Tag Archives | Story-Sharing

Precipice

By on December 3, 2012 in Health, Starting the Journey, Youth Development

It’s a quarter to 9pm PST and I’m currently squatting in a coffee shop on Palo Alto’s University Avenue. I wasn’t able find a place on campus with free Wi-Fi, so I traipsed over here. I’m living in New York now, but happened to fly out just a few days ago for a friend’s wedding. [...]

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Haiti, Fierce Hope, and Social Enterprise

By on November 21, 2012 in Starting the Journey

“What the heck am I doing?” I’ve asked myself that question countless times in the year and a half since starting my own social venture.  From marketing and pricing to web design and hiring, half the time I feel like I’m just making things up as I go along and the other half of the [...]

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Social Changers: Sometimes Alone but Always in Good Company

By on November 14, 2012 in Education, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

Recently people have given me compliments that genuinely make me feel uncomfortable. I am not doing anything that anyone else cannot do. I am no genius, I am not a doctor, nor a teacher, nor a mother. I’m just a girl trying to figure out the balance between passion, human capacity, and the needs that [...]

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Changing the World: One Minute at a Time

By on November 12, 2012 in Arts & Culture, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been involved in some kind of social good.  My parents were big supporters of giving back and helping out in our communities.  I don’t remember a time when we didn’t think about donating things or including people. Then when I entered school, community service became part of [...]

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Launching a Successful Non-Profit: Four Crucial Lessons

By on November 2, 2012 in Education, Non-Profits, Social Entrepreneurship

In the 8 months it took to launch our tech non-profit, StudentDonate.com, my team and I learned a ton of critical lessons along the way.  Below are the top 4 lessons we’ve learned that will help any burgeoning or even established social entrepreneur. Your Website Needs to Rock – Face it, in the 21st century [...]

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SocialChange.is About the Journey

By on October 30, 2012 in Featured, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

It’s 3:55 in the morning on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 – launch day for SocialChange.is. As I type this post in bed, I know I won’t be getting any more sleep tonight. I woke up about an hour ago and have been thinking about everything that needs to happen today. All the emails I need [...]

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An Unexpected Passion for High-Tech Social Entrepreneurship

By on October 26, 2012 in Education, Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

It started over dinner in San Francisco with an old friend named Ryan I hadn’t seen in a few years.  Somehow, the topic of the student loan debt crisis came up and while discussing it Ryan admitted he had a ton of debt from paying for his education.  Ryan’s passion was teaching and he was [...]

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Black Girls Rock! 2011

Fueled by Naivete & Idealism: My Road to Social Entrepreneurship (part 3)

By on October 12, 2012 in Starting the Journey, Stories of Impact

Going back to the drawing board basically meant going back to Google. I needed to restructure. We needed a new approach. Our mission was the same: eradicate poverty through education using university students, but how did we do that in an innovative way that could actually provide some lasting change. After a few weeks of [...]

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Beaten to the Punch: A Lesson Best Learned Early

By on October 10, 2012 in Social Entrepreneurship, Stories of Impact

I’m turning twenty in less than a month. For many, this birthday is virtually meaningless, no driver’s test to take, no voting privileges awarded, no toasts yet legally made. For me, however, it represents something new in my life; a whole new chapter and a whole new decade.  Try as I might to remain in denial, [...]

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Fueled by Naivete & Idealism: My Road to Social Entrepreneurship (part 2)

By on October 5, 2012 in Education, Stories of Impact

So about that other story…Apparently, it can take years for organizations to gain this status. And lots of work. But the universe was working in my favor. I asked 2 friends to help with the 20+ pages of IRS paperwork. We met at the Student Learning Center, pulled some numbers out of the air, filled [...]

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DIY A/C – Keeping Cool the Natural Way

By on October 1, 2012 in Social Entrepreneurship, Stories of Impact

Millions of rooftops in America are made of tar, and they absorb an enormous amount of heat during the summer months. White Roof Project covers rooftops with solar-reflective white coating, immediately reducing temperatures inside and out. White roofs are cost effective, cut carbon emissions, reduce our risk of ‘brown-outs’ by reducing stress on the power [...]

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Fueled by Naivete & Idealism: My Road to Social Entrepreneurship (Part 1)

By on September 28, 2012 in Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

It was 1:00am on the second day of Spring Break 2010 when I decided to create “Bookbags With the Basics.” For about two years (after seeing Invisible Children for the second time) I had been trying to find my place in the world of philanthropy. I’d joined Habitat for Humanity and Amnesty International chapters at the [...]

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The Magic of Neighborhoods

By on September 17, 2012 in Social Entrepreneurship, Starting the Journey

Having spent time in Athens, Mexico City and Dubai, I’ve always been drawn to big and complex cities. Working in a former villita (squatter settlement community) in Buenos Aires only served to increase my level of curiosity about urban challenges like low-income housing. So I’m naturally drawn to Zackary Canepari’s print from the Kathputli slum [...]

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How Inspiring My Daughters Inspired Me to Create Change

By on September 10, 2012 in Social Entrepreneurship, Stories of Impact

Even as a young child, I was passionate about making the world a better place. Whether it was organizing bike riding marathons with friends to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund or standing up for neighbourhood friends who were bullied, Ialways felt a strong desire to help those in need. That passion stayed with [...]

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