With Ronda Taylor Bullock, co-founder and lead curator, we are When Ronda Taylor Bullock enrolled in her doctoral program at the UNC School of Education in 2014, she planned to be an educator, not a social entrepreneur. Yet growing social unrest across the country drove her to become both. As co-founder of a social startup that provides anti-racism education to families, children and educators, Bullock discusses how her research and pedagogy help shape her business decisions and why it’s critical to inspire people to become more than just cognitive allies. She offers advice for social entrepre ..read more

With Niki Shamdasani (UNC-Chapel Hill alumna), co-founder and CEO of Sani; and Ritika Shamdasani (NC State student), co-founder of Sani For two sisters who grew up in rural North Carolina, building a startup that fuses South Asian fashion with the perspectives of first-gen South Asian Americans has been an entrepreneurial education on a global stage. Niki and Ritika Shamdasani launched Sani to increase the visibility of Indian culture and attire by designing the types of outfits they’d always wanted, but couldn’t find. Get their take on confronting feelings of imposter syndrome as fashion-indu ..read more

With Cecilia Polanco, founder and CEO, So Good Pupusas After several  years of investing in her El Salvadorian-inspired, socially driven food  truck businesses, 2020 promised to be a breakthrough year for Cecilia  Polanco and the So Good Pupusas team. They’d paid off debt from  purchasing trucks, refined their business model and were primed for  profitability. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In this episode, Polanco  talks about how she’s using her entrepreneurial mindset to shift from  short-term coping mechanisms to long-term pivot strategies. Learn how &n ..read more

With Sheri Smith, founder and CEO of the Indigo Project What if you had more than an inkling of who is most poised to become an entrepreneur? What if there was a way to identify K-12 students who may lack access to traditional resources, but who have characteristics they can use to build entrepreneurial success? In this episode, Sheri Smith describes how her venture, the Indigo Project, uses an assessment technology based on artificial intelligence to find young entrepreneurial-oriented students and inspire them to build their own ventures. What does it mean that entrepreneurs score high on in ..read more

With Patrick Sullivan, CEO of Bonsai; and Jake Rosenfeld, COO of Bonsai For many, the scenario is familiar: You apply for a job, and 10 days later an email hits your inbox politely telling you that you’re not getting an interview. How do you break through the hiring barrier? And how do you tap into professional connections that only the most privileged traditionally enjoy? In this episode, the co-founders of Bonsai describe how the company’s online platform flips privilege into access. Learn about their method for matching talented students and young professionals from all backgrounds with hig ..read more

With Zac Gonzalez, Carolina alumnus and former student intern at Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Entrepreneurship Center; and Asa Juhlin, Carolina student and summer virtual intern In the early spring of 2020, many students at UNC-Chapel Hill and other universities had their summer internships set. Then the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans. During this podcast, we’ll hear from alumnus Zac Gonzalez, who worked at the UNC Entrepreneurship Center to develop the Innovation Internship Program, which included many students whose original startup internships were disrupted or morphed into virtual gi ..read more

With Franklin Roye, PharmD, president and co-founder of IndyCare; and Eshelman School of Pharmacy alumnus Imagine  that you have the flu. But now you don’t have to visit your doctor to  get tested or go to the pharmacy to fill a prescription – all while  potentially exposing numerous others. Instead, you have a telehealth  appointment, and then someone drives to your house, where they test you  and bring you the medicine you need. Franklin Roye, president and  co-founder of IndyCare, shares how his company transforms independent  pharmacies into integrated he ..read more

With Nick Black, co-founder and chairman of Stop Soldier  Suicide; CEO and founder of GoodUnited; MBA alumnus of Kenan-Flagler  Business School. Army veteran Nick Black’s entrepreneurial journey  began when he moved into live combat just seven days into his first  deployment. He learned to be part of a team and accomplish what seemed  impossible. But after losing many friends and fellow service members to  suicide over time – more than were lost to the enemy – he founded the  nonprofit Stop Soldier Suicide to get service members the support they  need. B ..read more

With Alex Brandwein, MBA student at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and founder of Brandwein Bagels Like many entrepreneurs, Alex Brandwein found that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he had to quickly pivot to support his business and the community. Find out how he shifted Brandwein Bagels to a pre-order, pick-up-and-delivery model that gave the company a way to use fresh, New York-style bagels to bring the local Chapel Hill community together at a time when people had to stay physically separated. How did Brandwein use an entrepreneurial mindset to meet a rapidly emerging business need? How ..read more

With Arvind Malhotra, H. Allen Andrew Professor of Entrepreneurial Education and Professor and Strategy of Entrepreneurship, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School With the world focused on the global coronavirus pandemic, decision makers wrestle with how to solve such “wicked problems” – massive challenges that are complex, have many interdependencies and are virtually impossible for anyone to solve by themselves. During this episode, business professor Arvind Malhotra discusses a timely approach to problem solving described in his new book “Unleashing the Crowd: Collaborative Solutions to Wicked ..read more