Entrepreneurship
About
My freshman year, I was accepted into the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program, a community of undergraduate entrepreneurs, most of whom were business and STEM majors. Although I felt slightly out of place as the only Law, Societies, and Justice major in the program, Lavin was a pivotal part of my UW career. Interacting with my innovative Lavin peers inspired me to pursue the Entrepreneurship minor, which gave me the opportunity to take business coursework and start my own company.
The Boss Boocha team at Hell Night, an event where we could pitch our idea and give samples of our product
(Click the image to see the Boss Boocha Instagram)
My team went through many iterations when designing our product and its label. When conducting our target customer interviews, we found that people particularly resonated with our catchphrase:
"for when you're done, but the day isn't" as well as our choice to donate a portion of our profit to Children International.
(Click on the images to zoom in)
Creating a Company
If someone told me that I would be running a kombucha company in college, I would have thought they were crazy. Little did I know, this experience would be one of the highlights of my UW career. I took the Creating a Company series as a part of my Entrepreneurship minor. True to its name, this class gives students hands-on experience in the business world by funding students to create a company of their own. I was a part of an all-female team and we started Boss Boocha, a ginseng-infused mango kombucha energy drink. Our goal was to provide a healthier alternative to other energy drinks or coffee, helping fuel people through their day in a more natural way. Starting Boss Boocha gave me a completely different experience than simply studying in a classroom: for example, instead of merely learning about how to make a business plan, we had to create a real plan that would result in our company making a profit in just a few months. Then, we had to pitch the plan to local Seattle business leaders—like being on an episode of “Shark Tank.” This gave me an idea of what being an entrepreneur is truly like, and I loved it.
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I learned more from the Creating a Company series than perhaps any other class I took in my minor. The courses helped me learn what it is like to start a business and be a entrepreneur. I originally minored in Entrepreneurship and joined the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program because business is applicable to any field and I thought that these skills would be helpful if I chose to start my own law firm one day. At that point, I did not see myself starting my own business. Taking Creating a Company, however, made me realize how much I enjoy running a business. Although we decided to shut Boss Boocha down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope to build off of this experience and start another company sometime in the future.
Entrepreneurship Minor
Roisy Rickel, CMO of Boss Boocha, and myself presenting our product at the Foster School of Business
Beyond the Creating a Company Series, here are some of my favorite projects that I have worked on in my Entrepreneurship minor:
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Created a business plan for a restaurant that uses a cross-subsidy model to provide affordable meals to food-insecure individuals in Seattle
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Wrote a proposal for a social impact partnership between UW and Expedia to help provide short-term affordable housing to UW students
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Won Second Prize at the annual Lavin Business Pitch Competition for an app proposal that plans accessible routes for disabled people based on crowd-sourced information regarding obstacles in pathways
Lavin Entrepreneurship Program
My friends from the 2016 cohort of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program
(Click on the picture to find out more about the program)
Some of my best friends are from the 2016 Cohort of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program. Throughout the years, we have worked together in business pitch competitions, collaborated in entrepreneurship courses, and networked with entrepreneurs at monthly events. I like being a part of the start-up community because it challenges me to put my own ideas into action.
My senior year, I was asked to speak on a panel for the Lavin Innovation Studio. I enjoyed connecting with younger pre-law students who were also interested in exploring entrepreneurship.