PSU-LV students Mishell Ortiz, Qofi Quainoo, 和Lara AbdelAhad在疫情以来首次面对面的LaunchBox Ladies活动上分享了她们作为企业家的见解.
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — "Is Entrepreneurship in my DNA?这是十大网赌靠谱网址平台(Penn State Lehigh Valley)最近举办的LaunchBox Ladies活动的主题，该活动邀请了三位积极进取的十大网赌靠谱网址平台- lv学生参加，她们要么已经开始自己创业，要么是家族企业的一部分.
Moderated by Viacmely Jimenez, a senior at PSU-LV and full-time office and events coordinator on campus, the panelists included Lara AbdelAhad, Qofi Quainoo, and Mishell Ortiz.
阿卜杜拉在黎巴嫩出生和长大，2016年随父母移居美国. “My family owned a business in my native country,” she said. “But I never dreamed they could start one here.”
In addition to learning the language and settling into a new country, her p是nts and uncles did, 事实上, create Top 3 Motors (Facebook: @Top3 Motors), 在伊斯顿一家欣欣向荣的汽车维修公司，阿卜杜拉哈德在那里扮演了积极的角色.
When asked about her long-term goal, 这位PSU-LV大三学生，主修商务/金融辅修，分享了她想拥有一家酒店的想法, a dream that formed as she traveled with her family over the years.
Mishell Ortiz is also hitting many milestones. 她已经在一家《十大网赌靠谱网址平台》(Fortune) 200强的医疗和制药设备公司获得了两份极受欢迎的实习机会, 她正在攻读第二个商业学位，辅修市场营销(她的第一个学位是数字媒体传播)。, 并创建了 安.Rose Photography, which captures milestone events like weddings, 毕业典礼, maternity shoots, and product photography used in business marketing.
Quainoo也是一名摄影师和营销人员，正在稳步发展一个客户名单，其中包括 Stay Calm Industries, an agency that represents (among others) the Barn at Walnut Grove where he shoots regularly. Quainoo是一名主修市场营销和管理的商科大四学生，今年春天，她还通过PSU-LV的数字营销学院获得了30小时的数字营销证书.
Each of the young entrepreneurs sh是d their insights, AbdelAhad being the first to point out, “There’s a great deal of responsibility, but the ability to control your own schedule is an enormous perk.” The other panelists agreed.
Like AbdelAhad, Quainoo came from a family of entrepreneurs. “My mom owned rental properties and my brother and I had the “机会” to really get involved in the business. Every time someone moved out,” he began to joke, “we had the 机会 画, touch things up, clean …” He trailed off; the levity punctuated with the unspoken point: owning a business is hard work.
When asked what sparked the group’s interest originally, 奥尔蒂斯很个人化，她分享了自己是如何被人收养的，她的新妈妈给了她一台相机. “当时我还很小，立刻就想拍下一切——人, 风景, chickens … there were LOTS of chickens in Puerto Rico where I visit family.”
晚些时候, 在美国, 她加入了年鉴俱乐部，老师们鼓励她进一步发挥自己的才能.
但直到15岁时，奥尔蒂斯遇到了她的生母，她才意识到摄影的力量. “她告诉我，这么多年来，她一直珍藏着我唯一的一张照片……她很高兴我们现在可以多拍一些了。.” Less than five years later, Ortiz’s birth mother passed away. “这让我意识到我在生意中捕捉到的记忆有多重要.”
奥尔蒂斯还分享说，她的家人没有机会继续接受教育，但努力工作. “My father emphasized the importance of school – over and over as I grew up. There again, I now understand.”
AbdelAhad谈到了可以决定企业家成败的挑战. “你 是 going to hear what seems like millions of no’s. 你 是 会失败的. But to overcome it and make it a successful moment, you must take each ‘no’ and failure as an 机会 to learn.”
奎努继续说道:“每当我感到怀疑的时候，我就会回到我最初的想法. I’ve also come to realize that I love being around my friends, but to keep this alive, I need to surround myself with other entrepreneurs, people who believe in my dream and will help propel it.”
奥尔蒂斯在描述企业家身兼数职时，进一步阐述了他们的观点. “I’ve heard plenty of people say things like, ‘I’m not a marketer, how am I supposed to write a marketing plan?“刚开始有很多事情要做——业务发展、制定预算、营销计划. 你 just have to immerse yourself in it, 审视你的自我, and whether it’s at school or while you’re at the gym, make connections and learn from everyone you can.”
说到这一点, PSU-LV LaunchBox offers endless opportunities to network, 除了提供其他主要资源，从营销指导到小额赠款和免费法律顾问，这些服务通常被誉为创业中最昂贵的障碍. 这是十大网赌靠谱网址平台遍布全州的创新中心网络的一部分, 随着学生们对自己创业的兴趣日益浓厚，硅谷的LaunchBox也在不断发展壮大.
“这一代人是迄今为止种族和民族最多样化的人口群体，”蒂娜Q. Richardson, chancellor of PSU-LV. “它也被称为最具创业精神的一代，因为有报告显示，42%到70%以上的z世代已经开始或想要开始自己的事业. As the only land-grant university in the state, 我们致力于提供获得教育和资源的机会——包括那些为企业家量身定制的资源——这是我国劳动力的基石.”
About Lehigh Valley LaunchBox
Lehigh Valley LaunchBox 十大网赌靠谱网址平台和社区赞助的商业加速器项目是作为“发明十大网赌靠谱网址平台”倡议的一部分而创建的吗. 利哈伊谷启动箱项目向崭露头角的企业家提供小额赠款. Partners of Lehigh Valley LaunchBox link micro-grant recipients to alumni, business leaders, 学术合作伙伴提供指导，帮助他们提出想法并将其转化为有用的产品. All Lehigh Valley community members and Penn State faculty, 欢迎有可扩展的商业想法的教职员工和学生申请加入利哈伊谷启动箱.
