Early Lessons as a Fellow Starting a Project
The past two months have been full of challenges and rewards for the Uta Bakery Social Entrepreneurship Project. I have focused primarily on fundraising during the fall and winter, and I am very excited about the research and design part of the program to which I will dedicate the majority of my time in the spring.
Learning about fundraising has been an incredible and valuable experience. Fundraising was a field about which I knew very little before I began my journey as a Student Movement Fellow, and I quickly learned that it takes a lot of time and careful thought and preparation to carry out. Some of the most successful fundraising events for the Project have been: the Uta Bakery Bake Sale at Colorado College, the SMRC 100 Movement, and the Spare Change for Social Change Penny Campaign. The Bakery Project has started to plan many exciting upcoming events, including a Uta Bakery Team running to raise funds in the Georgia Half Marathon, a Casino Night at Emory, a Lose Your Shoes Barefoot Soccer Tournament at Emory, and much more!
As I am designing the Bakery Project, I have realized that I have a lot to learn about business and also baking. I am, therefore, hoping to get a job at a bakery near Emory next semester. I am also planning on meeting with Emory professors in the business school and in the development field in order to learn as much as I can about social entrepreneurship. I recently met with Emory professor Peter Brown to discuss some of the inherent difficulties in doing development work in rural South Africa, and I look forward to other invaluable meetings like this as the Project progresses.
