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Trisha Prabhu: ReThink-ing Online Hate

Posted by mccommonsme21

· Sunday, November 14th, 2021

· 5 Comments

Trisha Prabhu is a 21-year-old social entrepreneur and the founder of ReThink, a patented technology that detects and stops online hate. In the fall of 2013, Trisha, then only 13 years old, read the shocking story of Rebecca Sedwick’s suicide. Rebecca, after being cyberbullied for over a year and a half, took her own life at only 12 years old. As a victim of bullying herself, Trisha felt heartbroken and horrified. In that moment, she decided to no longer be a bystander and created ReThink, which detects online hate at the source before bullying occurs.

Trisha has received worldwide acclaim for her endeavors. In 2016, former President Barack Obama invited to Trisha to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to share her story with other entrepreneurs. ReThink also made an appearance on Shark Tank, and not long after, Trisha received the prestigious Elevate Prize, as well as an Adrian Cheng Fellowship at Harvard. Trisha is the youngest honoree named to this year’s Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Impact list.

To date, Trisha has spread the message of ReThink to over 30 cities in 3 languages. Trisha is also an avid supporter of empowering women in the entrepreneurial community. Whether volunteering her time to teach young women how to code or finding ways to bridge the diversity gap in entrepreneurship, Trisha is inspiring a generation of fierce young women to tackle the world’s most important issues.

Check out Trisha’s TED Talk below!

5 Comments

Categories : Entrepreneurship, Female Empowerment, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Women Entrepreneurs, Young Entrepreneur

Miracle Olatunji: Helping Students Discover their Passion

Posted by grossmanlj21

· Saturday, November 13th, 2021

· No Comments

Miracle Olatunji is the founder of an OpportuniMe, a platform to connect high schools with opportunities for career development. She started it as a high school student. Olatunji created OpporuntiMe because she wanted to “democratize the process of helping people find opportunities.” Though she knew such programs existed, they were typically too obscure to discover. Olatunji gained her passion for OpportuniMe when she participated in the University of Delaware’s Diamond Challenge. This competition allowed her to see the power of entrepreneurship and how it can be used to instigate fruitful change. Olatunji wanted to start OpportuniMe as soon and as simple as possible; hence, it began as a newsletter. She is now working towards a website that will provide even more resources.

Olatunji is an admirer of social entrepreneurship. As such, she is working on another project called MIRACLE. Although MIRACLE is her first name, each letter represents something unique: Making Impacts, Raising Awareness, and Creating Learning Experiences. She states, “The vision is to create this organization, and under the umbrella of the organization would be social enterprises that meet the goal of creating and launching social ventures that empower, enlighten and educate people.”

Olatunji’s mission for students is clear: discover your passion, execute, and make a difference. She also wants young entrepreneurs to be ambitious, refusing to let their age or background limit them. Olatunji tries to encourage this by adopting Steven Johnson’s idea of a “liquid network,” which permits ideas to collide, connect, and evolve. This idea is evident in her effort to connect students with mentorship and other entrepreneurs. In a Forbes article, she shared: “You can’t really take an idea off the ground without collaborating with people and having mentors.”

Clearly, Olatunji values social entrepreneurship. Her investment in students shows her appreciation of guidance and how anyone, regardless of their age, can be innovative.

https://youtu.be/Hk-XjgRFlvw

Sources

https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthaharrington/2018/01/16/how-high-school-founder-miracle-olatunji-is-democratizing-opportunity/?sh=706d2fcb2154

The evolution of OpportuniMe, and founder Miracle Olatunji

No Comments

Categories : Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Young Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur Inspiration-APEX 4 Kids: Caleb Maddix

Posted by ShelatzAD21

· Wednesday, November 10th, 2021

· 1 Comment

Want to go above and beyond for your kids? Then Apex 4 Kids: Kids For Success might be what you need! Caleb Maddix started Apex 4 Kids when he was only 14 years old and he created this business to steak to kids who want to do more than the bare minimum. He is going out and speaking to kids all over the world so he can express to kids how the could become successful. As a young entrepreneur, he knew he wanted to help people and overall, Maddix wanted to start his own business NOW rather than working for someone else. In an interview with Nick Morgan, Maddix responded to the question of how brave it is to start an ambitious mission at such a young age in this way, “So I live my life by a quote and it’s “the gun that kills the most people is the ‘gonna.’” I meet too many people, especially kids, who are like “OK, I’ll get out of college and focus on my future” or “I’m gonna write a book, I’m gonna start a business …” and all of a sudden they’re 40 years old and unhappy with their life, all because they thought it was just gonna to work out. They end up killing their dream!” The main thing that’s needed to be done for Kids for Success if that he gets to personally coach ambitious students for a year in his business starting and successful ways. This greatly impacts our current students and the future of our economy.

Now, he started out in a rough patch with his family and the divorce of his parents. He became very shy and insecure with himself. Now, he became ambitious about studying greatness and that’s all he needed to get a spark of creativity. Maddix has now written 9 books, and he was voted most successful young entrepreneuras well. He is also a 14 year old (now 18) billionaire. He now has the joy of waking up and going out and making a change in the world because he wanted to change his way of life and the way that he looked at things. His father was the root of his success because of his father’s push to study greatness and knowledge to become successful in this life.

Caleb Moddix’s craving to help other students become successful is one of his unique qualities. Most young entrepreneurs want to help others, but they most often just want to sell. I admire how he just dove into his dream and made it happen. Like he said, most people wait to achieve their dreams when they have a degree or have licensing when they’re older, but his point is, start now! Don’t wait. In addition, he sees the needs of poorer countries and underprivileged children and he wants to give them the tools to help them strive for a better way of life.

Maddix is creating his own line of books and lectures that encourage people from all over to start businesses and strive for success. When asked the question about what he would say to parents to help their kids seek success is, “Be the type of parent that your kid wants to become because they respect you, but also be the type of person that if they became identical to you, you would respect, as you would respect yourself. That’s the most deep and true thing you can ever say about being a parent. Some parents are so mad with the person their kid has become, but the kid is really just like them.”

Overall, I think this idea is very innovative because we need to be influencing the next generation now of how to live life successfully, no matter what that may look like. This has inspired me to look at students in a different way knowing that they have the exact same capabilities, with a little more understanding of how to accomplish things. Most often people look at kids as inexperienced, but the more they learn how to navigate life, the more impactful experiences they will have.

Website Link:

https://apex4kids.com/home

Article Link:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2016/03/15/caleb-maddix-extraordinary-entrepreneur/?sh=5771a77c34b5

1 Comment

Categories : Entrepreneurship, Experience, Mentorship, Social Impact

Hannah Grace: A Bubbly Visionary

Posted by mccommonsme21

· Monday, October 25th, 2021

· 3 Comments

At only eleven months old, Hannah Grace’s parents rushed her to the hospital. Doctors soon diagnosed Hannah with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and her parents’ fear instantly turned to shock, disbelief, and worry for their young daughter. What they didn’t realize at the time, however, was that Hannah’s resilience and strength would allow her to thrive in the world of entrepreneurship.

Flash forward to nearly a decade later on New Year’s Day 2016. As Hannah’s family traveled to her favorite beauty store, her father left the budding entrepreneur with a challenge: make the same products and sell them herself.

Hannah took on the challenge full force. On the same day as the conversation with her father, Hannah began researching the necessary ingredients to make her first bath bomb. Hannah not only wanted to incorporate all-natural ingredients but also send positive messages to other young female entrepreneurs. Her solution? A bath-bomb that includes an uplifting message inside.

Since the debut of BeYOUtiful, Hannah has been featured on “The Today Show”, Teen Boss Magazine, and Snapchat’s “Our Money” series. Hannah’s heart, nonetheless, is what makes her stand out from the typical entrepreneur. BeYOUtiful donates a portion of its funds to JDRF, an organization dedicated to the research and advocacy of Type 1 Diabetes. With each bath bomb, Hannah is revolutionizing the beauty industry for young girls.

Click the link below to check out Hannah’s YouTube channel!

Hannah Grace BeYOUtiful – YouTube

3 Comments

Categories : Positivity, Social Impact, Women Entrepreneurs, Young Entrepreneur, YouTube

Mark Sotomayor – Buy a Tea, Plant a Tree

Posted by dawsoncm21

· Wednesday, October 13th, 2021

· 1 Comment

Mark is a recent 2020 graduate from Grove City College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship. He started his business, Treecup Tea, during his sophomore year at Grove City College. Through a development process of his product, he learned a lot about branding and what it takes to start a business. He began selling samples of his grandmother’s chai tea recipe at local events and pop-up shops out of Dixie cups. He now has 4 different flavors of tea packaged in sleek glass bottles, and he sells it in large stores such as Whole Foods and local farmers markets. His success took time and hard work. Although Mark experienced setbacks and help along the way, that is what grew into the success he has today.

Mark’s tea business is especially unique due to his passion behind the cause he helps with. For each tea that is bought, a tree in Haiti is planted. This serves to combat deforestation in one of the most poverty-stricken places in the world. Mark accomplishes this through partnering with a foundation called Haiti Friends. Mark values transparency in marketing, so he feels strongly about sticking to this purpose behind the business.

Mark is driven by the commitment to “Jesus Christ and follows the leading of the Holy Spirit. He wants to manifest God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven.” Mark is led by the Lord in everything he does and does not focus on the money. His purpose is bigger than the profit he makes, and this is apparent in his business. I believe this is what makes Treecup Tea unique and a great idea. It can be hard to find businesses that truly stick to their cause and do not drift from their true mission when they are blinded by success as their sole purpose and fall into the trap of greed.

I find Mark’s story truly inspiring because even through setbacks, he found a way to work through them and dig deeper. I can apply this to my own life and future business career because it is important to keep in mind that setbacks are what help us learn and grow. I aim to have a Christ-centered focus in everything I do just as Mark does. As Mark puts it, “if your business isn’t about God then what is it all for?”

1 Comment

Categories : Business, Charity, Entrepreneurship, Enviornmental, Haiti, Handmade, Redemptive Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Startups, Uncategorized

Super Business Girl!-Asia Newson

Posted by ShelatzAD21

· Monday, October 4th, 2021

· 3 Comments

Asia Newson is a young, teenage, entrepreneur from Detroit, who started her own business at the age of five! She wanted to experiment with candle-making while also teaching other kids like her how to become entrepreneurs. Her father first taught her how to make candles at a young age because he sold them himself at one point. Asia decided to create her own business, Super Business Girl, so she could have the freedom to design her own schedule. Ultimately, she looked at how hard her mom worked at her job and at home, so Asia decided that she wanted to create her own business to have more freedom to serve others. She started selling her candles outside of a store in downtown Detroit, which led to some conflict as she got older. Many people were projecting her business and brand as a scam and the security guards began chasing her from their storefront. Asia and her mother found a solution and went to get a permit. When the guards were shown the permit, they weren’t pleased but allowed it. Then she met someone who helped her out tremendously…

“Everything really started to change when Asia ran into Dan Gilbert, who is the owner of Quicken Loans as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers. He recognized her as Detroit’s “Super Business Girl.” She met with him in his office and he said, “I have keys to the city, and I can sell anywhere!” Today, Asia has trained 40 of her peers, young kids in Detroit, Michigan to be Entrepreneurs, which is to say Newson has created power and possibility across a whole community! She believes in helping other kids in Detroit and beyond learn to be entrepreneurs. She wants to open a candle store in every US state and she wants to sell her candles, as well as other products including “Super Business Girl” shirt, bags, and school supplies.” (https://prettybrowngirl.com/i-see-me-pretty-brown-girlpreneurs/asia-newson-founder-super-business-girl/)

Asia is a 13-year-old business owner who is making an impact on the world. She was featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show and on America’s got talent for her business and for her strong entrepreneurial spirit. She made a large impact in her community by training up to 40 of her peers on how to become entrepreneurs in the Detroit area.

This story is a massive inspiration due to Asia’s ability to power through and not let anyone talk her down regardless of who they were and what they thought of her business. She wanted to create a major impact in her community and ultimately the world, and she is doing just so. Her idea is a new take on the young entrepreneur by being able to teach others her process of innovation and success in her business. She demonstrates the idea of pivoting and hard work to be able to push through the hardships of being overlooked as a young entrepreneur who grew out of the “Oh, this is so cute!” phase. She is taken seriously as a young entrepreneur who has made a major impact with not necessarily a new product, but a relatable process in making it. She again has inspired me, and hopefully, others, to start as early as you can so you can accomplish much throughout life. Taking the first steps to create a business will get the ball rolling, that’s what I need to strive for.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahhunter/2017/01/10/the-13-year-old-entrepreneur-changing-the-face-of-business-in-detroit/?sh=df67f791f1d2

3 Comments

Categories : Candles, Challenge, Positivity, Social Impact, Women Entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs

Let’s Talk Trash: Trashbots

Posted by mccommonsme21

· Sunday, October 3rd, 2021

· 2 Comments

After teaching at orphanages in India, two brothers, Rohit and Sidharth Srinivasan, noticed that the lack of educational resources available prevented children from learning the latest skills in technology.

Their solution? Trashbots, a company that takes an innovative approach to providing low-cost, effective tools to teach 21^st-century computer science, robotics, math, and science to underprivileged children.

The Srinivasans designed Trashbots to work with open-source platforms, thus making the kits accessible to kids in rural and remote areas. Another advantage of the Trashbots platform is the scalability for children of all ages; kindergarteners can learn the basics of building without electronics, or older children can begin coding with “block programming” (synced with the Trashbots app) to program the robot to do anything (like dancing to music!)

A typical kit includes gears, pucks, axels, and starting “trash” (often rubber bands and popsicle sticks) as well as the Trashbots engine and USB cable. From there, Trashbots encourages young inventors to use anything from their local environment to add to the robot.

What further differentiates Trashbots’ kits is their ability to meet the needs of school districts, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, Trashbots began working with school districts to ship the kits directly to students’ homes.

The Srinivasans are revolutionizing the world of STEM, making coding and engineering available to children of all ages, regardless of background. With each kit, Trashbots takes one man’s trash and makes it another child’s treasure.

2 Comments

Categories : Computers::Games, Engineering, Male Entrepreneurs, Social Impact, STEM, Technology, Upcycling, Young Entrepreneur

Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman – Fashionably Making a Difference

Posted by dawsoncm21

· Friday, October 1st, 2021

· 2 Comments

People often get caught up in fast paced lifestyles and do not slow down to take time to appreciate the little things in life. It is always a good reminder to take a break once in a while and count your blessings. Two young, fresh out of college entrepreneurs realized that people need this reminder when reflecting on their time spent in Costa Rica and seeing how the Costa Ricans lived with a spirit of gratitude for the simple things in life. This is how their company was born.

Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman went on a trip to Costa Rica to celebrate graduating college. During their time there, they met two artisans that made bracelets and asked them to make 400 bracelets for them to take home with so they could display them in a local boutique. The artisans agreed, and the bracelets ended up selling out of the boutique in only a few days. Seeing the huge opportunity, Griffin and Paul wanted to develop a company with the bracelets. Branching off their inspiration from the lifestyle that the Costa Ricans embraced, Griffin and Paul decided to create a movement around their grateful attitudes for the simple things in life. The Costa Ricans called this lifestyle “pura vida”, so that is what they named business. Griffin and Paul partnered with the artisans in Costa Rica to launch their business, and now their employees have expanded to artisans in El Salvador, India, and more in addition to Costa Rica. They now have over 800 employees for this business, and it is continuing to grow.

Not only are Griffin and Paul spreading an inspirational message with their bracelets and jewelry, but they are also giving back to communities in need. They are providing artisans with reliable and good paying jobs with positive work environments, neither of which they had in their previous jobs. In addition to this, they have partnered with hundreds of different charities and donated millions of dollars to important causes. This is no ordinary bracelet and jewelry company. Their passion and mission for this business is apparent, and it is an inspiration that they have such a heart to give back.

These entrepreneurs helped solve the problem of low wages and poor work conditions for hundreds of people in other countries while selling a product with meaning. They are clearly driven by wanting to help others, and they are succeeding in multiple ways. This makes them unique in the jewelry business because genuine giving hearts can be hard to find. I am inspired by their story, and I have learned that seizing an opportunity is sometimes all it takes to make a big impact.

2 Comments

Categories : Charity, Jewelry, Social Impact, Travel, young entrepreneurs

The Bridge to Success

Posted by NoahIversen

· Monday, September 27th, 2021

· 2 Comments

Social media has been building bridges to new ways of innovation and entrepreneurship ever since it began. Those who have capitalized on it when it began, however, are the ones making all the money and gaining the most fame. Felix Kjellberg, or better known to some as “Pewdiepie,” created his youtube account only one year after the website was released. It wasn’t until 2011, though, that he began to post on what would become the largest account on the platform ever (owned by one person). He began by posting quite short and relatively boring videos on his account purely for the entertainment of his friends and himself. As time went on, more people began to find his account, subscribing to it, and Felix’s fanbase grew. Less than a year later he had surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark. He began to post more and more and only a year after that was at 10 million. It was safe to say that he was on the right track.

Pewdiepie began to create merch such as shirts, chairs, headsets, and eventually his own game on the app store. He was rapidly gaining fans and in the spring of 2019, the creator finally reached an astonishing 100 million followers, which meant that 1 in 15 people who used youtube was subscribed to his account. This may not seem like much, however, almost half of the country uses this platform. He is still creating to this day and after selling many products and featuring in other videos and ads, he has accumulated roughly a cool $45,000,000 from online interactions alone. Felix will forever be remembered in the industry of videomaking and for revolutionizing the world by his assistance in bridging the gap between the real and digital worlds of entrepreneurship.

2 Comments