Wrapping up my first year in Entrepreneurship

Let's Run It Back!

August 10 marks the first anniversary of being named the Director for the Center for Integrated Entrepreneurship. A picture of the contract signing is below. After one year, as they say in basketball, "let's run it back." I'm ready for another year!

I was a full-time faculty member in Communication and had interviewed for the Director's role because I like Dave Kukurza and know his background. 

When I was named Director, there wasn't much time to mess around. I had a full-schedule of classes to teach, which now had to be rearranged. I had no choice but to hit the ground running in terms of managing the responsibilities of the Center. For the next two weeks, I had Zoom meetings with at least 15 different people in the Entrepreneurship ecosystem in Northeast Ohio. I also met with Dean Judy Muyskens, School Director Andrew White, and of course, Dave Kukurza to get up to speed on what all I needed to do. 

In a management position like this, one thing I constantly do is check and respond to email. When I teach class, in the back of my mind, I wonder, "how many messages are in my inbox?" I feel like I have accomplished something major when I can leave work without unanswered email. 

I love what I do. I love helping students and seeing them succeed. I get charged up when I see and work with students who are just go-getters. I'll make calls and do whatever I can to get them ahead. 

My major goals for this year will be to teach a new Entrepreneurship class. Get more activities going with the Entrepreneurship Club and just make Entrepreneurship more visible. 

Student Spotlight

Kaela McMullin had herself a year last year! Second place in ideablitz! First place in ideabuild! And Honorable Mention at EEC's idealabs! That's $1,300 in winnings! Kaela's winning idea was called Cancer Cure Wigs. The idea was inspired by a family member who had battled cancer and dealt with the loss of hair and the psychological impact that had. Her product proposed to help restore and regrow hair. Watch the video to hear Kaela talk about it. 

What's next for Kaela? She said she would like to start a new clothing line. Over the summer, she took part in the EEC's Side Hustle program to learn more about starting a clothing line. 

Mentor Spotlight

Trevor Capiccioni is one of our awesome mentors. He launched his own medical supply sales business called Patriot Surgical in February of 2018. And it is taking off! Click on the link below to see Trevor explain how the expansion is going outside of Ohio! 

Trevor Capiccioni's Patriot Surgical expansion!

Taking a breath

(Canton, OH) It's summer time and the living sometimes isn't so easy. It's the fourth week since graduation and every week, has had several meetings on the docket, including four separate professional development seminars online. I'm supervising two students on internship. I require them to blog and we have Zoom meetings every couple of weeks. And I check in with their work supervisors. I am also in the middle of prepping a 100% asynchronous online class for the second summer session. 

When I previewed this week in meetings, I saw 11 meetings and yet another conference/seminar to attend and it conflicts with two meetings. On top of all of this, I had to take our dog to the emergency vet last night as she hadn't been able to eat for the past two days. She is not herself. The doc had to keep her overnight and give her an IV. She is having an ultrasound to see what the mass is that is stuck in her abdominal area. 

With all of this going on, I had to remind myself to just take a breath. Inhale. Exhale. Get through one thing at a time. Getting through each meeting and each day and just staying ahead of things helps settle the anxiety down a little. 

A New Year In Entrepreneurship

 (Hiram, OH) I am starting year six at Hiram College. I originally started in January of 2016 as an Assistant Professor in Communication. I came to Hiram right after graduating from BGSU in December of 2015. There's no way when I came to Hiram that I thought I would be an administrator at the start of this year!

Hiram College press release about me!

My great colleague

I'm thrilled to be in my current position. I work with a great colleague named David Kukurza. He's the Academic Development Director for Entrepreneurship. He and I mesh really well. You can tell we both have been around the block awhile and understand how to work well with people. Working well with people isn't something you can learn all about in school. A lot of it is learned from being in the business world, being in meetings, observing the hierarchy of companies, seeing who speaks when, knowing the roles of people, and so on. This business insight is what makes working with Dave so much fun. We don't mess around trying to figure things out so much. 

What's coming up

We are starting the spring semester face-to-face in-person. However, we are still following the state guidelines of not having more than 10 outsiders for a gathering. Social distancing is still encouraged. February 1st, all Ohio school employees are supposed to start getting vaccinated. We'll see.