Wave's founding story, Karly's career journey, and entrepreneurship experience, as well as advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Shriya is a senior at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business majoring in Business Administration and Marketing. Shriya is a founder of Uncle Harvey, a one-stop-shop for neurosurgeons across America. Uncle Harvey also aims to serve as an information hub – a one-stop-shop where you can find all of the latest information on neurosurgical current events and announcements, cutting-edge research, and even opportunities to get involved. Officially launched in April 2020, Uncle Harvey grew quickly, garnering 55,660 members. In this episode, we discuss Uncle Harvey's founding story, Shriya's entrepreneurship experience, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Mikayla is a senior at UC Berkeley majoring in Environmental Economics. Chelsie is a senior at California PolyTech majoring in Communication. Mikayla and Chelsie are co-founded Activism Always, technology and service that allows organizations to flexibly and reliably organize data into easy-to-access insights and visualizations. Their mission is to produce data-driven insights supported with robust research and analysis for their clients, with consideration to current discussions around social issues, online activism, and intersectional action to support the goals of mission-driven organizations. A prototype project they have worked on is called Black Live Matter Always, where online content from the events of Summer 2020 was collected and analyzed to reveal insights about the changing sentiments around the BLM movement. The project was presented at TechSoup x ParsonsTKO's Data for Social Impact Conference in August 2020. In this episode, we discuss Activism Alway's founding story, Mikaya's and Chelsie's career journey and entrepreneurship experience, as well as advice they have for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Patricia is a senior at Florida International University majoring in Interdisciplinary Engineering with a Manufacturing Engineering concentration. Patricia is the founder of "college thrifts". College Thrifts is an inclusive peer-to-peer platform for students/alumni to buy/sell their gently used college branded items and network amongst users. In addition to creating these more inclusive and connected college campuses, College Thrifts is also supporting 3 United Nations sustainable development goals focused on sustainable communities and responsible consumption. In this episode, we talk about College Thrift's founding story, Patricia's career journey, her entrepreneurship experience, and advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Yasmeena is a junior at Northwestern majoring in economics and entrepreneurship. She and a few other students were brought together through their love for finding and spending time in interesting places. They decide to share that passion through Unfound, a mobile application that cultivates a community for those who prefer the path less traveled. Users can share and discover new places to go to. In three months of the launch of their web platform, they have had over 8000 site visitors from 94 different countries and featured on popular Instagram accounts. Currently, Unfound soft-launched its mobile app in Chicago. In this episode, we discuss Unfound's story, their participation in Northwestern's pre-accelerator Wildfire, and more!

Sandhya graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Public Relations. When Sandhya was in high school, she and her father created the Geek Girl Careers, a career development platform that helps young women discover their dream careers in tech using personality assessments. The platform offers skill development tools, opportunities, and a network of experts to connect with. Sandhya decided to revisit Geek Girl Careers in June of this year and officially launched the platform. In this episode, we talk about Geek Girl Career's founding story, their plans to disrupt and be a resource for career exploration, the barriers to career resources, the future of Geek Girl Careers, and the advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Tejas is a recent graduate from Northwestern, and Jessika is currently attending Washington University in St. Louis. Due to the pandemic and the social inequities that rose, they founded Compass, an SMS triaging solution to increase accessibility to preventative healthcare. In this episode, we discuss Compass's founding story, their entrepreneurship experience during undergrad, forming their team, and the future of Compass.

In this episode, Isabela and Hayley discuss the indoor plant boom that's popular among Gen Z and Millennials. They discuss popular plant trends, plant care tips, and the benefits of owning a plant.

Abigayle Peterson is a current freshman attending Western Washington University as a CS/M scholar, majoring in Computer Science. Abigayle is revolutionizing mental health with Magnify Wellness, an IOS app that aims to make mental health accessible by sharing and documenting resources and hosting mental health x STEAM events. Magnify Wellness is fiscally sponsored by Hack Club Bank. Check out Magnify Wellness on the App Store. In this episode, we discuss Abigayle's story on founding Magnify Wellness, her computer science background, and founding a non-profit called CodeHers Collective, and advice she has for aspiring ios developers, entrepreneurs, and mental health advocates.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.