九月底的一个星期六的早晨，大雨浸透了山庄, 比肯街245号里面的气氛要明亮得多. 委员会成员 埃德蒙·H. 谢伊小. 创业中心 学生领导团队 Start@Shea bustled around the building putting the final touches on the second annual Solstice Conference just as the first registrants arrived. 他们用名牌装饰与会者, 递给我一包赃物, 用红牛把他们弄醒, before ushering everyone into the auditorium to commence a weekend-long exploration of entrepreneurship.
“We wanted to create an event that really resonated with students and young professionals,25岁的Seda Sargsyan说, Solstice Conference联席领导和Start@Shea执行董事会成员. That’s why this year’s conference organizers specifically wanted to curate their list of featured speakers with “an eclectic mix of both BC and non-BC entrepreneurs,她补充道。. While there was no overall conference theme, a special focus on women in business was apparent.
Caitlin Reimers Brumme, MassChallenge首席执行官, in conversation with Chris Carrabes ’25
超过两天的精彩活动(从2022年的三天压缩而来), 参加会议的人可以用演讲来打发时间, 小组讨论, 以及与企业家的互动研讨会，比如 吉米·麦克德莫特，21岁LaDante McMillon, MCAS 2012 Bozhena Kulchyckyj ' 22等等. 整体, there was no shortage of opportunities to soak up wisdom from business leaders and innovators.
“了解什么能给你带来能量是一件值得发现的大事,凯特琳·雷默斯·布鲁姆分享道, MassChallenge首席执行官, who kicked off the conference with a keynote conversation moderated by Chris Carrabes ’25, Start@Shea营销联席主管.
加入MassChallenge之前, an accelerator nonprofit that supports entrepreneurs and startups from non-traditional backgrounds, she was working in Venture Capital where she focused on mobilizing investment capital. 然而, she said it wasn’t until joining MassChallenge that she felt she had discovered her true calling and the satisfaction that comes from being close to people changing the future. Now she routinely gets to celebrate the courage it takes to bring a new idea to the world.
说到事业, a sense of urgency to get to the finish line is not always the right frame of mind, 她建议, 向他们保证，有时候找到一份职业是需要时间的. “我还有30到40年的工作时间——如果在国会，我将有60年的工作时间,布鲁姆说, 引起了观众的笑声.
“我当时坐在那里想，‘我怎样才能把它运用到我自己的公司?’,25岁的冬至参加者凯尔·拉迪默说, 谁是Musync应用程序的联合创始人, 是什么将音乐家与演出场地和星探联系起来. He and classmate Advaith Vadlakonda ’24 have found that having a tangible project to work on outside of class gives them purpose and makes the work feel exciting, 正如布鲁姆在评论中所说的那样.
“It's nice to have someone tell us it’s okay” to be nervous about going out into the real world and starting a career after graduation, 24岁的Quinn Serpa说, 谁学习市场营销和创业. He felt that Brumme helped ease everyone's minds about the anxieties of the future.
艾玛·巴特勒，Liberare首席执行官兼创始人
而夏至的演讲者来自不同的创业背景, conference organizers hoped that each one would have relatable perspectives to share. For the young women in attendance, Saturday’s Innovate Her Way event was developed with them in mind. 小组对话邀请了BlueConic首席执行官Cory Munchbach, Liberare首席执行官兼创始人艾玛·巴特勒说, 以及SoccerHead首席执行官兼联合创始人吉尔达·多里亚. It was intended to “amplify representation and visibility for women in entrepreneurship, 从而鼓励更多的女性与会者追求自己的想法,Sargsyan说.
“Being the only woman put me in a position to make points other people wouldn’t have made,Munchbach说. She was the first woman employee of customer data platform BlueConic and the only woman on the executive team for years. “I threatened to get pregnant if we weren’t going to get everyone parental leave,” she confessed.
"It’s important to keep your eyes open and look at what others are going through because it benefits everyone,巴特勒同意了. 作为残疾人内衣品牌Liberare的创始人兼首席执行官, she finds it especially important to advocate for an accessible workplace and ensure that all of her employees are accommodated and feel seen.
The discussion also underscored the hoops many women entrepreneurs have to jump through in order to thrive in their industries. Butler had difficulties securing investments for her business despite her early success, while her male counterparts attracted substantial fundraising without comparable revenue. Her solution was to begin cold-emailing investors with the gender-neutral subject line, 布朗大学创始人.’ “[Then] I would write, ‘I don’t know anything about fundraising, can you tell me about it?’然后他们就会投资，”她补充道. “总是寻求建议，而不是金钱.”
出席学生
Malaine Diop ' 25, 谁在学习管理和领导, 是在考虑自己未来的商业计划吗. “I’ve always thought about entrepreneurship and owning my own business,她说。. “It was cool to learn about different terminology and ways you can get funding for your startup.”
下午晚些时候, attendees headed to the Moolah Kicks Ideathon for a chance to get hands-on with the day's ideas. Participants were separated into small groups and tasked with developing a marketing plan for Moolah Kicks, 这是娜塔莉·怀特20年创立的女子篮球运动鞋品牌.
The prompt revolved around how the company could utilize college athlete endorsements in order to appeal to high school women’s basketball players, 而且不侵犯NCAA的校名, “形象与相似”(NIL)规则和其他代言合同. Energy levels spiked as participants excitedly traded ideas and teams encouraged each other while plans were presented to a panel of judges—White joined the judging process via Zoom. The first-place team will get the chance to work with Moolah Kicks to execute their idea.
当一天结束的时候, 与会者都在交易外卖, comparing which events they were looking forward to on the second day of the conference, 邀请到的演讲者. 萨尔基相在一旁看着，欣赏着这一幕. “We noticed that attendees stayed behind after events and had conversations with our speakers,她说。, 显然高兴. “我们希望实施一个简化的程序，以鼓励明年更多的人这样做. 看到这样的人际互动真是太棒了.”
