SHIFT Magazine Issue No. 1

SHIFT MAGAZINE CLASS OF ‘22

Meet the students and faculty behind the first issue of Shift Magazine.

15 students from different majors, ranging from nursing to political science, showed up with a goal to create the first-ever Shift Retail Lab Magazine.

Our semester was strenuous, complex, and rewarding. The process began with brainstorming ideas of what this magazine would be, what it would highlight, and who our audience would be. After deciding who would fit best in their respective roles, whether that be as content creators, designers, or project managers, we visited the library archives and the ICA to get some guidance on how to get our many ideas onto paper.

The content team interviewed over a dozen shelfies and local creatives, deliberated on numerous content pieces, and met multiple experts in class over the semester. The project management team kept us on track in an efficient and timely manner to ensure our design team could bring the team’s vision to life. Thus, SHIFT Magazine was born.

Share your feedback on our magazine!

Brandon McCleskey

Hailey Fitzgerald

Bella Lubinskas

Team

Hadia Moosvi

Brandon Ranly Interdisciplinary Studies Content Team

Tony Ward Strategic Advertising Robertson School Content Team

Julien Reininger Master of Product Innovation da Vinci Center Project Management Team

Warren Wheat Strategic Advertising Robertson School Design Team

Jessica Collins Advertising Professor Robertson School Faculty

Cheryl Slokker Staff

School of Business Project Management Team

Kii Williams Biology

& Sciences Content Team

Lloyd Young Director of Innovation & Design da Vinci Center Faculty

Table of Contents

01 - 10 : Shift Retail Lab

The Story of Shift Shift Branding

11

- 48 : Meet the Shelfies

Briana Williams | LipLoveLine Mason Miles | Dress for Yourself

Zachera Kernizan | ti Boulé Malique Middleton | Gewd Botanicals

Peyton Spangler | Noodlers

Julien Reininger | Jacked! Jackfruit Jerky Meet the Shifters (Staff at Shift)

49 - 58 : Lessons from the Shelfies

Where to Find Inspiration

Fail Fast, Fail Frequently, and Fail Forward The Forgotton Factor The Future

59 - 66 : Shift you Mindset

Class Playlist

Connect the Dots Mona Lisa Shift into the Stars Entrepreneurial Horoscopes

Quiz: What’s Your Entrepreneurial Achilles’ Heel? Wellness Tips & Tricks

67

- 78 : Community Statement

Modelz

SMYTH on The City Calling Artists!

79

- 84 : About Shift & VCU da Vinci Center

About Shift Retail Lab About VCU da Vinci Center Thanks to our Board!

We shared the vision of wanting to bring an oncampus physical space for student founders to sell their work. Not only did we want to help promote their work, but we also wanted to create an environment in which they could freely learn with the support of the da Vinci Center’s team.

Entrepreneurial involvement in schools usually involves shared intellectual property rights and other proprietary matters. Our vision was to create something that was more open, available and adaptable.

Our first step was to build the space, however, there was an overall halt on projects due to COVID-19. Luckily, our team saw this as an opportunity to conduct more research and establish a strong

The Story of Shift

A Conversation with the Founders

By, Bella Lubinskas

brand. We worked with Brandcenter students to create the Shift Retail Lab brand and we also worked with some undergraduate classes to gain insight into the future of retail. Through this collaboration, we learned that the biggest need on campus was a place to conduct testing and research as opposed to promoting and selling a developed idea.

We had our ribbon cutting in November 2021, but we didn’t start filling our shelves with Shelfies until the spring. And in just that small amount of time, we’ve learned so much. So the same way that students use Shift to gain feedback, we use it to gain feedback from the community, students and other partners.

Garret Westlake Executive Director

Like a true service leader, Garret adapts his idea of innovation from a student: “Creativity is thinking about new ideas, innovation is implementing new ideas and entrepreneurship is sustaining new ideas.”

Lloyd Young Director of Innovation and Design

“Some of the most imperative parts of being an entrepreneur are believing in yourself, putting an idea out there, being able to receive feedback and adjusting and adapting accordingly.”

Shift encourages people to take risks and to play.

Shift is a testing ground and a support system for student founders.

Why Shift?

How VCU Brandcenter Brought Shift to Life

By, Bella Lubinskas

When the da Vinci Center started working on a concept for a new student storefront, they enlisted the help of VCU’s Brandcenter, a graduate school for branding and advertising, to create the branding of Shift that we all know and love. KT Schaeffer, Creative Director and Professor at the Brandcenter was more than delighted to take on this task given her personal experience with experiential advertising for retail. With this enthusiasm, she enlisted a cross-disciplinary team of 15 advertising students that were eager to give a name that would bring this space to life.

What were your initial thoughts of this project?

When Lloyd, from the da Vinci Center, told us about this idea, I thought it was brilliant and I wanted to get involved. I wanted to help in any possible way because I thought- and still think it’s so smart. I wish it had been something that I had been able to have access to as a student or alum because I love the idea of small business, it’s something I’ve always been passionate about! I’ve always had little small businesses of my own here and there. So the idea of having a free place to set up shop and in practice is brilliant. And I loved the idea of it being ever-expanding!

How do you define Shift?

Shift is a place where VCU students can showcase, sell, gain recognition and inform the public about their venture, regardless of the phase it’s in. Shift is a physical representation of going beyond the mission to introduce the diverse talent within the VCU community. When we had to think about what Shift was at its core, we found ourselves obsessing over innovation. This wasn’t just a place to think or create, and it isn’t a place that is just for the people studying a particular discipline, this is a place for everybody who has an idea.

What was the reasoning behind the name Shift?

One of the things that we wanted to make sure to touch on was that this place isn’t your typical brick-and-mortar. And we wanted something that had legs, not only from just an understanding of where it could go but how it could be used. We wanted a word that people could use in describing or referencing the space and the people. We recognized that this is a place that will constantly be evolving no matter who’s in it.

During our creative process, we created a Venn diagram of innovation and impact and found the storefront fit perfectly in between. Innovation is nothing unless it’s shared and can create change or create an impact, and we wanted to represent this storefront in a way that merged both of these concepts. During our brainstorming period, we kept circling concepts for names like possibilities, progress, movement, flexibility, change, and energy. But we found that the term ‘Shift’ embodied all of these things and thus, the name was born.

This of course led to our manifesto: For innovators, for everyone. Our infinite ideas have the potential to be limitless. Every day we try something new. The shift is curious, adventurous, and dynamic. Shift is committed to change, but not above moving on. Shift is about moving forward. We want more, not more of the same. More ideas, more creators, more perspectives, and more opportunities to showcase them. Shift is here to push the potential, not to limit it, to open doors and break down walls, to embrace innovators and dreamers, and to shift towards a brighter future.

What was the research process like?

We looked at all kinds of different retail spaces and small businesses, and we dug into the history of those spaces. We also went down a whole rabbit hole about the history of Richmond and what other schools have done. We did this because it’s important to know what’s been done before us and what’s going on right now, so we didn’t go down the same path. Instead, we wanted to ask ourselves how might we go down a second path? It wasn’t until we started diving into looking at the potential competition that we realized Shift was standalone within its field. This made our thinking a bit murky since we didn’t know how they truly wanted to define themselves. So, we all decided to define it as a retail lab, not a storefront.

What was the most impactful part of this project for you and your team?

I think the most impactful part was what we created. We sealed a strong visual foundation and brand voice for what ideation looks for. We created a foundation that stands for what this space truly is, what it believes in, and what’s next. That foundation was laid in such a way that Shift can continue to build, grow, and shift its focus while still being rooted in the same mission and vision. This allows anybody else coming to layer into this amazing vision and mission that no one could question. Shift is rooted in all the right things, and we’re all impacted by that.

What’s your key takeaway from Shift?

Collaboration is key. No matter what you’re

working on, get people that have different perspectives and different points of view. The more you are collaborating with different points of view and different people from different backgrounds and disciplines, the better the result will be. I think me pulling in this hodgepodge team from all different backgrounds, all different parts of the world, and allowing each one of them to hone in on their own skill sets to bring to the table will always stick with me. I will also always appreciate that all of us listened to each other. I think that’s what made us better, because when we were at our stopping point, we were able to step back and say, Hold on, we’re going down the wrong way! Our whole team had these great checks and balances with each other that allowed for an incredible work dynamic. I would say without a doubt, the more you are getting to involve yourself in that type of collaboration, the better you will be growing as a creative problem solver.

What kind of future do you see for Shift?

I think Shift has the potential to be even bigger! Like, it just started figuring itself out and still has that element of newness to it. I don’t think there’s an opportunity for them to fail unless of course we physically can’t get the doors open.

Did your team experience any setbacks during this process?

For the first couple of rounds of ideation, we felt like we were getting stuck so much on what we felt was expected from Garret, Lloyd, and VCU as a whole. We had to step back and ask, “What are we talking about here?”

WatchVideo!

We also ran into the problem of not wanting to be stereotypical Richmond. We were constantly asking ourselves, How do we break free of the expectations of retail, small business, or Richmond alone? We were constantly wondering how we could break out of the norm of what’s already been done or what the city may expect.

We realized we weren’t talking about anything typical, to begin with, we were talking about the crossover of innovation and implementation.

So stepping back and taking off the mental handcuffs that we were putting on ourselves allowed us to get out of our brains and go crazy. From that, we were able to get it down to about four or five ideas that we were feeling right. We would take a five-minute break and then come back in and instantly grab like the first one that grabbed their mind. Like we always say, go for what gives you goosebumps! Go for what makes you feel something!

What makes a project like Shift successful?

Like I say to all my students, all amazing things have to just be this aha moment. The more you are practicing that skill set of convergent and divergent thinking, the more you’ll be able to start building up these things. However, if you are not doing the research and the work behind all those other steps, then you won’t get those aha moments. When you do the work and you have a great strategy, you have a foundation that can’t be lost. The best strategies are like a good diving board. Does a good board allow the creative or the diver to jump off that into this amazing pool of opportunities with a good bounce? Your strategy or diving board should spark ideas. However, those tingly feelings sometimes don’t happen. It doesn’t mean that the work isn’t good or that your diving board is horrible, but it does bring up the question of if your research and insights are rooted in the right things. But the more that you practice the more of those tingles that make up a good diving board show up.

Meet the Shelfies

Our Shelfies have about a month to showcase and test their ideas. They could be working on a product or service that is already developed or starting at the beginning, with just an idea. During their month at Shift they will receive a stipend and programming, including a bootcamp, Feedback Friday, and group pop-up market. Our content team got a chance to sit down with a few of the current and past Shelfies from Shift and you can browse our conversations in this section.

Each semester there are multiple opportunities for current VCU students, alumni, and community founders to test their products, services, and ideas on the shelf at Shift.

A pp lytobeaShelf e !

Shelf·ie noun

A person who tests their ideas on the shelves at Shift Retail Lab

By, Hadia Moosvi & Tony Ward

Briana Williams is a VCU graduate alumna whose mission is to promote confidence and inclusivity through beauty. Her brand, LipLoveLine, includes lip care products to empower self-expression in the best and cleanest way possible: through the lips. No full face makeup is necessary. Check out this interview with Briana and learn more about her journey that brought her ideas to life.

Did you go to VCU?

I did. I went to Virginia State University for my undergrad and then VCU for my graduate degree.

What did you study?

Marketing, public relations, and mainly overall mass communications, but that was kind of my discipline.

At what point did you start to take an entrepreneur role?

I’ve always had that kind of spirit. Besides being in school or working at a job, I’ve always liked to create things. I had a podcast before. I’ve started many different things and worked for a lot of different organizations, whether it was nonprofit or for-profit, where I had to be really creative and create events and manage lots of different new projects that were kind of new to organizations, mainly because social media, too, was new. It’s the thing now. The younger generation gets it. But, when I was coming out of school, those were the first courses that people were really taking - about social media. A lot of the organizations that I worked for were still very hesitant to enter that space. I had to be very creative and innovative in a lot of different ways. My family, too, is very entrepreneurial. A lot of people have their own businesses, and companies and work for themselves and have since I was young, so it wasn’t really a thing for me to be like, ‘Okay, I want to follow a dream and create something.’

Have you always had a passion for helping people?

I would say whatever business I would create would always have a mission or a vision that gives back to the community in some way. The dream or the purpose behind LipLoveLine - I like to do things that I’m passionate about and I have a personal connection. I’ve always loved lip products ever since I was a young girl because I dealt with a lot of different health issues. One of the few things that made me feel beautiful when I was young was my lip gloss. I wasn’t wearing a ton I was 13 years old and my mom bought me my first lip gloss set it gave me so much personality and confidence. As I got older, I used lip products only because I was familiar with them. I have really sensitive skin so finding makeup was not the thing for me even to this day. I’ll go and get my makeup done professionally if I’m going to do something that needs me to wear makeup. I consider myself a makeup minimalist. So it’s kind of funny when I tell that story and everybody’s like, ‘But you created a beauty brand.’ But honestly, in the industry now that’s kind of the thing -

cleaning beauty, makeup minimalism, skincare first kind of situation. So, it just happened to work well for me when I started the business too. But it was really about my love for the products and how they became a reliable way for me to feel beautiful and put together without having to go on YouTube and figure out how to put eyeliner on. And two - just connecting with young girls and women who feel the same way as me, uplifting them, and celebrating beauty and all its forms. We cater to both makeup minimalists like me, but then also to women who love makeup as an art. Makeup is an art… there’s a skill to actually applying it and making it come to life. So, we celebrate any and all versions and every moment, but recognize that it looks different for everyone.

How did you find out about Shift?

I’ve been a part of the VCU community since I was in grad school, but I first heard about Shift through the Jackson Ward Collective. They partnered with the da Vinci Center in the beginning. So, I filled out an application for Shift and was selected! I was actually the first one chosen, but I had neat connections to VCU already. I was a VCU alum and at the time, I was a VCU employee. Before I started and launched the business, I participated in VCU Ventures. It was called The Next Big Idea competition. It’s a whole other VCU program that supports staff and faculty in bringing to life a business. That’s how I kind of had a lot of new connections to VCU, and I think that helped me to be chosen or be a good candidate for that position.

When you became a Shelfie and you had a finished product, was your company already printed and pretty much rolling at that point?

We had just launched our products a couple of months before, but yeah, in essence, we did compared to the others, which was cool, because we could get a little bit more feedback for the actual product versus the prototype. Technically it was still our prototype, and it still is to this day because I only just hit a year into having a product on the market in August. But in the beauty industry, that can either be very slowpaced or very fast-paced. I haven’t put out any new actual product. We have some products in development. But for me, I was taking the time to get that feedback because, again, it’s a smaller business - getting it into the right hands or to

enough people to get a good amount of credible feedback about your product and then be able to have the room to change it or better it for the future. So, you’re not five years down the line and find out people don’t like this about your product. And you’re like, ‘Well, why didn’t anybody say that in the first place? And why didn’t you try to change it?’ So Shift really enabled me to kind of get in front of folks to try the product, get feedback on what they thought about the product, that I had products they wanted to see in the future that came from the line, even brand feedback… just a lot of feedback on many different areas of the business.

How do you like to relax?

I’m going to a yoga meditation class tonight. My sister is a yoga therapist here in Richmond, and she has a studio downtown, so they’re having their First Friday event. I definitely try to find my time it’s stressful having a company and a business and it’s exciting at the same time. I was just telling someone the other day, it’s a whole bunch of buckets of emotions when one second in the day, you can be super happy and excited the next you could be anxious, the next… I just need silence. So, I definitely try to find time for myself to not focus on the business - so do my regular self-care things, whether it’s going for a walk or watching my favorite TV show,,, but I think it’s different for everyone. I recently went on a trip that got postponed after a while, and I like to travel to just find time to do the things that make me happy outside of the company.

S hareyourfeedbac k !

How would you describe the values of your brand?

We definitely have values. We say that ‘less is more.’ We recognize, again, celebrating the beauty of everyone and all of its forms, but kind of honoring and celebrating you as you are. So whatever that means to you. As I said, you could be a makeup minimalist, or you could be someone who loves makeup. But, we also honor celebrating moments in life. We recognize that people may feel like they want to look this way one day and feel like they want to look this way the next day. So, I think that’s a big basis of it - that overarching thing of uplifting girls and women in general across the board of health and wellness. So that’s kind of our mission.

Where do you see your company being in the next five years?

That has changed so many times even. I’ve only been on the market for one year… but it’s changed so much. I definitely still want to be a major contender in the industry. How that looks

for me - it’s still up in the air, to be honest. It’s not because I don’t have a vision. But, I feel like there’s so much room for us to grow in different ways. I don’t want to box us in these early stages, and just feel like this is the only thing we’re going to do. So, I’m more open to partnerships and collaborations, and opportunities in that way. But overall, I would love to be maybe acquired by a larger beauty brand’s sector, like L’Oreal, or something, which a lot of people don’t realize in the industry is that all these brands that you see are owned by L’Oreal, or Shiseido, or something. They all are under the same umbrella, but we just see the brand. It’s not necessarily for the big bucks, because yes, getting acquired comes with a lot of money. So it’s exciting, but at the same time, it’s more so the ease of it. They already have their things in place to be successful as a beauty brand, and it’s built-in and so starting your own brand, as an entrepreneur, as a one-woman band, getting yourself in an opportunity like that is a successful way to win in the industry.

Project Name Dress for Yourself

Product Type Apparel Development Stage In the Market

VCU School of Business: Marketing

Dress for Yourself

Fashion for Self-Esteem

By, Hadia Moosvi & Kii Williams

Mason Miles is an undergraduate student at VCU working to build confidence through the art of fashion and style. His brand, Dress For Yourself, inspires people to overcome their insecurities and express themselves with unique apparel. The mission is simple: Dress authentically.

How would you describe your product?

I have an apparel brand called Dress for Yourself. Our mission is to help people find their confidence and overcome their insecurities and be authentic through their passion. We have letterman jackets that are getting in the process of being ready to be sold. Then, we have hoodies as of the moment right now. Right now, everything else on the site is print on demand. So we have t-shirts, long sleeves, and crew necks.

How did you come up with the idea?

So in high school starting, I think junior year, I started to get into fashion. I didn’t really find my footing yet, so I’d just wear whatever, like colorful shirts, and I got clowned a lot for it. Then, that kind of led me to dress more conservative... But over the Pandemic, I really started self-evaluating. I said, ‘Why did I conform to what other people thought fashion was? And why didn’t I just wear what I wanted to wear?’ So I said, ‘You know what, let’s make a brand that teaches people to not be scared, to be yourself.’

Have you experienced any failure building this brand?

Oh yeah, a lot of failure... When I first started off, it was print on demand, and I like drawing, so I’d just draw a design and put it on a shirt. I didn’t get the response I wanted. People were like, ‘Oh, this is wack, this is corny.’ That really drove me to really work on my craft and create something that I could be proud of even more, and I really wanted to prove those other people wrong.

Right now it’s able to be sold pre-order wise, but we’re still getting the product for this new drop, so waiting for inventory to come in. And then I found a manufacturer to screen print, so after I get the product, I’m going to give it to them and they’re going to put the design on the shirt.

Where is your product now? Are we selling it?

Are we still getting it together?

How did you find out about Shift?

Actually, I found out through the School of Business mentor program. One of my mentors, she talked about the da Vinci Center and how great it was. So I was like, ‘Let me go check this out.’ I went to an open house event to start talking to people and then I learned about Shift through Mary Chris Escobar. She started talking about Shift and I was like, ‘Man, maybe I should get into this...’

Then, I applied to be a Shelfie and it’s been history ever since.

Does being a Shelfie have any perks?

I will say the things I’ve learned from people like Tyrone and everybody who’s in the lab, they gave me a lot of great feedback. I really applied that to what I’m doing with my business. They gave me kind of a plan and structure, and I’ve been following that. Plus you get a stipend!

S hareyourfeedbac k !

Would you say Shift’s not just for people in business?

It’s open to everyone. I think that for sure. The Shift team should work into really getting more art kids involved. I think that’d be a great place for them to showcase their art or even do something like a product shoot where they’ll have one day where they have photographers from the photography major have an opportunity to work on their portfolio by taking stock images of people’s products for their corporate portfolio.

How would you describe Shift in three words?

Entrepreneurship. Experiment. Experience.

ti Boulé A Hot Sauce Inspired by Haiti

By, Bella Lubinskas & Brandon McCleskey

Zachera Kernizan is pursuing a master’s in Product Innovation from the VCU da Vinci Center. Where she has worked this year to develop her Haitian-inspired hot sauce, ti Boulé. ti Boulé is a combination of scotch bonnet and habanero peppers with the freshest herbs to provide a burst of flavor that mellows into a slow-burning heat.

S hareyourfeedbac k !

Why hot sauce?

This idea was born out of being a part of the da Vinci program. I was looking for something that spoke to who I was but also lent well to creativity. I love food, so I just started playing around in the kitchen and trying to see what connected to my Haitian roots but also just tasted really good. During my 8 years in Richmond, there were times of being homesick. That’s when I realized there is no Haitian food in Richmond. So I thought this could be a fun way to introduce a touch of home to Richmond.

What is the flavor profile of your product?

I would say it’s very flavor-forward, and then the heat comes in on the back end. It is like a tasty slow burn you can’t resist. I would say it falls somewhere between 100,000 - 350,000 Scoville units. So like a 7-8 out of 10.

What inspires you?

It’s going to sound corny, but Love. Food is how my family specifically my mom, shows affection. When I come home or have not been there in a while, my mom’s immediate reaction is “Have you eaten?” “What do you want to eat?” “What can I make you?”. So food is the currency of love in my family. So yes, I will stand beside it and say Love inspires me.

How did you find or create this recipe?

The recipe is built on a recipe of a sauce my family makes that has roots in Haitian folklore. So I took one of our traditional meat sauces, but instead of using it for a meat product, I used that same process with the peppers and the spices. It’s made with about eight main ingredients, creating the perfect vegan hot sauce! The process is very similar to the process that thousands of Haitians use daily when cooking major proteins.

Have you experienced any defining failures throughout your venture process?

I failed in a lot of ways, I would say. I feel like all of my failures, though, have been failing forward because each time I’m learning new things. The idea for this hot sauce was created in December of 2021, so I’ve gotten a lot of traction in less than a year. I was featured at Demo Day and got an honorable mention, which was very encouraging, even though we did not place. We are currently working through iterations of the logo and have failed a lot during this process. I would say one of the hardest critiques I received was someone told me the sauce was so personable, and when I talk about it, they felt like they know me. But then when they looked at the logo, it looked generic and basic. That truly hurt my feelings, but it also pushed me forward to keep iterating, searching for what resonates with my sauce and who I am as a person, rather than just presenting what I am projecting or expecting from others.

How did you find Shift? And what impact has it had?

I found Shift through the da Vinci Center. I am currently an MPI student and during undergrad I received the Product Innovation Certificate. The skills were always kinda brewing and stewing in the background just waiting. Then the timing of everything aligned perfectly. I would say Shift gave me the confidence to pursue a business. If you would have asked this time last year, none of this would have been on my radar. Now I feel like it could be a potential career path. It provided a shift to what I thought was possible. I feel like being a shelfie represents untouched potential. As I look at the range of where all the other shelfies are in their process, some of them are at the very beginning, some of them have sponsorships, and are out there with a real business, they’re just doing it!

Gewd

By, Bella Lubinskas & Hadia Moosvi

What inspired Gewd Botanicals?

Actually, it started off with my mom. She started a salt scrub business, and in high school I had really bad acne. I started using this product called Clearasil, and it was giving me really bad chemical burns. She was like, ‘Why don’t you just try making some products yourself?’ So I ended up sitting on Google – I think this is my freshman or sophomore year – and I literally just went down this rabbit hole learning about essential oils and all these natural remedies for skincare and stuff. Then, I ended up starting to make my own product. I started off with the scrub. Next thing you know, I found out about oil-based face washes and then found out about shea butter-based moisturizers and stuff, and I just started building the brand from there. Then I ended up going to JMU. I started making products there in my freshman year in my dorm, and then one of my friends came up to me, and she was like, ‘You need to turn this into a business.’ So I started doing it from there.

How did you find out about Shift?

One of my friends, Jack. I think he’s currently in the master’s program – Jack Oppenheim. He told me about Shift Retail and to apply to it, because he was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, you’d be perfect for this.’ And then I also follow you guys on Instagram. So I saw a couple of things about that.

Did you get to interact with the Instagram a lot?

I did not that much. I’m trying to mitigate my social media right now because I’m in the premedicine graduate program over in the School of Medicine. So, social media has been a little bit of my downfall with procrastination, but I keep up with what you guys are doing which is really cool.

What’s it like combining that pre-med track with innovation and entrepreneurship?

It’s definitely a juggling act which is really fun. It’s really cool, though, because it integrates all of my hobbies with my career plan. I’m doing the premedicine graduate program in order to become a Ph. D-M.D student which is the long term goal. I want to do dermatology as my specialty, so I can go back and say that the skincare line is dermatologist recommended. In undergrad, I did my degree in biology, entrepreneurship, and pre-medicine, and my concentration was plant biology. I got to investigate phytochemicals and how those interact with the microbiome of the face and stuff and just sort of tethered those together. It’s a little bit more hard this semester because I’m taking Biochemistry, Physiology and Anatomy at the same time. So what I’m doing is this fall allowing Shift to sort of take up over more of the retail front, and then I’m just going to focus more so on the studies. Next spring, which is when I start doing all of my community garden activism stuff and everything like that, I’ll be able to do farmers markets and a whole bunch of other things where I can actually dedicate more time to that.

What were the first steps for you taking this idea, your major, to something tangible?

So, the very first step was trial and error, I would say. It started off with me making the products in my freshman year dorm. My friend encouraged me to start turning it into a business, but I was like, ‘Okay, if I’m going to do that, I need to find out if it’s even going to be feasible.’ So I started making

some products in the basement, and when people would stop by, they were like, ‘Hey, can I get some of these products?’ So I’d just give it to them for free, as long as they gave me feedback on how they worked and this and that. Once I picked up on the fact that there was actually a market for people who are interested in natural products and everything like that, I started working with various works across JMU to do little workshops and stuff where I could get live feedback; so people actually doing scrubs and stuff with me and learning about skincare and so forth. Once I got that all fine tuned and everything, I actually got accepted into JMU’s entrepreneurship minor. I think I was either the first or the second cohort. So we got to learn about some of the fundamentals about running a business, LLCs, how to write business models or link canvas models and stuff like that. I’m a biologist by trade, not so much of a business person. But, I got to learn a little bit of those attributes so that was really cool. Learning about the fundamentals of the business was the big thing and then also testing the waters to find out if it was feasible.

How do you maintain more of a work-life balance?

I call it a juggling act. Sometimes I do drop the ball on one thing, but as long as you pick that other thing back up, and throw it back up in the air, and it’s back way higher than the other things, it kind of works out. But I like to do this little to-do list on my phone or on my little handy dandy notebook that keeps track of what I want to get done, check those off. Then also balancing school is every day, and especially with the way that they

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program set up, I literally have biochemistry and physiology every single day, anatomy on Monday and Wednesday. It’s kind of like, okay, there’s no way not to drop the ball on those. So, I go to class and then I find whatever time I can throughout the day because this is my hobby, to do something related to Gewd Botanicals. It’s fall right now, which is a little sad, but summertime is our big campaign for Gewd Botanicals because we’re involved in lots of green spaces across Richmond, and I get to do a lot of gardening and stuff. This summer is going to be really cool because we’re going to be using some of those green spaces to produce some of the botanicals and stuff that we use in the skincare line too.

Where do you see yourself long term with this?

I want to be way bigger than Lush. I love all natural skincare. One thing that I also really like about this potential is we have the opportunity to do good stuff with the community, good stuff with people, and then also the jars, all the essential oils and stuff like that - those are all natural. The jars are called post-consumer plastic. So they buy up all the plastics from across the globe, melt them down and then turn them into these jars. So, we’re actually not adding any plastic waste and

so forth. The long term goal is to definitely keep up the good work and all attributes - good for the skin, good for the people, and good for the earth itself.

Do you have a main inspiration for this?

Definitely my mom… She starts an idea, and then when she gets tired of that and it makes her enough money, she moves off to another one. She ended up shifting out of the skincare space, and I was like, ‘I actually like this, and I can see this going somewhere.’ So I just started making my own stuff and took off from there.

Do you have any mental health things that you do?

Gardening. Scientifically, we did a bunch of studies at JMU. One of my professors encouraged us to look at a bunch of scientific literature about the effects of forest bathing, and just spending time gardening and stuff like that with me. I’m a very high paced person. My heart beats really quickly sometimes, and I’m just running in my head. The one time that I’m very slow is when it comes to gardening. It gives me a chance to breathe and to only focus on whatever I’m doing in the present.

By, Bella Lubinskas & Hadia Moosvi

Noodlers is - in short - they’re pool noodle connectors. But in length, it’s a kind of build your own fort toy. The product connects pool noodles in different ways and kids can create creations in and out of the water. They’re flexible and are also made out of rubber, so they’re more sustainable than toys made out of plastic.

What was your inspiration for making Noodlers?

For my architectural thesis I decided to design a toy. I just started thinking of different things that I’d want to see. I knew I wanted Lego type connectors, something that enabled kids to creatively make something for themselves.

But, as I started to come up with things, everything was already invented. I also decided kind of early on that I wanted it to be life sized. As I started to prototype, I created variations of connectors like a stick with two balls on the end that connected in different ways. But I soon learned these products already existed… I was talking to a professor and she said, ‘What about pool noodles?’ I thought, ‘Oh, that feels like a good idea.’

So, I decided to go with pool noodles. It seemed like a really good solution because with wooden sticks, there was a potential for injury, whereas with soft, flexible pool noodles, the injury threshold is lower. So I ran with it.

Could you do a quick description of what Noodlers is?

What else did the process entail for you?

The project continued where I had kind of basic forms in mind… and then I scaled up and I started to kind of refine the look of them. The ones I initially created were really chunky, and I was also doing this all in 3D printers. With that process, I was also able to discover a new filament that one of my professors told me about called NinjaFlex filament. It was rubbery as opposed to the traditional plastic PLA. So I started to refine it, and then I actually tested it with some kids. Another professor had kids, and I invited them to test it out, which was funny because they didn’t really enjoy it that much… But I did realize they needed some different type so I continued refining the shape and printed out a ton of them and presented it in my final and received a lot of great feedback. On a subsequent beach trip, I showed the product to some kids and they loved it.

I ended up donating them to the Children’s Hospital at UVA because another mentor for the project suggested they would be of good use there. Then, the project was on hold for a bit and then fast forward two years, I ended up with the Brandcenter. We had to do a side hustle project for a Creative Thinking class and felt it was a good time to resurrect Noodlers. I rethought the branding and started to think: ‘How can I actually turn this from an idea to a viable product?’ After learning about the Shift Retail Lab and demo day, I just kind of progressed to that point of gathering mentors and gathering feedback opportunities.

What was your initial reaction of what Shift was?

I initially thought that Shift is for someone who has a product that’s ready for market. At the time, I had three prototypes ready and wasn’t ready to sell them. But then I talked to them and they were like, ‘No – any stage of the idea process, go ahead.’ So, I applied, and it seemed like a great opportunity for a testing ground of market viability. I loved the process and received great feedback.

What was the most impactful feedback you received at Shift?

I think there’s something different about hearing it from people who don’t have as much stake in the project. My mom had told me it was great, and I was like, ‘Yeah, your mom will tell you anything you do is great.’ Then also professors had told me it was good. But I was like, ‘I don’t know… they’re very theoretical and very big picture, big sky thinkers.’ So hearing from people who are a little more down to earth, have been in the entrepreneurial space, being like, ‘This is a good idea’ - I think that was really encouraging… I heard from another Shelfie that this would be a really great toy for kids with autism, which I hadn’t even thought about. While fun has a lot of value, it was also nice to think of the product as being helpful.

What did it mean for you to be a Shelfie?

I think that was a really cool thing to actually start to visualize what it could look like in stores and not just as an idea and more as an actual product.

What was the biggest benefit of being a Shelfie?

I think more feedback, more connection and a little bit of a kick in the butt to actually make things happen!

Could you describe Shift Retail Lab in three words?

Innovation breeding ground.

What was it like balancing school, life, and Shift? What did you have to do to keep that balance there?

Definitely busy, for sure. I think that’s also kind of why the product is a little solid right now. One of my professors gave me great advice. He said, ‘Don’t rush the process, and if it ever becomes burdensome, pause. You don’t need to let it be stressful. Let it be fun.’ I also appreciated that Shift was in charge of getting people to come and make events happen, as opposed to me setting up a booth and all of that. It definitely was a great opportunity to have somebody do a little bit of the work for you and while encouraging your idea.

Do you have any self care routines or rituals that you do to take care of your mental health at all?

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When I was living in DC, I got into biking. It’s great exercise, and a good decompresser. Also, my faith is important to me so I read the Bible and pray daily.

By, Hadia Moosvi & Brandon Ranly

What is your product?

It’s a jerky, and it’s made from jack fruit. If you’re not familiar with jack fruit, it’s basically this giant fruit. They grow on trees, anywhere. They originated in India, but they grow throughout tropical Asia. They’re found in the Caribbean, South America, any tropical region with a suitable climate. It’s the world’s largest fruit, and they’re very good for the environment. They don’t require irrigation, pesticides, or herbicides. They’re full of fiber. I buy them from a company who basically cuts them and processes the inside. I get the inside, and then we have a process where we grind it, we shape it, coat it, and dehydrate it into a very meaty jerky-like texture. We have three flavors so far.

How did you first come across the jack fruit?

I’ve been vegan for four years now. At the time, it was being used as a big pulled pork sandwich. It’s starting to get more and more popular. I was studying business at the time, and I really got into entrepreneurship. My father is a chef, so I’ve always been really interested in the culinary world but didn’t want to be a chef. I thought there could be a way to combine the two. That’s when I started exploring different products, like plant based products in the market. I saw that the vegan jerky market was exploding at mushroom jerky and soy based jerky. I thought maybe I could create something jack fruit since it’s super meaty and it checks off the sustainability aspect, and it’s full of nutrients. So, I got some and I just started experimenting.

Alongside your Dad, who else inspired you to create your business?

My mom and my sister for sure. They were there for all the taste tests, and they offered some critical feedback. I think everyone in my family has just always pushed me and they’ve been super inviting when it comes to me wanting to try something new. Other than that, my friends have been super supportive and the DaVinci center. They’ve allowed me to showcase it here, and they’ve introduced a lot of people that helped along the way.

Can you tell me about your creation process?

My first attempt was a veggie burger. That’s when I first joined the da Vinci Center’s pre accelerated program. I came in with that idea, but I continued to try to develop the product. I had no idea what I was doing. But, I basically just made iteration after iteration and tried to use fresh, natural ingredients with Mediterranean flavors. It was just at a point where I couldn’t get it to bind super well. I gave up on that in the fall when I realized it might have been a bigger challenge than I thought. I was also kind of pivoting to try something with jerky. I was experimenting, but it just never panned out, in short. Over time, I’ve been more accepting of trying new things. At the beginning, I was stubborn, and if I did an experimentation, I was sticking with that and making tiny changes. But, sometimes you have to try radical things to see if it works. I’ve been more open minded. My work ethic has also gotten better, because it can take a lot of failing to have one small success. So - consistency and

open mindedness. I’ve also implemented a lot of design thinking principles that I learned at the da Vinci Center, like customer discovery, using prototyping methods, and coming up with a minimum viable product to test before committing to a bunch of resources.

How long have you been a Shelfie?

I can backtrack a little bit because I started working at Shift last September as I joined the MPI program through the Da Vinci Center. Since I was working there, I was always kind of allowed to be a Shelfie. Typically, people get one round as a Shelfie, a four week period, and I kind of just stayed for both semesters since I worked there.

Did you expect your brand to be at the place it is now?

I had no idea how long it would take to get started. I was making the product at my parents house, which is in Springfield, Virginia. Throughout the entire last year, I would bring samples down for big events. I was looking for a kitchen space down here to keep working on the product and be able to have it on hand regularly, and I didn’t have a lot of success with finding local kitchen spaces that would let me use their space. I spent the majority of the year

doing customer discovery, getting feedback, getting the business registered as an LLC, and trademarking the name. I started playing around with packaging ideas. I tried designing them myself. I’m horrible at it, and I ended up going with someone through Fiverr to design them. She helped me through every step of the process, and it was super cool getting to create your own tagline. I got to come up with the nutrition panel, which was something that was new to me. This past summer, I launched a Kickstarter campaign to actually fund my first packaging order. We had a successful campaign and the packaging actually came in. So, we’re showing up to markets, we’re setting our website up, and we can approach some stores since it’s not just literal labels and paper bags.

What stores are you looking into?

We’d love to start out in Stella’s Grocery, Ellwood Thompson’s, and a lot of local organic stores. If we see success there, we can approach local Whole Foods. They are very friendly to local Richmond businesses, and sell online and show up to markets as well.

Would you say you’ve involved your personality or a part of yourself in your creation?

My values have changed throughout the years. Adopting a vegan lifestyle came with me wanting to live more sustainably and live without any animal products. I think the product speaks to that. The flavors also resonate with that. They’re fun. They are bold, unique flavors that you don’t find in other products. The branding resonates with me and customers who might not necessarily be vegan, but they are trying to advocate for something in life, and they’re adventurous. The product is fun and unique in that way where it’s authentic. I hope our story and the branding around it inspires people to try new things and new challenges. Don’t be afraid to advocate for something you believe in.

Have you experienced any failures?

Definitely. Those small past projects I’ve talked about, but also I’d say the biggest failure for me growing up was that I was a bad student. I hadn’t put the biggest effort into school until coming to college and really finding something that I’m passionate about. There’s a stigma in high school and under that if you have good grades, you’re going somewhere, and if you don’t, you might not be. I think that was always hard for me to accept – that my grades weren’t the best. I would say those were failures, just kind of accepting that maybe I learned in a different way, and I really like doing hands on prototyping and learning as I do, and not necessarily sitting there memorizing stuff.

What are the next steps for your brand?

We have to fulfill the Kickstarter rewards and orders. We are launching our website soon so people can visit our website. We’re hoping

to add a subscription model where it’s a free subscription, but it offers some articles, maybe some cooking videos, and brings people into our brand aside from just buying the product. We’d like to come out with new flavors, but then also move into different categories. We’re seeing a lot of meat alternatives enter the market right now. It’s an exciting time to come up with cool stuff and launch new products with jack fruit that foster bold flavors but also have sustainability at the forefront.

Any long-term goals for the brand?

I’d love for us to be like a nationally recognized brand. Another long term goal of mine would be to get to the point where we can give back to the community. Since our brand is really focused on the ‘Animal Planet’ side of things, I’d love to be involved with sanctuaries, animal welfare efforts, and environmental efforts.

Meet the Shifters

The Pilots of Shift Retail Lab

By, Tony Ward

noun

Marieasha “Mee Mee” Little

Pre-Med undergrad and Shifter at Shift Retail Lab.

“Focus on your center. Find something or someone that inspires you daily that brings positivity to your life.”

Julien Reininger

Founder of Jacked! Julien is both a Shifter and a Shelfie with vegan jack fruit jerky.

Siera Fountain

Communications art major, President of the American Marketing Association and Shifter at Shift Retail Lab.

Shif·ter

A person who works for Shift Retail Lab

“Don’t be afraid to advocate for something you believe in.”

“Being able to collaborate with people who have a different background and skill set than me has been my favorite experience from working at Shift”

Where To Find Inspiration

By, Tony Ward

Being an entrepreneur is demanding. There are the daily struggles of life and adding, launching, and maintaining a business to the equation can seem like a lot. One thing that is essential for success is staying motivated and inspired. The most important thing is to find what inspires you.

Family

One of the most popular when it comes to inspiration has to be family. Julien Reininger , founder of “Jacked!” says that seeing his father who was a chef was one of his biggest inspirations and he knew that he wanted to be involved in food innovation.

Bri Williams , Founder of LoveLipLine says that she comes from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners. Having people around you that love you and push you to act on your ideas can be one of your greatest assets to ensure our designers could bring the team’s vision to life.

Helping Others

Helping others is another fuel source for your entrepreneurial spirit. Zaza Willis is the owner of 3000REALM, a brand that represents marginalized genders, sexualities, and races. The goal was for the consumers to have a brand that helps give their identity a voice and expression.

Mason Miles is an upcoming clothing designer that has started his brand “Dress for Yourself.” Mason describes the brand as clothing that gives people the confidence to wear what they like.

Curiosity

Curiosity is one thing all entrepreneurs have in common. That energy to find an answer pushes them to execute the ideas they have. All innovation starts from an idea and curiosity continuously pushes those ideas to become something great.

Past Shelfie, David Casey , had a curiosity for innovation and joined Shift to test his ideas and inventions.

Fail Fast, Fail Frequently, and Fail Forward

By, Bella Lubinskas

Failure is something that Shift seeks to celebrate. Failure is a way of showing that you’re brave enough to try and creative enough to continue attempting. It took two years for Thomas Edison to invent the light bulb. During this time, he made around 1000 prototypes in an attempt to make a perfect light bulb. However, When a reporter asked about his 1000 failures, he replied “I didn’t fail 1,000 times, the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

We asked our Shelfies what failures they have experienced, and what they learned from them!

Have you experienced failure?

Yosef (Shelfie): Well, yes, a lot. I did in the packaging mostly. I had done all year’s worth of research before I started the LLC officially of finding the right compostable packaging. And I ordered a bunch of materials and they just filled in terms of the size, the performance, and all of that. So a lot of money went away, but I learned a lot from that overall time spent on it.

Raechel (Shifter): Working super hard at my business and kind of having that as like, any type of income for the summer. And that just didn’t happen. And I wasn’t necessarily disappointed because I knew that if I applied myself, it could have been much better. So I wouldn’t see it as a failure, but more so just like a learning curve.

Malique (Shelfie): So right now it’s more so like the initial start-up cost was a little bit more than what I thought it was. So labels trying out different packaging techniques and stuff like that. So right now it’s the balancing act of actually trying to keep revenue and stuff up to counterbalance some of those expenses that we had during the summer. But my time has been sort of like the biggest factor in limitations this semester.

Mason (Shelfie): When I first started, it was printon-demand, and I like drawing, so I just draw a design and put it on a shirt. And I did not the response I wanted. People were like, oh, this is corny. And then that drove me to work on my craft and create something that I could be proud of even more. And I wanted to prove those other people wrong. So it’s been a motivation for me to keep going and fail frequently.

Zachera (Shelfie): I would tell myself, keep going. Fail faster. Fail forward. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m figuring it out. And because I’m figuring it out, I’m going to fail, I’m going to make mistakes. But if you try to circumvent that or avoid making mistakes, then you won’t go anywhere. You won’t make any traction. So my biggest advice to myself last year, six months ago, and even last month, fail faster. Just keep going. Fail faster, fail forward, and fail frequently.

Daisana (Shelfie): Treat everything, any hard obstacle, like a speed bump and give yourself grace.

How did you overcome your failures?

Hope (Shelfie): I got a lot of feedback from my friends and family and then I would just try to make the next thing better and make sure all those mistakes that I had made were not present in my new product.

If there was one thing you could tell yourself when you first had this idea, what would you tell yourself now?

Artwork by Daniel Thompson (VCU Advertising Student)

The Forgotten Factor:

How to balance finances in your future business

By, Tony Ward

What does it take to start a business? Finance is a big part of starting your entrepreneurial journey no matter the field. It takes money to make money.

This is where the business side of creativity shines. Everyone has a unique experience when it comes to startups but, in most cases, there can be some overlap. Two Shelfies from Shift Retail Lab decided to develop their own product, which can be the more inexpensive route. This method requires a lot of research and time because you have to know every part of how your product is made.

Another Shelfie took an alternative route and launched a Kickstarter. This was extremely useful because the funds could be used to mass purchase packaging, materials and rent a kitchen. The biggest necessity of finances in a startup is first knowing your ideal budget. This number will constantly evolve but having an idea of what you need to operate is essential in success. Not only will this benefit you in scaling but you will also have a specific number if a potential investor inquires.

Also, you have to be open to trying new options and alternatives. Another Shelfie started with a made-toorder clothing company. He said the feedback from potential customers wasn’t well received so he’s in the process of restructuring his strategy by ordering readymade products. This is a common occurrence with start-ups. One Shelfie first started out doing screen print t-shirts. Cost and sizing factors led them into creating jewelry, making it a more accessible alternative to clothing while keeping the same brand message.

The Future

A look ahead with some Shelfies

By, Brandon Ranly

Where do you see your business in five years?

Bri Williams

I definitely still want to be a major contender in the industry. How that looks for me, you know, it’s still up in the air to be honest. And it’s not because I don’t know, I don’t have a vision. But I feel like there’s so much room for us to grow in different ways. And I don’t want to box us in these early stages, and just feel like, we’ve okay, this is the only one thing we’re going to do. And so I’m being more open to partnerships and collaborations and opportunities in that way.

Hannah Jackson

After grad school, she wants to dedicate a lot of her time to her product I would love to be legitimately selling and other local businesses, no matter what state after I graduated, I’m not sure where I’ll be living, if I’ll still be in Richmond, or maybe New York, hopefully. But I would love to get it out there into like local businesses, as well as selling more products.

Yosef Mirakov Cohen

In five years, Cest La Vie will be in like, nationwide grocery stores.

Shift Your Mindset

Time to relax, kick back, and listen to our class playlist and connect the dots... Check

Connect the Dots

Follow the increasing numbers to reveal one of da Vinci’s famous artworks.

Shift into the Stars

What the Zodiac Tells Us About Shift Retail Lab

By, Bella Lubinskas

What are the big three of your natal chart?

A Big 3 is an astrological shorthand of your personality. Knowing the big three of your zodiac chart allows for a more detailed insight into your psyche than the typical weekly horoscope about your Sun sign. Your Sun sign is your typical ‘zodiac sign’ that you are probably most familiar with. Many websites can calculate your chart, but you need your exact time and location of birth. It’s worth taking the extra steps, trust me!

And in case you are wondering, it is not witchcraft, it’s just a complex way of relating patterns found within the universe to emotions and traits. Additionally, a big three is not meant to define you, but rather describe you and highlight skill sets within numerous areas of life.

The big three signs are comprised of a sun sign, a moon sign, and a rising sign. The sun sign highlights your core personality. A Moon sign is how you see yourself. Lastly, the Rising sign is the sign you come off as to people. In addition to being a fun way to gain insight into people’s personality traits, it can also describe the motivations and passions that comprise physical places, like The Shift Retail Lab!

Shift was ‘born’ or opened on November 10th, 2021. Given this date, the Shift Retail lab is a Scorpio! Scorpios are known to be deeply passionate and driven, however, there’s much more to Shift than that…

Scorpio Sun

Your core self & ego

Shift is full of passion, driven individualism, and dedicated to a mindset where failure brings new beginnings.

A Scorpio sun represents intensity, passion, drive, and power. Scorpios are known for their silent but well-known and defined presence within the world they are in, they are not one to boast but both themselves and their actions are highly admirable. So in turn, Scorpio is the sign of failure and learning from it, and as you may know, Shift prides itself on its ability to grow and learn from failure!

This implies that at the core of Shift’s identity, Shift and its participants learn from trial and error and that it communicates its way in the world by expressing how failure has shaped them into the glowing individual they are today.

Aquarius Moon

Your thoughts/view of self

Shift and its founders view this space as creative, innovative, and intellectually stimulating!

A moon in Aquarius represents eccentricity, innovation, and technology. Aquarians do not just think outside of the box, they live outside of the box and have to peer back into the box to stay connected to the world. This is what makes ideas, thoughts, and concepts come so seemingly easy to them, Aquarius thinks the unknown is enticing. Additionally, Aquarians are very social and gifted with the strong urge to know or be acquainted with the world and they strive to be open to a wide variety of experiences.

This demonstrates how Shift is naturally intended to be a loving and welcoming space and being beneficial towards a wide range of disciplines, people, and ideas without exclusion

Taurus Ascendant How people perceive you

Shift’s ascendant in Taurus also implies that they want to be perceived as a creative area of refuge, stability, and growth that’s directed by strong, loving, and stable leadership.

Taurus is known for its caring, luxurious, creative, and stubborn nature. Their sign truly exemplifies their symbol of a bull, strong and steady but capable of a magnitude of force when prompted. However, to a trained eye, you can tell that it’s just a matter of them planning their next move in a way that will make the biggest impact.

Taurus is known as a sign that implies stability, but as you might know, a Taurus’ life is usually anything but stable! Stability is just one of Taurus’s main core values that they constantly strive for. Shift is steadfast in testing the limits of what the space can do.

What entrepreneurial trait does your sign have?

Aries

The courage to create

Taurus

The persistence to fully execute a project

Gemini

Ideation so powerful it shifts your perspective

Cancer

Genuine care for the end users of their venture

Leo Service leadership that guides and comforts their team

Virgo

Attention to the little details that the big picture is built on

Libra

Networking connections that help create a team

Scorpio

The ability to have total power and control of your own ideas

Sagittarius

The ability to bounce back from failure so quickly, you’ll think it was planned

Capricorn

Mental direction that keeps ideas from snowballing

Aquarius

Raw creative innovation that leaves us all wondering where their head is

Pisces

The gift of always wondering “what if?” and “yes, AND!...”

What’s Your Entrepreneurial Achilles’ Heel?

Take this quiz to find out

By, Kii Williams

How well do you handle multiple tasks?

Get flustered and not know where to start

Push it off until the last minute

Start right away and don’t leave the office until you finish

Those close to you would describe your work ethic as:

Usually stressed and needing assistance Rushing to do everything late

Always working, really successful but never leaves the office

How long does it take to fulfill a product order?

Too many orders can cause a long delay because it’s just you running your business

Fulfillment is supposed to take 3-5 business days but you often lose track of time due to a busy schedule

Ship within a day because you’re always producing products

You have a quick deadline, so when do you start the project?

Get it started then work on another project

Do it Thursday even though it’s due on Friday

In that moment so you can get it out the way

Tell us about your creative process:

The final product seemed to take forever to make

Started and stopped several times

No stopping until you had a prototype built

Which color answer popped up the most for you? Use our color key to find out your biggest hurdle to becoming an entrepreneur.

Overwhelmed

Being overwhelmed can affect your emotions and your work ethic very strongly. If you are feeling overwhelmed you should take a step back and breathe, try to ground yourself.

Time Management

A common issue that lots of people struggle with is good time management. Try setting alarms and jotting important dates/deadlines on a calendar.

Too Invested

When you start to do something you love and are invested in, it’s easy to lose track of yourself. It’s okay to take a day off to spend time with loved ones or even just to take time to yourself.

Wellness Tips & Tricks Advice

for entrepreneurs

By, Marie Kamara

Wellness is the active and conscious set of decisions geared towards a more healthy and successful way of living. There are eight main components of Wellness which are emotional, physical, occupational, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial. As entrepreneurs, creatives, students, professors, or anyone for that matter, we are constantly working on the next thing. Trying to achieve the next goal, while overall bettering ourselves, and our tasks to be more successful in whatever it is we choose to do in life. With all those responsibilities at hand, it can be very easy for one to neglect their wellness. One must take the necessary time out of their day to practice appropriate habits, stay focused, have more positive energy, and overall strengthen each component of Wellness, to have a successful life!

Here are some tips and tricks, with a little practice can be highly beneficial for anyone and everyone to better their wellness. Remember YOU GOT THIS! And someone is always rooting for you and that person should be YOURSELF! Take care of you and your Positive Wellness shall surely follow!

BREATHE!

It is very easy for us to get so wrapped up in our day-to-day that we lose sight of our basic human and involuntary ability to breathe. Just take a moment and take a breath.

Yoga

Yoga is a great way to build physical strength while mastering the mind.

Create

Whether it be dance, drawing, photography, or poetry, the possibilities are endless. Escape and create your own space.

Take a Self-Care Day

Whatever that looks like for you. Your body deserves it!

Read

Reading can be a window into another world, show new perspectives along the way.

Eating Healthier

You are what you eat. The food you eat can affect your energy levels, creativity, and even mood.

Journaling

Take your thoughts and write them down! It’s much better to let them out rather than keep them in rather they are positive or negative!

Connect with a Higher Power

Taking a moment to connect with a greater meaning or purpose in life can keep you grounded and motivated to take on new challenges.

Sleep and Take Naps

Getting your recommended 8 hours of sleep has great benefits for your mental health.

Exercise

At least 30 minutes a day for a healthy brain and body.

Practice Mindfulness or Meditation

Take the time to be intensely aware of your current feelings and emotions without any judgment or self-gas lighting.

Listening to Music or Podcasts

Research shows listening to music can trigger a release of dopamine in the brain.

Step Away from Your Work

Our work can serve as our escape at times, but when you are faced with a block the best thing to do is step away and find inspiration elsewhere.

Therapy or Just Speaking to Someone

Taking through the hard things can give you perspective and a plan on how to move forward.

Cry

We are human and humans have emotions. Feel your feelings and let out a good cry if you need to, it does not make you weak!

Talk Kindly to Yourself

Words are more powerful than you think, use them to build yourself up rather than tear you down.

Statement Modelz

A Student Org with an Entrepreneurial Approach

By, Marie Kamara

This group of immensely talented and creative individuals is more than just a student-led organization here at Virginia Commonwealth University, they are a group that has reached such monumental successes that no other modeling troupe, held in a university, has ever reached! Statement Modelz was formulated back in Spring 2022. According to their Instagram Page, they provide “an inclusive space for Print & Runway Modeling.” They participate in runway shows and host several photoshoots in order to properly train and build each model’s portfolio. The overall goal is to prepare them for industry standards and to “make a real STATEMENT in the modeling world.”

We got the opportunity to speak with the president and executive producer of Statement Modelz, Kayla Marie. Miss Kayla Marie tells us about how she formulated this group in an effort to bring the culture of an all-Black Modeling troupe while being “Those Gworls” that hold weight on their PWIs campus! From their debut shoots and visuals of “Statement Class of 2022”, to “Ghetto Visionary”, to being showcased in a spread for a nationwide magazine, to their latest Halloween-inspired project “Killer Kickback,” and so much more! The troupe has grown to become more inclusive, more daring, and even bolder than ever before. Miss Kayla Marie was kind enough to give us just enough insight on what exactly Statement Modelz is, where it came from, and what it hopes to become.

What is Statement Modelz?

Started as a modeling troupe and fashion organization that highlighted Black Creativity, Black Culture, and Black Art and has now shifted into (But of course never neglecting Black Creativity) highlighting local VCU and Richmond talent. This platform really pushes those individuals within the group that has a chance to make it big with their face cards and their talent. They are a modeling and fashion organization that uses its platform to push local creativity and make big art.

What is the creative process for your shoots?

“Randomly” and “one-word ideas,” Kayla mentions. With a group like this, they find that coming up with styles, ideas, and visions, is so simple because they feed off of each other’s creativity. Taking simple ideas and enlarging them to their fullest capacity, going beyond that, and then adding some twists

What are the challenges that have been faced?

With the number of things that Statement Modelz have accomplished and not to mention its impressive execution, they are still “very much new to this and people do not realize that regardless of the amount of traction, views, followers, etc, they’ve only been doing this for about 6 months” Kayla states. They are still very much new to the game, they still have a lot of growing to do, a lot to try, and figure out on their own. They are very grateful for the positive feedback they have received but they were also not prepared to reach success and it doesn’t seem like it’ll stop anytime soon!

Do you have faith in the path that you are on?

Yes, although as a creative there is that slight hesitation on whether or not their creative attributes will take them all the way. However, with the constant validation that they have received and the number of accomplishments that have come along with them, there is no doubt that they will continue to be successful.

F o llowonInstagra m

SMYTH on The City

The Music, and Mike Tyson Jab

By, Brandon McCleskey

Kidz At Play is a talented up-and-coming group of local artists, producers, photographers, and aspiring creative visionaries. As the opening act for both Smino and Pusha T this year, they are ambitiously cementing their mark on the Richmond music scene. I had the opportunity to interview one of the founding members of Kidz, SMYTH, just hours before their debut album, Mike Tyson Jab, was originally supposed to release. Below are some excerpts from our interview that I think best describe the kind of person I found SMYTH to be: daring, intelligent, and self-aware.

Photo credit: Noah Hudson-Peralta

Photo credit: Noah Hudson-Peralta

Brandon: You’ve been in on the local scene for a while now.

SMYTH: Yeah.

Brandon: You’ve had your finger on the pulse.

SMYTH:

For sure, yeah. And I try to still keep up with what’s coming out. I feel like Virginia as a whole has a lot of exciting things out. There are a few [artists] that really excite me from Richmond, but it’s definitely, like, few and far between, unfortunately. But that’s just me being honest.

Brandon:

What would you say is the most significant obstacle you’ve overcome thus far, physically or mentally?

SMYTH:

… We’ve sacrificed everything to do this. All of my friends have made the biggest sacrifices in the world. Like, some stuff that people wouldn’t believe we’ve had to make, maybe, you know? And I think we overcome them every day. Whether that’s financial sacrifices, whether that’s time away from family, whether that’s sacrifices of an education, or, like, what we’re “supposed to do” and that type of path. We’ve made all of those sacrifices. I think those are definitely the biggest

obstacles to getting to our dreams that we’ve had to overcome. Because what we’re trying to do, life isn’t set up for us to do it. There’s no path to it.

Brandon: You’re very self-confident, very goal oriented. Have you experienced any failure yet?

SMYTH: I feel like failure is just a natural thing in life. I’m not even going to say the creative world. Obviously, failure is so much maybe more in your face when you’re a creative, but failure is so much a part of life, and I think the way that I get through that is I never look at it as a failure. If you ask me if I failed, it’s gonna take me a long time to pick out a point where I feel like I actually just fucking failed. Because every time that something’s gone wrong, I’ve always pivoted to make it work… Because I feel like if you get so hung up on your failures or if you let failure be this menacing thing, you’ll fear it. And then you’ll never take a risk that might lead to failure. And so then you’ll just never progress because you’re not taking risks. If you’re scared of failure, you’re never going to take the jump..

Brandon: Exactly. You’re not scared by it. It seems like it kind of keeps you going.

SMYTH: Hell yeah. It’s part of it.

After the interview, we hung out in our alternative audio studio for over an hour, chatting more about the album and life in general. He gave me an early listen to the first few songs of the album, and I encourage anyone reading to go check it out. You can listen to Mike Tyson Jab , the debut album from Kidz At Pla y, now available on most streaming platforms.

MikeTysonJab

Photo credit: Noah Hudson-Peralta

Calling all artists!

We wanted to highlight artwork by VCU students both past and present, showing off their creative talent outside of the classroom. We held an open call for submissions throughout the semester.

Artwork by Ashley Corvin

Artwork by Lucienne Nghiem

Artwork by Siera Fountain

Artwork by Ashley Corvin

Artwork by Daniel Thompson

Artwork by Mikaela Peters

Artwork by Brandon Ranly

Artwork by Chloe Landry

Artwork by Omar Khan

Artwork by Fabiana Acosta

Artwork by Xavier Nguyen

Artwork by Joshua Edwards-Buck

About Shift Retail Lab

Shift Retail Lab, has been selected as an honorable mention in the Urban Design category as part of the 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards for Fast Company.

Here, failure is an option.

Successful innovators and entrepreneurs take risks and never give up. When you take a risk, failure is an option, and often the quickest way to learn and improve. Shift Retail Lab provides an important space for student entrepreneurs to test their ideas through sales and customer feedback. This alternative type of retail offers a lab-type approach for creative thinkers and doers from a wide range of backgrounds to put their ideas into action. Shift customers have the opportunity to take an active part in developing ideas into successful products and services ready to go out to market.

Construction of Shift Retail Lab was made possible by a partnership with Mark Hourigan and Hourigan Group. Branding created by students from VCU Brandcenter.

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Brought to you by

Shift Retail Lab at VCU is brought to you by the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation.

We empower students to learn their own way.

The da Vinci Center for Innovation is prototyping the future of higher education through cross-disciplinary academic, experiential, and experimental learning opportunities designed for creative thinkers and doers from a wide range of backgrounds. While students in our programs may come with design, engineering, psychology, business, and even social sciences and the arts, they all share common traits of unconventional thinking, a track record of producing highly creative work, and a collaborative and optimistic spirit.

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Thanks to the Board!

The da Vinci Center Advisory Board supports da Vinci Center students, alumni, faculty, and staff in the areas of mentorship, networking, thought leadership, career pipeline development, and real world opportunities. The board will do this by advising, advocating and making recommendations for enhancements and impact in innovation and entrepreneurship offerings for students.

“Often, emerging founders exhibit new ways of thinking and solving problems. Working with them encourages you to weave new perspectives into your daily life. They can lead you to reshape your own lens. Supporting them benefits you.”

Courage to Lose Sight of Shore, 2020, Kelley W. Powell da Vinci Center Board Member

MAGAZINE

FALL 2022 ISSUE No.1