Party With a Purpose

I am thrilled to have been given the lead on Fashion week of Rochester's very first Party with a Purpose for 2011. Fashion Week of Rochester and TC Riley's will be hosting a semi-formal Charity event on December 18th, 2010. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Center for Youth in Rochester.

A lot went into planning this event! First I had to draw up a proposal to present to my boss, Chantiza Stern. In the proposal I included the potential location, designer, and theme of the fashion show and event. After going over it with her, and gaining her approval to move forward, I scheduled a meeting with management at TC Riley's. After meeting with Cindy, one of several awesome managers, I had several details to report back with. Once Chantiza gave me the final ok to move forward it was game time.

The next steps:

I talked to the designer, Beth Eischen of Lilipad Creations to make sure she would be on board to show her clothing, of course she gave me an enthusiastic "YES!" I thought of Beth because I have modeled her clothes twice since Rochester's Fashion Week back in September and LOVE her designs and personality.

I then reached out to local models, and cast 11 ladies for the show (so excited to see everyone

For hair and makeup I reached out to two wonderful women, Val and Shoranda.

then came the usual checklist of side items:

Book location for hair and makeup before event

Type up schedule for designer, models, and stylists

Additional meeting with Tc's to go over details for the Fashion Show and set up runway

Advertising on campus, the radio, and press release to local new stations.
** Special Thank you to 100.5 the Drive for broadcasting our event!

Below are the final details and advertisement for the event.

Facebook Event

The Fashion Show, featuring 12 local models and clothes by Designer Beth Eischen - Lilipad Creations, will begin at 10:00PM and doors open at 9:00PM... so come and enjoy some great drink specials and DJ Keyyo before the show!!!!

*Pre-sale Tickets: $5.00 (includes complementary drink)
Tickets at the door: $5.00 (no drink included)

*pre-sale tickets can be reserved be calling TC Riley's - 585-272-9777

Previous to the event TC Riley's is offering a $30.00, three course meal with a complementary glass of champagne & free admission to the fashion show! To reserve a table please call TC's at 272-9777. Reservation times are 7:00PM, 7:30PM, 8:15PM

Hope to see everyone there!

The Final Chapter at RIT

I never thought this quarter would arrive so quickly. I have now successfully completed ten, 10 week quarters at the Rochester Institute of Technology and this quarter, which commenced on Monday, November 29th, will be my last at RIT! How did almost 4 years go by so quickly? Everyone always said that college would fly by, they were right. It seems even quicker because I will be finishing an entire quarter early!!! While I am sad that my time at RIT as a student is almost over, I am looking forward to this quarter and the courses I am taking to finish out my undergraduate education. I would like to add that a large portion of my excitement is due to a very exciting potential new beginning after I am done... but that story, I will save for another time.

So, to end my time at RIT I am taking:

Two Senior Capstones --

Business, Government, and Society - This course illuminates the role of ethics, social ideology and government policy and regulation in guiding business decisions and in enhancing business competitiveness. Special attention is given to the role of business in assessing technological opportunity and risk, managing product liability and victim compensation, directing the corporations in a manner consistent with public policy on the natural environment and developing policies that assure fair treatment of diverse individuals in the workplace.

and

Strategy in a Global Environment - This course explores the strategic challenges faced by businesses operating in a global environment. It emphasizes the development and formulation of effective corporate strategies within specific global environments. It also addresses the unique characteristics, opportunities, challenges, institutions, and approaches associated
with corporate global strategy.

Two Electives --

Business Elective, Digital Entrepreneurship - Digital Entrepreneurship brings together state-of-the-art knowledge in digital business practices with basic instruction in entrepreneurship and business planning. This highly interactive, applied experience will allow students to develop business ideas, discover RIT resources that support new ventures, network with and learn from industry experts, and complete a professional plan to communicate and advance a digital business venture. Student work for this course will involve research and analysis of electronic marketplaces and, ultimately, the design and development of competitive digital startups.

and

Women and the Visual Arts - Examines the image of women in the visual arts and the role of women as image makers. Major topics include the variety of images of women, the evolution and change of these images over time, media images (as differentiated from fine art images) of women, images of women by women and by men, women's images and the issues of their relationship to the images made by men, the nude and pornography, history of women artists, selected women artists and their work, relation of their work to the art of the period, current issues and status of women artists.

I am thrilled to share that last quarter marked the 6th quarter in a row I have been named to the Dean's List at RIT. For College of Business students, a grade of 3.5 or higher must be reached to be named on the Dean's List. I received an A in Intercultural Communications and Women's Literature and Language and B's in Managing in a Global Environment, and Strategy and Policy. This quarter... I am shooting for the 4.0!

Let the learning begin!!!

All course definitions are provided by the RIT Information Systems

A Taste of Autumn

Thank you to Drew Gardner, the photographer, for a fun filled photoshoot!

The Democrat and Chronicle -RFW

Rochester Fashion Week Photoshoot at Suzanne's Distinctive Fashions in Pittsford.

Here is the images that appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on 9/20/10!

Read the full article here!

Boutique: Suzanne's Distinctive Fashions
Photographer: CARLOS ORTIZ

Visit Her Rochester for more pictures from the photoshoot!

Paetec Park Photoshoot!

I had a wonderful time shooting with Michael Hanlon at Paetec Park for the Rochester Fashion Week Photoshoot - 8/9/10. Below is the image that was selected for the Fashion Week Program! Thank you to Chantiza and Meghan for this amazing opportunity.

Photo Credits:
Photographer: Michael Hanlon
Clothing: Eye Candy Boutique
Jewelry: Reckless Necklace
Shear Ego - Hair Credit: Raquel Wells and Makeup Credit: Charlotte Miller

My Favorite group shot...

For more images from the shoot click HERE

Do I Have Popcorn in My Teeth?

The Rochester Fashion Week Photo shoot was a BLAST! I would like to thank Chantiza Stern for allowing me the opportunity to work with her and the wonderful boutique sponsors; Eye-Candy Boutique and Reckless Necklace... can't wait to share with everyone the clothes and necklace they dressed me in.

We began the day at Shear Ego with hair and makeup. I have never gotten my hair and makeup professionally done for a shoot, so I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to kick back and relax while the experts took control! Thank you to the staff who all did a fantastic job getting the models ready for the day. Special thanks to my hair stylist - Raquel Wells*, and to my makeup artist - Charlotte Miller*

Being a goof after Raquel did my hair...

**Check out their hours and schedule an appointment; let then know you found them on my blog!

Next we headed over to Paetec Park and received the outfits we would be wearing for the shoot..... let me just say, "WOW!" The clothing and jewelry were absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Once everyone was dressed, we hit the stands with our popcorn and hotdogs to "watch" a sports event. Chantiza had bought cardboard boxes with red and white stripes to put the popcorn in, and it was SO perfect. This picture is pretty close to what they looked like... how fun, right!?

((side note, the popcorn was delicious! yep, after shooting for half an hour
everyone decided they were hungry, and we all munched away at the popcorn.))

Overall it was a successful shoot and the images will be used in the brochures that are handed out at the events. Be sure to check out the Facebook page for Fashion Week of Rochester and attend the events September 30 - October 2.

Pictures to come!

Just a Little Eye-Candy!

Ladies and gentlemen, be prepared for some serious Eye-Candy!!! That's right, Eye-Candy...

You see, I have just been informed that Eye-Candy Boutique is sponsoring their clothing for the Rochester Fashion Week Shoot I have been booked for on August 9th. In addition, Reckless Necklace will be supplying their amazingly beautiful line of jewelry for the models to wear! The photo shoot is set to take place at Paetec Park in Downtown Rochester and our agenda for the day is as follows:

Model Agenda for 8/9/10:

Eye-Candy/Reckless Necklace

9:00am-11:00am - Models arrive at Shear Ego

11:30 am - Models travel to Paetec Park

11:30-3:00 pm - PHOTO SHOOT at Paetec!!!


Click on this image to "like" Eye-Candy on Facebook!

For more information On Rochester's Fashion Week visit the follow links:

Rochester Fashion Week Facebook Group
Event Website: www.fashionweekofrochester.org

Say Cheese!

A few weeks ago I did a photo shoot with one of my favorite photographers, Tim Toal. Tim owns TJT Photography and photographs everything from commercial products, to senior photos and fashion, to landscapes. Take a second to look at his site and let me know if you are interested in working with him!

So, here is the story. First, I am fortunate enough that Tim was able to book me so last minute. As most of you know, I recently donated 8+ inches of my hair, which is a wonderful cause, but can sometimes be a BIG no no in the "modeling world". After informing my agent that I had cut my hair, she said I would need new images for her website ASAP!!!

Of course Tim was the first person who came to mind, I've worked with him two or three times before and had a blast! So, I called him up and bada bing, bada boom... a week later I arrived at his studio in downtown Rochester for what turned out to be a truly successful shoot.

Check out some of my favorites...

Thank you, Tim, for these fun and fashionable images!

Check out my agency's website for more images from the shoot!! NY Model Talent

Fashion Week of Rochester

I am elated to share with you that I will be doing a photo-shoot on August 9th for Rochester's Fashion Week, which will take place September 30 - October 2, 2010!



The events are as follows:

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT THE CENTER FOR YOUTH

THE WORLD OF FASHION, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30th 6-9pm
Our first even, is a boutique crawl. Guests will be shuttled to six participating boutiques, each hosting unique trunk shows highlighting the latest fall fashions, with shopping opportunities at each location.

THE ART OF FASHION, FRIDAY OCTOBER 1st 6-9pm
A fashion show hosted by Four Walls Gallery and will feature a creative mix of art and fashion.

THE HEIGHT OF FASHION, SATURDAY OCTOBER 2nd 4-9pm
Our final event, is a full scale runway show that will take place at the Memorial Art Gallery.

To find out more join the Rochester's Fashion Week Facebook Group

or

Visit the event website www.fashionweekofrochester.org

Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes... look out!!!

I recently discovered that I TRULY enjoy making cakes for people. I have made several birthday cakes for people over the past year and would like to share them all with you. My hope is to begin learning how to use fondant!! I hear it is tricky and time consuming, but would be worth knowing in the long run; especially since I plan to continue making cakes for different people in my life. This summer I have 2 or 3 more birthdays I will be making cakes for... pictures to come!

Jeep Cherokee Birthday Cake - July 3rd, 2009

Zebra Birthday Cake for Kara - March 6, 2010

Record Player Birthday Cake for Rachael - April 22, 2010

Sigma Chi Birthday Cake for my ΣX brothers Jake and Kevin - May 2010

...and the latest and greatest... a cake I made this past weekend for my brother!!

Drexel Dragon Birthday Cake for my brother Teddy - July 9, 2010

Sweetheart of Sigma Chi at RIT

On Saturday, May 15th I was named Sigma Chi at RIT's very first Sweetheart!

Sigma Chi is a Fraternity banded together for the practice of three great aims: Friendship, Justice and Learning. Our lifelong devotion to one another and to our guiding principles have formed the strongest bonds of friendship, while our ability to hold ourselves and our peers accountable has engendered justice into our everyday lives. When men devote themselves to these to principles, he commits himself to the highest form of true learning, both about himself and about those who make up his community.

At Rochester Institute of Technology, Sigma Chi offers students an opportunity to devote themselves to these three principles for the purpose of blazing a path unique to any other experience on campus. Sigma Chi's lifelong membership emphasis gives its members unmatched business and networking opportunities, one-of-a-kind leadership programming, and a family of more than 225,000 brothers from more than 230 chapters across the United States and Canada.

Sigma Chi stresses a brotherhood of different temperaments, talents and convictions all working together in the pursuit of higher purposes.

I am elated to have been elected to serve as this role, and to work with this outstanding group of men towards becoming an official fraternity at RIT.



((As a general rule, each undergraduate chapter elects a female associated with the chapter as the chapter sweetheart. At each Grand Chapter, the fraternity chooses a Sweetheart from one chapter to be the International Sweetheart of Sigma Chi for two years. The International Sweetheart Award is presented based on personality, character, campus involvement, Sigma Chi activities, general accomplishments, poise, and grace.))

<3

Recognition

I feel fortunate that this academic year I have been awarded two scholarship awards:

In the fall I was presented that Turnaround Management Association Scholarship Award

This past month I was awarded the Student Government Leadership Scholarship for Outstanding Leadership, development and involvement on campus.

In June, it is my hope that I will have made Dean's List for the 4th quarter in a row!

I think I can, I think I can!

Yesterday marked the start of week 2 of my running program, so I'd like to take a moment and fill you in on how it's going!

((Key - Run 1 minute Walk 2 minutes, 6 times = R1 W2 - 6))

Day 1 - OK, I'll be honest here... I was in CT the day I was suposed to start this running program, so I was a bad girl and skipped day 1. BUT day 2 of the program was the same as day 1, so I picked up on Thursday.

Day 2 (R1 W2 - 6) - went super well!!! It felt great to get my blood pumping... and man was it. I realize that it has been far to long since I have done any cardio exercise, and I suffered for that a bit during day 1. I'd like to think that part of the reason I was so tried is because running around a track does take more energy than running on a treadmill. Also, it was great having a friend there with me. You see I can be very persuasive, and convinced her to begin the program with me! After we finished, she turned to me and said, "I wouldn't have come if it weren't for you." I replied, "I would have stuck to the time intervals and finished strong if it weren't for you." So, its true what they say about working out with someone, it really does provide an extra boost of motivation!

Day 3 (R1 W1 -10) - I was a little nervous going into this one. My running buddy was unable to make it, so I decided to hit the treadmill. I picked out a prime spot in front of a TV where ABC news was on, plugged in my head phones and as the 6:00pm news began so did I. 20 minutes FLEW by! I did a few minutes of cool down, then decided to work my arms on the machines. Overall, GREAT day.

Day 4 (R2 W2 -5) - Again I ran on the treadmill, my running buddy back at my side. I watched the news again (it is fun knowing I am caught up on all the latest news). The gym was packed, so Jen and I were quite sweaty by the end of the run, which made me feel even better. I felt like I had sweat out all of the sugars and fats. After working my biceps and triceps I stretched and hurried back to my apartment to watch LOST =) ((great episode))

After getting back into the workout swing I have found that I want to eat healthier. My body and mind say NO THANKS to greasy or fatty/sugary foods! SWEET. It definitely makes a difference I have given up chocolate for lent; I am a chocoholic. So today for lunch I made a HUGE salad full of leafy greens and topped with pine nuts.

That's it for now. Until next time, enjoy this weather!

On your mark, get set... GO!

Under Armour Running Shoes

Today I went to Dick's with my mom, on a mission to find a pair of running shoes. With Miss Greater Rochester a little over a month away, I made a deal with myself to begin an 8 week running program. Side-note: I am AWFUL at running... but I realize how beneficial it can be for getting into shape and staying healthy. So, let the program begin!!!

Here is what the program looks like:

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
Mon	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day
Tues	Run 1 minute, walk 2 minutes – repeat 6 times	Run 2 minutes, walk 2-4 minutes – repeat 5 times	Run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes – repeat 4 times	Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes – repeat 3 times	Run 7 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 3 times	Run 8 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 3 times	Run 12 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 2 times	Run 15 minutes, walk 1 to 3 minutes – repeat 2 times
Wed	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day
Thur	Run 1 minute, walk 2 minutes – repeat 6 times	Run 1 minute, walk 1 minutes – repeat 10 times	Run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes – repeat 4 times	Run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes – repeat 3 times	Run 7 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 3 times	Run 10 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 2 times	Run 12 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 2 times	Run 15 minutes, walk 1 to 3 minutes – repeat 2 times
Fri	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day
Sat	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day	Rest day
Sun	Run 1 minute, walk 1 minutes – repeat 10 times	Run/walk 1 mile. Record your time here:	Run 3 minutes, walk 1 to 3 minutes – repeat 5 times	Run/walk 1 mile, and try to repeat. Record your time here:	Run 8 minutes, walk 2 minutes – repeat 3 times	Run 1 mile, then walk/run 1 mile. Record your time here:	Run 2 miles. Record your time here:	Run 2 miles, then 1 mile walk/run or 5km race. Record your time here:

I plan to blog about my progress, so stay tuned for results!

If you are interested in starting a running program of your own, check out Bupa Running for training programs and tips!

Over the river and through the woods...

I am exhausted... I guess 10 hours on a train can have that effect. Let me rewind a bit, and fill you in on the events that took place leading up to my trip from Connecticut to NYC, and finally across a very scenic Upstate New York.

To start, the past few days I was in Connecticut helping my boyfriend, Nick, move into his home away from home for the next 6 months. Why so far away from Rochester in the middle of the year? Good question. Nick secured a co-op with Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks, CT. So with the end of RIT's second quarter, it was bye bye Rochester and hello Windsor Locks.


Here is how my four day adventure panned out:

Friday afternoon, Nick's parents arrived from Jersey to help get all of his things packed up. The plan was to pack all of Nick's things into the Pillon's pick-up truck, and Nick's jeep... and it all just fit. whew.

Saturday morning Nick and I, and both sets of parents, met up at Marige's for a delicious breakfast (my mom and I split banana pancakes and an omelet). After everyone said their goodbyes, we were on the road. Rochester to CT in 5.5 hours... here we go!


Upon arrival, I took to unpacking Nick's things and setting up his bedroom; I sure do love to organize! After he was all settled in the 4 of us went out to do some shopping and grab dinner. Leave it to Mrs. Pillon to find the perfect little restaurant, she has a sort of restaurant "spidey sense". We ended up eating at a hibachi place where the food was out of this world.

Sunday morning came, and the Pillon's headed back to Jersey after saying their goodbyes to Nick; naturally, Nick being the youngest of three boys, his mother was a little teary-eyed. So Nick and I had the rest of the day to hang out. What did we do with our day, you ask? Well, I have a really close friend, Kate, who lives in Rocky Hill, CT (and who happens to be Miss Rocky Hill 2010... yay Kate!) so we met up with her. I have been itching to introduce Kate and Nick for quite some time and was thrilled we were all able to sit down and chat! Kate and I have known each other for years and years. In fact it was Kate who first got me into competing in pageants at age 16 (oh the days of the Les Belles Pageant and Miss teen-ager titles).

Monday: Nick's first day of work! Nick left for work fairly early and because it is technically my spring break, I slept in! But I didn't sleep in too late because I had a few Women in Business items to take care of; like our proposal for Imgine RIT's third annual Festival!!!

That night I made a YUMMY Beef Stroganoff dinner for the two of us. After his first bite, Nick told me he absolutely LOVED it... which made me smile. You see usually I come up with ideas for dinner, then Nick does the cooking. So, I was pleased to know I had done a good job!

After dinner, we watched one of my all time favorite movies, Finding Nemo, then it was straight to bed for an early morning!

Yep, early. At 5:30am we headed out the door and to the Hartford Train Station. While it was quite early, I surprisingly has little trouble waking up. Do you find if it is early enough, you can wake up without difficulty?

I boarded the train, found a seat and looked up to see Nick standing outside my window. As the train pulled away I couldn't help but think how awfully cinematic this situation was... and as I waved goodbye, he smiled at me with teary eyes... then he was gone.

I'll close by saying I actually truly enjoyed riding the train. The leg of the ride from NYC through Upstate NY was B-E-A-Uuutiful. The 10 hour trip flew by, but I will admit it is partly because I brought alone my Harry Potter collection to watch on my lap top! If any of you love Harry Potter as much as I do, then you will appreciate how during the train scene in the movie I wished that a little old women would come rolling up to my seat and ask, "anything from the trolley dears?"

=D

Valentines Day Dinner!

Hopefully everyone had a fun Valentines day! Nick and I decided to stay in and make a delicious dinner together. It was quite romantic =D Here are some pictures from my night...

Making Valentines Day dinner together at my Apartment!

Pistachio-Crusted Tilapia with Chard, Flash-Fried Prosciutto, Gorgonzola and Pine Nuts


And some desert to end the night =)

Check out the Food Network to make your own home made meal!!!

Journal Entry #5

As always, please feel free to give me feed back, suggestions, and your thoughts as I develop my $10.00 business!

As you’ll recall from last week’s journal entry, I have decided to go forward with a website business called She’s Got Her Head in the Crown. Crown will provide answers to pageant questions, offer advice, and help women network in order to benefit their platform and/or pageant experience as a whole. This site will also allow young women to sell their used dresses while donating to a cause. 5% of each sale will be given to the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN).

Since making this switch I have left intuit.com; its advanced features were not Mac compatible and made it difficult to manage my pages. Instead I have created a website using my Mac iweb application and plan to launch it this weekend

Other exciting news, I have a twitter page and a blog which have already generated internet traffic. I plan to track my social impact through followers on twitter, my blog and hits on the website once it is up and running. Also, as a long-term goal, I will track sales and how much is donated to the CMN.

Twitter

Blog

Using these social media networks to generate a following will help to increase my social impact. After just one day with a twitter account for Crown, I have 20 followers. I did this by reaching out to fellow tweeters who target the same audience as I do.

While I eventually hope to turn a small profit off of hosting girls dresses on my site, my focus is to help young women and to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network.

My main concern with running this site and all of its components is that I already manage my personal and Women in Business club Twitter and Blog. There are only so many hours I can give to updating these mediums in one day, especially now that it is week 8 (which in RIT language means CRAZY time).

She's Got Her Head in the Crown!

She's Got Her Head in the Crown has mobilized!!!

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Crown_pageant

Blogger: http://crown-pageant.blogspot.com/

Email: crown.pageant@gmail.com

Website: COMING SOON!!!

This business is a product of a class assignment; the $10 Business Challenge. For my Entrepreneurship class we have been tasked with the challenge of starting a business with $10.oo; Yes, a real business with only $10.00. This project, appropriately named the $10 Business challenge, has a few rules:

1. Business must be new and not a constitution of a previous or existing venture
2. Business must be legal and ethical
3. Business can be for-profit or non-for-profit
4. Additional funding for the business must come from business profits or Fundraising
5. For-profit business must maintain financial records
6. Non-for-profit business must verify social impact and will be primary assessed on extent of social impact

Check out my social media networks, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Journal Entry #4

As always, please feel free to give me feed back, suggestions, and your thoughts as I develop my $10.00 business!

Journal entry #4… where to start, where to start…

So, while on Facebook last week I came across a friend’s status, which stated, now a fan of Her Campus. Interesting, I thought and click on the link provided for HerCampus.com. The webpage loaded, and I found myself looking at a site almost exactly the same as mine; but not quite. I browsed the site for a bit and stumbled across a link, start your own branch. Starting a Her Campus RIT has tremendous opportunity, however… there are aspects of the Her Campus site that I am not all too interested in. I wanted my website to be about getting involved, giving back, and being up to date on relevant issues (for college women). Also, this opportunity falls more in a franchise type business than entrepreneurship. So being a Her Campus correspondent is out.

Now what?

New direction… and with only a few weeks left, I think this is my only chance of reaching a large enough audience to count as social impact is to reach out to the pageant people. Yes, the pageant people. Miss America 2010 will be crowned this Saturday and I feel that once the new Miss America is crowned, I will have a good chance of successfully introducing my website, She’s Got Her Head in the Crown. Over 12,000 young women compete in the Miss America pageant system each year. If I play my cards right (use my knowledge of social media) I can capture a large audience, fast.

What will be unique about Crown is I will personally answer pageant questions, offer advice, and help women network in order to benefit their platform and/or pageant experience as a whole. Also, I hope to eventually add a SHOP page where girls can sell their used dresses, and 5% of each sale will be given to the Children’s Miracle Network; The national platform of Miss America.

$1,500 Raised for Hannah's Hope at Skate For a Cause

Skate For a Cause was a HUGE success!!! Thank you to everyone who came out to support this cause. All the money raised from Friday will be donated to Joining Hearts and Hands and used to build an additional classroom at Hannah's Hope in Kenya.

RIT on TV News - Skate For a Cause

This event brought together students, staff, and the local community for a fun night of skating with family and friends. Skate For a Cause was able to provide an opportunity for all of those involved to support and give back to those who are in need.

Hannah Congdon was the inspiration behind this event, and I am proud that my Women in Business club chose to carry on her legacy! Hannah’s hope was that the less fortunate of the world would have a better life.

Learn more about Hannah and Hannah's Hope by visiting the following link:

Joining Hearts and Hands

Skate For a Cause!!! TONIGHT

Press Release by RIT:

Skating Event to Raise Money for Kenya School Built in Memory of Fairport’s Hannah Congdon

RIT’s Women in Business hosts ‘Skate for a Cause,’ proceeds will help build classroom at Hannah’s Hope

---

Students from Hannah's Hope, a school in Katito, Kenya

by Kelly Downs, Jan. 21, 2010 —

The promising young life of Hannah Congdon was cut short in 2007 when the Fairport teenager died in a car crash along with four other students from Fairport High School just days following graduation. Thanks to the Rochester-based organization Joining Hearts and Hands, Congdon’s memory lives on through a school built last year in Kenya called Hannah’s Hope.

The next building phase will be the addition of two new classrooms. To help raise money for the project, RIT’s Women in Business Club will host “Skate for A Cause” at RIT’s Ritter Arena from 8 to 10 p.m. this Friday. A $3 donation per person covers admission, skate rental and hot chocolate.

“I remember Hannah as an ambitious, outgoing and friendly girl who was always smiling,” says Heather Knowles, president and founder of RIT’s Women in Business Club and a member of the 2007 graduating class from Fairport High. “Hannah will always be missed by myself and everyone who knew her. While I will never understand why it was her time to go, she has left behind an inspiring legacy. Her legacy has inspired me to help build an additional classroom at Hannah’s Hope. I am elated that RIT’s Women in Business is raising money for such a momentous cause.”

All proceeds from Friday’s benefit will go to Joining Hearts and Hands toward the next phase of construction at Hannah’s Hope. Joining Hearts and Hands founders William and Joanne Cala will be in attendance at Friday night’s event. Students from RIT’s Women in Business Club hope to travel to Kenya with the Cala's in the spring of 2011.

To find out more about Joining Hearts and Hands and Hannah’s Hope, visit www.joiningheartsandhands.org

Look for pictures and an update on how the event goes in my next post!

Journal Entry #3

As always, please feel free to give me feed back, suggestions, and your thoughts as I develop my $10.00 business!

Its official, as of Friday night, I am now signed up with an account through intuit.com After last week’s post I knew I had to get a move on with creating my website! So, with a recommendation from my mom (she uses intuit.com for her small business), I created a username, logged in, and began browsing the hundreds of layout options. This process took me about an hour, before I settled on the one I liked best. To me the feel and appearance of the website is an important element; people often return to websites based off of their first impressions, which include appearance, content, etc.

WHEW.

Wrong. I had decided to take a break to clear my mind a bit after I chose my design, the next day I didn’t like it so much… Back to square one. The problem... After clicking the choose a different design option, a pop-up displayed the message:

Warning:

Changing your Website Design will delete your current site pages and files.

You will lose all the work you have done on your current site.

YIKES!!!! So from here on out changing the design is OUT OF THE QUESTION.

I am most definitely a perfectionist. With that said, I STILL HAVE NOT settled on a business/website name. This is an important element of creating a website and is really holding back my ability to get creative with the site. Unless I get that, yes this is it, feeling in the pit of my stomach, I am not satisfied. I would really like to use an acronym, but finding one that can tie in the words women and empowerment while relating to college women is difficult. I’d like to share some of the acronyms I have considered.

WHEW – women helping empower women

WWW – women who wow

EEE – encouraging empowerment through education (my personal platform)

emPOWER

and literally just now I thought of…

BE –Be Empowered – I like this best and am putting it on the website tonight!

Journal Entry #2

As I said last week, I am going to post my journal entries here so you can follow along with my progress. What am I talking about? Here is a refresher...For my Entrepreneurship class we have been tasked with the challenge of starting a business with $10.oo; Yes, a real business with only $10.00. This project, appropriately named the $10 Business challenge, has a few rules:

1. Business must be new and not a constitution of a previous or existing venture
2. Business must be legal and ethical
3. Business can be for-profit or non-for-profit
4. Additional funding for the business must come from business profits or Fundraising
5. For-profit business must maintain financial records
6. Non-for-profit business must verify social impact and will be primary assessed on extent of social impact

As always, please feel free to give me feed back, suggestions, and your thoughts as I develop my $10.00 business!

Journal Entry #2

I wish there were more hours in the day…

With that said, I have not had as much time to dedicate to this challenge as I would have hoped. To tie my feelings into class material we recently covered, here is an element of creating the business that is causing me some stress.

Need to achieve – Entrepreneurs have a high need to achieve, but having too high of a need to achieve could lead to more stress; unrealistic expectations.

I have a high need to achieve on this assignment because I know if I do well on my idea it is something that I can continue to grow.

As for dealing with this stress, it has been difficult for several reasons. Here are the option we talked about in class and why they do or do not work at this time.

1. Networking – still too early to network with other, but something I can do in the start-up phase

2. Getting away from it all – while it would be nice to take a break from school, there is nothing to “get away from” involving my business at this time.

3. Communicating with employees – what employees?

4. Finding satisfaction outside the company – I am satisfied with several aspects of my life including my club, academics, and social life.

5. Delegating – I do not have anyone to delegate tasks to

6. Exercising Rigorously – this is a MAJOR stress reliever, not particularly from this assignment, but from everyday stresses

7. Patience – I have to be patient with my progress... After researching other existing websites, I am going to set up an account with a web hosting site and create a layout. The next step is going to be to add content and find a way to have users sign-up using an email address.

$10 Business Challenge - Journal Entry #1

For my Entrepreneurship class we have been tasked with the challenge of starting a business with $10.oo; Yes, a real business with only $10.00. This project, appropriately named the $10 Business challenge, has a few rules:

1. Business must be new and not a constitution of a previous or existing venture
2. Business must be legal and ethical
3. Business can be for-profit or non-for-profit
4. Additional funding for the business must come from business profits or Fundraising
5. For-profit business must maintain financial records
6. Non-for-profit business must verify social impact and will be primary assessed on extent of social impact

We are being asked to submit weekly journal entries and I thought it would be beneficial to post my entries for you all to read. Please feel free to give me feed back, suggestions, and your thoughts as I develop my $10.00 business!

Journal Entry #1

Since this assignment was given, I have been thinking non-stop about my options. To be honest, my first night home on winter break I literally lost sleep over this. We talked in class about how everyone has their personal "incubation" or "brainstorming" time when ideas just flow; for Dr. Smith it's in the shower… for me, it is when I am gearing down to fall asleep (which often leads to hours of thinking, and little sleep). So… here is what has been going on in my head.

Profit vs. Non-profit.

The issue with trying to start a profit business is I am a VERY busy individual. My idea for a profit business was to hand paint wine glasses upon customer requests. I recently painted a pair of martini glasses for my boyfriend's parents and they came out FABULOUS! However, it took me 4-5 hours to do both… and I just don't have that kind of extra free time. This got me thinking about what Dr. Smith said in class about starting a business based on something you would wake up and do on a Sunday anyway.

I absolutely love giving back and helping others! So naturally my immediate ideas centered on starting non-profit business. However, finding a way to show impact was tripping me up some. The conclusion I came to was, if I started some type of website and tracked users, I would know how many people are benefiting from my "business". But what to do…what to do?

Options:

1. Website - Hub of information for college women (similar to Linkedin and twitter but with a community service twist)

2. TRUTH (similar to the DARE program we all went through in middle school/HS but with a twist!)

It is important for me to focus on topics and issues that I am already heavily involved in or feel passion about so my next step is to do some additional research on these two ideas, and go from there!