In the Community
Photos by Nicole O’Connor
IDEA Conference: Embrace Your Impact On Saturday, March 2, 2019, despite a few inches of snow falling to the ground, more than 300 students, alumni, and community members–including a bus full from the University of New Hampshire–made their way to Boston for the Second Annual IDEA Conference: Embrace Your Impact, generously sponsored by Lou Volpe (Questrom’78). The IDEA Conference is a one-day event for Boston-area students to explore innovation of every kind. Whether it’s through technology, social impact, or arts and culture, the conference encourages students to embrace their passions and use them to create meaningful impact. “Conferences like IDEA 2019 and spaces like the BUild Lab can really change some of the narratives around the ways businesses operate,” said Dielle Lundberg (SPH’19), cofounder of Make Fashion Clean, a nonprofit that up-cycles denim and provides work for Ghanaian women with disabilities or children with disabilities. The morning was filled with inspirational talks from BU and Boston innovators who shared their unplanned journeys into entrepreneurship. Among them was Ellice Patterson (Questrom’17) (left), the founder and
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Innovate@BU
director of Abilities Dance Boston, a professional dance company for people with and without disabilities. After a spinal surgery forced her to relearn how to dance she pivoted from a biological scientist and researcher into one as creative entrepreneur who leads with the belief that “intersectionality is key to a more equitable future.” “We put a lot of stock in stats and numbers. Figures. Dollars. Cents. Today, reprioritize that a little bit. Soul reprioritizes that and says that the facts and people have to be the more important thing.” -Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore at IDEA 2019.
During the afternoon, attendees chose from 14 workshops, including How to Raise Money for Your Nonprofit and ForProfit, The Artist as Entrepreneur, and How to Discover and Activate Your Purpose. The conference closed with alumna and author Anjali Kumar (LAW’98) (top), who previously served in general and senior counsel roles at Warby Parker, Acumen, Google, and Cheddar. Most recently, she cofounded The Justice Department, a women-led strategy firm for women entrepreneurs. Kumar said if she had to pick one top takeaway for conference attendees to remember, it’s to “be comfortable with uncertainty and follow your curiosity. You can’t innovate without those things.”