Business

Sweet Gig

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Sweet Gig Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/18/2021 - 00:00

Helen Olsson

As a CU undergrad, Jessica Dee Sawyer (ArtHist’03) studied the bold black lines of Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky’s striking use of color. When it came time to redesign the logo and packaging for Smarties, the beloved crunchy candy pellets that have remained unchanged since the 1950s, Jessica tapped into her background as an art history major.

Jessica, along with her sister, Liz Dee, and her cousin, Sarah Dee, is co-president of the Smarties Candy Company, with factories in Union, New Jersey, and Newmarket, Ontario. (In Canada, the candy is called “Rockets.”) They are the third generation to helm the iconic brand.

Jessica’s grandfather Edward Dee moved to the United States from England in 1949 and started the company, known then as Ce De Candy. Edward came from a family of candymakers, so Jessica is actually a fifth-generation candymaker.

Michael Dee, Jessica’s dad, and Jonathan Dee, her uncle, are known to the current leadership as “the dads.”

“I always wanted to work with my dad. And the dads always hoped we’d end up running the company,” Jessica said. “The dads had an unwritten rule that you had to work outside the company for at least a year.”

“Our dads ran the company for so many years. We wanted to put our own stamp on it.’”

Jessica spent that year working at the Denver Art Museum. But she was eager to join the family business, returning to New Jersey to work at the factory the next year. Liz and Sarah followed soon after in 2005. On-the-job training meant working machines, doing order entry and digging into research to understand the inner workings of the company.

“We did everything. Sarah was driving a forklift. We would dig through the accounting files to figure things out. We asked a lot of questions,” Jessica said.

Soon, each of them gravitated to the area they were most interested in, creating a division of labor. In 2017, they became co-presidents, with Jessica in charge of sales, HR, design and logistics; Sarah heading up production and operations; and Liz running food quality and safety and communications.

“I got more involved in packaging and design and hired an in-house artist,” said Jessica. “Color was the thing I was most interested in and how it plays into packaging for brand recognition.”

Since the company reins were handed over to the next generation, the dads have stepped back a bit, though they remain with the company as executive vice presidents and still serve on the board.

“They have offices on site,” said Jessica, “but for the most part work remotely.”

Before Jessica’s grandfather died last year at age 95, he would come into the factory every day.

“He’d give us a report from the floor,” she said. “He was our eyes and ears.”

While the brand has added products, like tropical and sour flavors and a popular megaroll, the flagship product’s recipe hasn’t changed since 1949, when the first pellets came out of the presses (the original machine was a repurposed World War II gunpowder pellet press). Billions of rolls are produced each year, and the factory runs 24 hours a day.

Still, the new presidents recognized the brand needed a makeover.

“We like retro, but it was feeling a little bit too retro,” Jessica said.

They studied the shape and twist of the plastic packaging — “We looked at so many twists!” — and added a tiny wink in the twist and in the “R” in the Smarties logo.

“It’s like a smile,” she said. “Our dads ran the company for so many years. We wanted to put our own stamp on it.”

Before the new generation took over, the company’s files were paper and stored in filing cabinets. The women overhauled the system by making files digital, creating an accounting system and hiring an IT person.

They also added 2,000 solar panels on the roof of the New Jersey factory, next to the giant silo where some 50,000 pounds of dextrose is blown in each day. The solar panels offset half the factory’s energy usage.

“We feel so lucky to do what we do every day and to work with family,” Jessica said. “The best part is knowing we bring joy to people.”

Since the 1990s, Smarties has also had a heart-shaped candy in its line, and when the Necco company ceased production of its popular Sweethearts candy, Smarties Love Hearts filled the space on the Valentine candy shelf. The new presidents updated the sayings stamped on the hearts with “YOLO,” “On Fleek” and “Text Me.”

In 2019, to celebrate the company’s 70th anniversary, Smarties added a gummy-like candy called Squashies to its line. With flavors like raspberry and cream, Squashies are made in England by the Swizzels company, which is, incidentally, run by the son of Jessica’s grandfather’s cousin.

“My kids love them. I can’t keep them in the house,” she said.

Sawyer lives in New Jersey with her husband, Donald (Hist’05), who she met at CU. They have two kids, Madeleine, 7 (“like the cookie”), and Theodore, 4, who act as taste testers for new products.

“Kids are honest,” Jessica said. “They say whatever they want.”

Jessica hopes the company will continue to remain a family business for many years to come.

“We feel so lucky to do what we do every day and to work with family,” Jessica said. “The best part is knowing we bring joy to people.”

Photos by Nick Cabrera

CU grad Jessica Dee Sawyer (ArtHist’03) is a fifth-generation candymaker with an eye for innovation.

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Spring 2021

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The COVID Economy

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 05:00:00 +0000

The COVID Economy Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 22:00

Christie Sounart

Senior economist Richard Wobbekind (PhDEcon’84), associate dean for business and government relations, has worked for the Leeds School of Business since 1985. Here he discusses our nation’s economy in a pandemic world.

How do you best describe your job?

I think of myself first and foremost as an educator. I describe the work we do in the research division as a way to provide information for businesses and government that assists in their decision-making processes. My teaching role follows the same theme, providing a framework for decision-making and describing the best sources of information dependent on the industry sector a student might pursue.

When did the economic reality of COVID-19 first hit you?

It became clear to me in late February that supply chain disruptions were likely to occur due to the severe impact on the Chinese economy. The severity of the impact on the U.S. economy didn’t really strike me until the middle of March when the closures (including live CU classes) began.

Have things unfolded as you expected since March?

Early on I was expecting a more V-shaped recovery. By the middle of April, it became obvious that there was so much uncertainty with the virus that a longer and slower path to recovery was likely. Since that point in time we have seen some parts of the economy with a V-shaped recovery but other parts on a much slower path. The resurgence of cases wasn’t a surprise for us since we have been following the medical side closely. One can argue whether we should have kept the economy closed longer, but the economic devastation was so vast that we anticipated states would reopen. Unfortunately that led to rollbacks in a number of states.

What is the most concerning aspect of this pandemic for you?

The disproportionate impact on the people in our economy who can least afford it. We knew before this happened that there were income inequality issues, but the nation had a 3.5% unemployment rate so most people needing a job could find one. The issue was whether that job paid a living wage. Now people once concerned about earning a living wage have the highest unemployment rates. The jobs lost have disproportionately impacted women and minorities, who have higher concentrations of employment in the most impacted industrial sectors.

Are there positive outcomes you foresee arising from this time?

We will know the actual answer to this sometime in the future, but I believe so. Some of the most impacted individuals will develop new skill sets which will hopefully raise their wages. We will use communications technology in more productive ways (increasing economic efficiency). The U.S. will invest more in medical research.

What are a couple of things people can expect from the U.S. economy moving forward?

Unfortunately, until a vaccine is found, the economy will continue to cycle with the number of new cases and the rate of increase or decrease. The fiscal stimulus has helped stave off what would have been a significant drop in consumption, but consumer and business confidence remain the keys. Until we get this under control, uncertainty, and therefore diminished levels of consumption and investment, will rule the day.

That said, vaccines are not 100% effective so we will have to show that those infected can be treated successfully. Those changes will enable more travel, less distancing and basically return us to economic efficiency levels seen before the virus or potentially even higher.

How many years of recovery could it take for the economy to rebuild?

This is of course the great unknown. My best estimate is three to three and a half years. If you assume a vaccine sometime in the first half of 2021, the full recovery will likely take until the second half of 2023. This timeline is based on the level of economic disruption COVID-19 caused and the extent of the recession. We should actually be on a reasonable growth path the second half of 2021, but when you consider how many displaced workers need to be retrained and how many failed businesses need to be replaced, you begin to see why it will take several years.

Are there areas of business that are performing better than others right now?

A few areas, that are likely obvious, are the replacement activities such as e-commerce for conventional retail and commercial groceries for restaurants. In addition, those companies that provide or support internet technologies are thriving. Biological research is booming. Beyond those more obvious areas, however, there are others in high tech and defense that are doing quite well.

How has Boulder fared compared to similar cities during this time?

Based on the limited data that we can see at the city and county level, Boulder appears to be holding up nicely. A little lower unemployment rate, a decent retail sales bounceback, a lower concentration in leisure and hospitality employment and strong high tech and biotech sectors are a few of the reasons.

Any last thoughts?

It would be a catastrophe to suffer through this episode and not have huge positive improvements as the outcome. If we don’t have improved medical care, educational capabilities, technological efficiency and labor force skills, shame on all of us.

Condensed and edited.

Photo courtesy Richard Wobbenkind ; right: iStock/andresr

Senior economist Richard Wobbekind, associate dean for business and government relations, has worked for the Leeds School of Business since 1985. Here he discusses our nation’s economy in a pandemic world.

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These CU Grads Just Won $100,000

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 17:49:58 +0000

These CU Grads Just Won $100,000 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/03/2019 - 11:49

Eric Gershon

With a high-tech safety gadget for walkers, undergrads hit the jackpot in CU's latest New Venture Challenge.

Timothy Visos-Ely had a lot to celebrate in May: Not only did he and high-school sweetheart Amy Eichman (IntPhys’19) both earn ��ƷSM��ӰƬ degrees, but Visos-Ely’s souped-up, midnight-gray Nissan Xterra was about ready for summer off-roading.

Also, he’d just won $100,000.

On April 3, before a live audience of about 350, Visos-Ely (EngrPlus’19) and four teammates, all fellow engineering undergraduates, placed first in the 11th annual New Venture Challenge, ��ƷSM��ӰƬ’s top competition for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“This means we get to have a decent shot at launching this company,” said the 22-year-old Kansas-bred CEO of StrideTech, a budding medical device firm that emerged from the team’s senior design project.

In all, 230 students, faculty and affiliates participated in the latest NVC, which this year awarded a record $250,000-plus from a mix of donors, companies and investors.

The StrideTech team designed a digital accessory for walkers intended to improve user health and safety. The device, SmartStep, aims to minimize falls and correct lapses in posture by assessing gait patterns and relaying real-time information about force exerted on the walker.

“Very little weight should be applied to the walker,” said Visos-Ely, whose grandmother’s reliance on a walker inspired the project.

The first-place finish catapults StrideTech’s co-founders into postcollegiate life as bona fide entrepreneurs. This summer, Visos-Ely, Max Watrous (EngrPlus’19), Humsini Acharya (EngrPlus’19) and Andrew Plum (MechEngr’19) will work fulltime on their product and company as participants in Catalyze CU, a threemonth business accelerator program. [NVC teammate Tom Saunders (MechEngr’19) has other plans.]

If Visos-Ely gets a breather, he’ll recharge outdoors — hiking, mountain biking, tubing or off-roading in the Xterra. It’s equipped with a suspension he rebuilt himself. “I’ve always liked fixing things,” he said. “The reason why I work on my truck is to make it better. I find ways to improve it. That’s kind of what inventing is — looking at what’s out there and making it better.”

Learn more about the NVC at www.colorado.edu/nvc.

With a high-tech safety gadget for walkers, undergrads hit the jackpot in CU's latest New Venture Challenge.

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Andrew Hudson Wants to Help you Land a Job

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 17:20:20 +0000

Andrew Hudson Wants to Help you Land a Job Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/03/2019 - 11:20

A Q&A with career expert Andrew Hudson (Engl’89) — former press secretary for Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth, jazz musician and founder of Andrew Hudson's Jobs List.

What’s the best attitude for a job search?
Focused confidence: An intense belief in yourself and your skills and the ability to specifically and confidently describe how your experiences and accomplishments will add value.

Your confidence must be consistent across the main “touch points” in the job-seeking life cycle — résumé, short introductory speech (“tell me about yourself!”), cover letter, online profiles and answers to predictable interview questions. (What do you want to do? Why do you want to work here? What skills and experience make you the best candidate?) Be prepared with specific stories about accomplishments that demonstrate your skills, work ethic and professionalism.

Job seeking is a skill. Mastering specific job seeking skills will be useful throughout your career.

If I don’t have a lot of work experience, what do I put on my résumé?
Don’t discount any of your experiences — even those that go beyond your work/ internship experience. If you’ve volunteered or were part of a humanitarian effort, if you were a sports team captain, if you had a leadership role at your summer job or internship, if you’ve won awards, if you ran your own babysitting or lawn care business, if you were required to manage a budget or build a website for your on-campus club… anything that demonstrates professional skill, experience and accomplishment will be helpful.

How do I find a job?
More job offers are made through person-to-person networking than any other type of job search technique. Online job boards are important for prospecting, but all too often job seekers find themselves mindlessly sending off dozens of résumés, then getting frustrated they are not hearing back. Only 25 percent of job search time should be spent on job boards. Only respond to jobs that match your skills and experiences, as well as your criteria for the type of job you want (type of company, job title, location, salary/benefits, etc.).

��ƷSM��ӰƬ has an excellent Career Resources Center to help students and alumni with networking, self-branding, interviewing and writing skills for résumés, cover letters and online profiles.

What is networking?

Power partners: These are people who know you best: Friends, family, professors, colleagues, neighbors or former bosses. They will not only call you back, but will be your biggest cheerleaders. They will open their list of contacts to you, testify to your abilities and actively work to open doors.
Remember me: These are close acquaintances who you know well enough to reach out to: Parents of friends, folks you met at an internship, other second-level LinkedIn contacts.
The cold call: “Let me introduce myself!” A challenging but necessary networking skill. Let’s say you read an interesting article about the CEO of a local company. Or during your research, you came across a nonprofit you’d like to work for. Make contact! Prepare a short script about why you are calling and respectfully ask if you can visit.

Is it OK to ask for something?
Always be ready to make an ask. You’ve got their attention. “Do you have a job? Can you introduce me to your recruiter? Is there anyone you can refer me to? Will you review my résumé? Can I call you back in a few weeks to check in?”

This might sound forward, but, guess what? Every person you meet has been in your shoes. It’s OK. You’ll find most people are incredibly helpful.

Parting advice?
Don’t panic! Research different careers that fit not only your skills and experiences, but your passions. Things that excite you and bring you joy. In your first years after college, you will identify things about yourself — talents, strengths and skills — that will lead you in career directions you didn’t expect.

Condensed and edited by Eric Gershon. In our print edition, this story appears under the title "How to Land a Job." Comment on this story? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Illustration by Ellen Weinstein; Photo by Ellen Jaskol.

A Q&A with Andrew Hudson — Buff, jazz musician, career expert and founder of Andrew Hudson's Jobs List.

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Living Like Julia Child

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Living Like Julia Child Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/01/2019 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Not much has changed at Julia Child's summer home in France, thanks to Craig Held (Psych'74) and family, who preserve the famed chef's epicurean legacy at their cooking school and vacation rental.

In the kitchen of La Pitchoune, the French Airbnb run by Craig Held (Psych’74) and his family, a fragrance of herbs, meats and simmering wines recalls the aromas that routinely scented the space beginning in the mid-1960s.

Photo by Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

For nearly three decades, the stucco cottage was the summer home of American chef and cookbook author Julia Child and her husband, Paul. Today, Craig Held, wife Tina and daughter Makenna preserve the Childs’ epicurean legacy in the hilly French countryside by operating the property as a cooking school and vacation rental.

“Makenna imitated Julia as a child,” said Craig, a retired business executive who acquired La Pitchoune in 2016 at Makenna’s urging. “Now she’s 6'1", wears the same size 12 shoe as Julia [who was 6'2"] and went to Smith College like she did.”

Located about 10 miles north of Cannes, France, La Pitchoune (which translates as “little thing”) is available seven months a year for up to six adults in three rooms, starting at $970 a night. During the remaining months — April, May, June, September and October — it becomes the Courageous Cooking School. Guests receive six days of live-in cooking lessons and excursions led by Makenna, who is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef.

The Helds bought the property in 2015, after Makenna, then 30 and teaching skiing in Beaver Creek, Colo., saw a story in The New York Times about the house and felt an immediate draw to it — especially to the kitchen.

“My greatest fear?” said Makenna. “Someone would gut the kitchen and demolish the legacy Julia had left behind.…I knew that someone who wanted to keep the house somewhat, if not completely intact, had to buy it. I wanted to be that somebody.”

“Change is rampant in this part of Provence. But inside the kitchen of La Pitchoune, it felt as if little had changed.”

Besides a model of a Julia Child kitchen in the Smithsonian, La Pitchoune is the last original Julia Child kitchen, said Craig. The extra-tall countertops remain, as do the pegboards Paul installed on the walls with his hand-tracings of the utensils Julia hung there.

The Childs built the home around 1963 on the three-acre property of Julia’s friend and Mastering the Art of French Cooking co-author Simone Beck. Julia gave the home back to the Beck family in 1992, when Paul became ill. He died in 1994, Julia in 2004.

A student of Beck’s owned the home next and ran a cooking school there. She listed it in 2015 for $880,000. After the Helds acquired it, they decided to run the 1,500-square-foot dwelling as a family business.

“Airbnb was the platform that seemed most appropriate for us at the time,” said Craig, adding that the online property rental firm was eager to promote the family’s unique listing, which describes the home as “a foodie paradise in Provence.”

La Pitchoune quickly drew interest from food writers at The New York Times, Vogue, Food & Wine and Condé Nast Traveler.

“Change is rampant in this part of Provence,” wrote Julia Moskin, a Times food writer who spent a week cooking at the house. “But inside the kitchen of La Pitchoune, it felt as if little had changed.”

Two years in, the Helds’ recipe for La Pitchoune appears to be a hit.

The home offers fresh opportunities for Craig, who helped coach the CU ski team under Olympian Bill Marolt (Bus’67). For most of his career, Craig worked as an executive at Pepsi, Taco Bell and Paramount Farms. Just 10 days before Makenna called him about La Pitchoune, he’d left his job as executive vice president of XetaWave, a software-defined radio company in Louisville, Colo.

Now, when he’s in France with Tina on one of their three annual trips, his focus is on providing guests with cozy comforts: “We welcome guests with charcuterie, wine and a fully stocked Julia Child kitchen,” including all pots, pans, knives and baking dishes, he said.

Two years in, the Helds’ recipe for La Pitchoune appears to be a hit.

“You will have moments throughout where it seems surreal and unimaginable that you are cooking in Julia Child's kitchen, in her house,” wrote one Airbnb reviewer. “It was a week in paradise.”

Comment on this story? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Photos by Beth Kirby

Want to cook in Julia Child's summer home in the hilly French countryside? Craig Held and family can make it happen.

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The Birth of SoulCycle

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 07:00:00 +0000

The Birth of SoulCycle Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/01/2019 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

In 2015, SoulCycle co-founder Elizabeth Cutler (DistSt'89) launched a spin sensation.

Amid the sea of freshmen fidgeting in the stands of CU’s basketball arena at convocation in August 1985, Elizabeth Cutler (DistSt’89) pondered what she’d just heard.

“First, he said 25 percent of us wouldn’t be here next year because we’d flunk out,” she said of a dean. “The second was that we’d have to be our own advocates, because CU is a large school. The third thing he said is don’t get too focused on what job you think you are going to do, as 90 percent of us are going to do a job that has not yet been invented.”

The final point struck a chord: You can blaze your own way.

Two decades later, in 2006, Cutler and a partner did it by opening a fitness center, SoulCycle, in a 1,400-square-foot former dance studio in Manhattan. It proved the start of a high-end fitness phenomenon.

“You could hardly find our front door, and we turned the hallway into the locker room,” Cutler said. “But we were beyond freaking-out-excited.”

SoulCycle was born of Cutler’s search for community in New York.

Today, SoulCycle is a marquee name in the business of boutique fitness, operating 90 studios across North America. There are no memberships — exercisers book seats online by noon on Mondays — and classes sell out fast, even at $40 or more per session. Charismatic instructors teach up-tempo cycling classes in candlelit rooms, shouting encouragement to cyclists by name. It’s not uncommon for riders to cry as they pedal in sync in the dark.

“As I dabbed my eyes and my sweat after class,” wrote an Atlanta magazine journalist in June, “I wiped away my cynicism, too. Whatever the special sauce, whatever the science, I’m sold on SoulCycle.”

Acquired in 2015 by Equinox Fitness, SoulCycle was born of Cutler’s search for community in New York.

Although a big-city girl from Chicago, she’d moved east from tiny Telluride, Colo., where she’d lived 10 years, working as a real estate agent and Jin Shin Jyutsu acupressure practitioner. She was used to seeing familiar faces on the street and taking restorative hikes with friends.

“By the time the hike was over, we had solved our problems and were ready to get on with our day,” she said.

After the birth of her second daughter, in 2005, a friend invited her to a spin class. Cutler was anxious — about whether she’d finish, about how she’d feel afterward. She hungered for an urban sanctuary offering the physical, social and psychic benefits of an outdoor escapade with friends.

Soon Cutler met Julie Rice, a former Hollywood talent agent with a similar yearning for socially fulfilling exercise. Over lunch they hatched a plan for a cycling studio prioritizing communal feeling.

“[T]here was really nothing out there that was efficient, that was joyful, that was about community,” Rice told Business Insider.

Cutler found a tiny West 72nd Street studio for rent on Craigslist and the pair opened shop. They charged $27 a session and adopted the then-unusual per-class reservation system to encourage riders to feel invested — and show up.

“We wanted to create an experience where people could clip into the bike when the lights came down, listen to a teacher who spoke to them in a real way and leave the class after 45 minutes having allowed their being to be able to sort everything out,” said Cutler.

As SoulCycle grew, first in New York, then in California, celebrities discovered it. Kelly Ripa raved. Jake Gyllenhaal, David Beckham and Lady Gaga became regulars. Oprah came on her 60th birthday.

“We were in service for people living their best lives,” said Cutler, who left SoulCycle in 2016, after she and Rice sold their full stakes to Equinox for $90 million each. They now run LifeShop, a business advisory and investment firm.

Cutler still enjoys the fellowship of SoulCycle. Visiting Chicago last year, she joined a class — pedaling and sweating her way into harmony in the dark.

In our print edition, this story appears under the title "Master of Soul." Comment on this story? Email editor@colorado.edu.

In 2015, SoulCycle co-founder Elizabeth Cutler launched a spin sensation. The key to her success? A focus on community.

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10 Startups with CU Ties

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 18:25:04 +0000

10 Startups with CU Ties Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/01/2018 - 12:25

Amanda Clark

10 Startups with CU Ties

The ��ƷSM��ӰƬ is an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Check out some of the successful startups that came to fruition at CU. For more information, visit CU's Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative website.

Shinesty

1. Rebound Technologies
Cooling innovations
Kevin Davis (MMechEngr’12)

2. Pagedip
Digital content creation
Alex Milewski (MechEngr’13), Sherisse Hawkins (MEngr’00)

3. Specdrums
Music innovation
Steven Dourmashkin (AeroEngr ex’19)

4. Mallinda LLC
Carbon fiber composite
Chris Kaffer (MBA’14), Philip Taynton (PhDChem’15)

5. Informu Inc.
Artificial intelligence
Shuliang Mei (Mgmt’17)

6. Agribotix
Precision agriculture
Daniel McKinnon (Phys’09; PhDChemEngr’14)

7. OPX Biotechnologies
Biofuels
Michael Lynch (Chem’17)

8. Inscripta
Gene editing
Andrew Garst (PhDBioChem’12)

9. ColorLink
Photonics
Gary Sharp (PhDElEngr’92)

10. Shinesty
Vintage clothing
Chris White (MBus’15), Jens Nicolaysen (Mktg’10)

The ��ƷSM��ӰƬ is an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Check out some of the successful startups that came to fruition at CU.

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Workplace Bias

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Workplace Bias Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/17/2018 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Stefanie Johnson, an associate professor of management in CU’s Leeds School of Business, studies unconscious bias in leadership. Here she discusses strategies for mitigating bias, her White House appearance and a joint project with her biologist husband.

How did the subject of bias first draw your interest?

In my Ph.D. program, I wanted to study a mainstream business topic, leadership. One of my first studies showed gender bias. I found some things that predicted leadership success for men predicted the opposite for women. I wanted to figure out what was causing this difference. I found the demands for a successful woman leader are greater than for a man. A woman has to demonstrate all the same levels of confidence, strength and assertiveness as a man while simultaneously maintaining her feminine gender role. So, she still has to be sensitive, caring and empathetic.

Who’s an example of a female leader who deals with criticisms?

Hillary Clinton. People say she’s too masculine with her pantsuits, for example. Hillary is super smart, but she’s just not very likeable. That’s what I found in my study — women have to be both likeable and effective in order to be successful. If people don’t like you, you’re never going to make it to the top.

What classes are you teaching?

I teach “Critical Leadership Skills” and a class called “Women in Business.”

How do students respond when they learn about unconscious bias?

My students for the most part are open to hearing about bias; they just don’t want to believe it’s true. In fact, when you tell women and minorities there is bias against them, it actually hurts their self-esteem. It’s worse to admit you’re being discriminated against because of your race or gender, because you can never change that. But after the #MeToo movement, people’s consciousness is raised. Clearly there’s not equality if sexual harassment is so rampant in organizations.

How does unconscious bias affect our leadership in a workplace?

Our leaders still look a lot like prototype leaders. Ninety percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are white men. There’s more CEOs named John and David than there are women in the S&P 500. It’s going to take purposeful effort to change the way things are.

Is there a way to combat bias when hiring?

I advocate for blinding, which is taking names off résumés. If you do that, you’re more likely to have more women and minorities appear in your hiring pool. I recommend setting targets for diversity and measuring your progress. If you’re not benchmarking against what the best companies are doing, you’re falling behind.

What advice do you give minorities seeking leadership positions?

Following on Sheryl Sandberg’s advice, you have to apply. No one is going to force you to do it, and women and minorities only tend to apply if they think they have 100 percent of the qualifications. You just have to put yourself out there.

You spoke in the White House in 2016 at a diversity summit. What was that like?

It was awesome. People were there primarily from Fortune 500 companies. One of the things I talked about is the idea of two in the pool: If you interview one woman or one minority, they’re never going to be hired. You shouldn’t bother interviewing just one woman or minority. You might as well do zero or include at least two.

Your husband, Pieter Johnson, also works at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, as a biology professor. Talk about the project you worked on together.

We published a paper on the toxoplasma gondii parasite and its relation to entrepreneurship. Toxoplasma is the cat parasite that causes mice to act riskier if they get it. Humans carry it — 20 percent of the U.S. population — but people don’t often study the effects on humans. We collected data from 2,000 students and found business students were significantly more likely to have toxoplasma, particularly entrepreneurship students. Then we went to entrepreneur events and swabbed their saliva along with others who were in the same place but weren’t entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs were significantly more likely to have toxoplasma. We’ve decided that toxoplasma makes you more likely to be an entrepreneur!

Condensed and edited.

Photo by Glenn Asakawa

Stefanie Johnson discusses strategies for mitigating bias, her White House appearance and a joint project with her biologist husband.

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Books and Movies

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 23:01:10 +0000

Books and Movies Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/01/2018 - 16:01

Janice Podsada

When Mitchell Kaplan (Eng’76) launched Books & Books in Miami in 1982, the business was the size of a one-bedroom apartment.

Still, Kaplan, then 27, fled the tiny bookstore with more than titles — he brought in real live writers, unusual at the time. Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer was among the first.

“From the beginning we established ourselves as the store where literary events took place alongside the selling of books,” Kaplan has said.

Early on, he also set about putting Miami on the literary map, helping found the Miami Book Fair in 1984. The annual weeklong festival now hosts hundreds of authors and draws hundreds of thousands of participants.

“In the 1980s, Miami was off the radar screen,” said Oren Teicher, head of the American Booksellers Association, a trade group based in New York. “It wasn’t a place where publishers wanted to send their authors. He helped change that.”

Over the next three decades Kaplan, now 63 and originally from Miami Beach, added seven more South Florida stores. The flagship store occupies a 9,000-square-foot building with a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

His labor of love would become a landmark for bibliophiles. In 2015, Publishers Weekly named the business “Bookstore of the Year” citing its “outsized influence” on independent bookstores “and the literary culture at large.”

“You have to be able to communicate to your customers that value isn’t only measured by price,” said Kaplan. “There is value in meeting an author, being a place where ideas are shared, value in bringing writers into the schools.”

Recently he developed a publishing arm and a partnership with film producer Paula Mazur. Their first feature-length movie, The Man Who Invented Christmas, with Christopher Plummer, was released in November.

It was a novel that inspired Kaplan to apply to ��ƷSM��ӰƬ. Captivated by a character in Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums who writes poetry on a mountaintop, Kaplan envisioned Boulder as an “exotic land of mountains and snow,” he said. “I saw CU for the first time the day I got there.”

Professor Sidney Goldfarb’s literature courses — which included histories of the “great bookstores,” such as Shakespeare and Co. in Paris and Manhattan’s Gotham Book Mart — made a deep impression on Kaplan, not least for their role as defenders of First Amendment freedoms.

After CU, he tried law school in Washington, D.C., but found himself spending more time in bookstores than in the law library. He left after two years, returned to Miami, taught high school English, then yielded to his persistent urge: to become a bookseller.

When he opened the first Books & Books, he had a lot to learn: “I knew more about Pablo Neruda and Thomas Pynchon than I did about interest rates or bank charges,” he said.

It’s been a risk that paid: “I’ve been able to make some small contribution to Miami becoming a world-class city.”

Photo courtesy Mitchell Kaplan

When Mitchell Kaplan launched Books & Books in Miami in 1982, the business was the size of a one-bedroom apartment.

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A Family Tale

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 18:50:00 +0000

A Family Tale Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/01/2017 - 11:50

Janice Podsada

Marc Fawaz couldn’t help but notice the unusual dynamic between Marty O’Connor (Film'10), an MBA candidate in his marketing management class at Chapman University, and Marty’s assistant.

Marty was paralyzed from the shoulders down and couldn’t take notes or use a computer without help, so an assistant made sense.

I couldn’t have done it without her.”

But she was unusually doting, Fawaz thought, even tender.

No wonder: “Yeah, that’s my mom,” Marty, now 30, told him.

For two academic years, from 2015 to 2017, Judy O’Connor served as her son’s full-time study partner and aide — shuttling him between home and campus, pushing his wheelchair to classes, taking notes. At home, she created study guides and taped the notes to the walls of Marty’s room, so every page was within his sight.

“I couldn’t turn the pages of a book by myself,” said Marty, who’d been a member of the club snowboarding and men’s volleyball teams at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ.

After his CU graduation, Marty, originally from Anaheim, Calif., moved to Newport Beach. He worked in sales for a packaging supplier, TricorBraun, and spent a lot of weekends at the beach.

“I was living the life,” he said.

Then one hot day in August 2012, while out with friends after a long day of golf, a dehydrated and fatigued Marty stood up, lost consciousness and fell down the stairs of a fire escape behind a Newport Beach restaurant.

“I don’t remember the rest,” he said.

The fall injured Marty’s spinal cord.

His parents, then living in Tierra Verde, Fla., moved back to California to care for him. It took two years of physical therapy to tame the spasms in his legs.

In time, Marty regained strength, if not mobility, and he began to consider what to do with the rest of his life.

It wasn’t obvious at first.

“Marty was really struggling to figure out what his future was going to look like,” said Judy, a former sixth-grade teacher with a business degree from Notre Dame.

Marty had always been entrepreneurial, so she encouraged him to consider business school. He was anxious about it, but in fall 2015, he entered the MBA program at Chapman in Orange, Calif., armed with a mouth stick for operating his phone and voice recognition software on his computer.

Initially paired with a note taker, Marty saw he needed more. Judy was already helping him study. So she became his on-campus assistant, too.

For two years, she attended every one of Marty’s classes, helping with every assignment and every exam.

I did what I did out of love for my son.”

“I quickly got over that awkward feeling of going back to school with my mother,” Marty said.

Last year, with commencement on the horizon, Marty approached university officials to ask if they would consider recognizing his mother’s contribution.

“I couldn’t have done it without her,” he said.

The school's leadership agreed and proceeded to make secret plans with Marty, avoiding telltale texts or emails.

“I didn’t want my mom seeing anything popping up on my phone,” said Marty.

At commencement exercises last May, Judy pushed Marty onto the stage in his wheelchair, then stepped back to let him have his moment of triumph. Marty received his degree.

Then teary-eyed officiants turned to Judy and presented her with a degree of her own, an honorary MBA, prompting an ovation from the crowd.

“I certainly never expected any recognition,” Judy said. “I did what I did out of love for my son.”

After commencement, she and Marty took a break. Judy visited her ailing mother in Florida and Marty began plotting his next career move.

This fall Marty started a job in business development with DIVERTcity, a Los Angeles startup that’s developing programs and facilities to make action sports more accessible and affordable for urban youth.

It’s a ��ƷSM��ӰƬ reunion of sorts: Marty’s former CU roommate David Monhait (Arch’11) and Zachary Adamson (Mgmt’11), founded the firm.

Judy’s back in Florida, caring for her mother.

If she sees Marty less now, she still sees him often.

“You can fire your assistant,” she said, “but you sort of have to keep your mom.”

Photo courtesy Chapman University

A 2012 accident paralyzed Marty O'Connor below the shoulders. When he went to business school, a study buddy joined him for every class.

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