Month: November 2020

Link to Webinar – Black Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Adversity and Staying Focused

Screenshot from Black Entrepreneurship panel on Zoom.

Click this link to access “Black Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Adversity and Staying Focused”. In this webinar, a panel of Black entrepreneurs in various stages of their startup journeys will share their experiences, the adversities they’ve overcome, and the resources and organizations that have provided them the support, connections, and opportunities they needed.

The panel was moderated by Marquita M. Qualls, Ph.D., Executive Director of Entrepreneurship Programs, The National GEM Consortium and the panelists included Shila Nieves Burney (Founder and Managing Partner, Zane Venture Fund), Hakim Weatherspoon (Associate Professor, Cornell University; and Co-founder and CEO, Exotanium) and Titus Calloway (Founder and CEO, BlackLaunch LLC and ReLo)

This webinar was coordinated by Black Entrepreneurs in Training (BET). BET is a Cornell program dedicated to inspiring, informing, and initiating the next wave of black student entrepreneurs and is supported by the Center for Regional Economic Advancement at Cornell University (CREA).

Bank of America Expands Funding for the Institute

We are so pleased to share this press release with everyone! Bank of America has expanded their funding of the Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell. This additional funding will enable us to add 30,000 seats – bringing the total enrollment of small business owners to 50,000. We will also be translating the program into Spanish and hiring Spanish-speaking facilitators to provide more access to Latinx entrepreneurs.

As part of the program expansion, Bank of America will partner with several nonprofits, including the National Urban League, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and Prospera, to create specific enrollment opportunities for their members. The Institute expects to begin enrolling these students in January 2021.

Making Small Talk In a Virtual World

Woman on a zoom videoconference on her laptop

In the midst of a pandemic, it seems almost comical to greet others on the Zoom videoconference or in the grocery store with a “How are you?” yet that seems to be the default for most people. This March 2019 CNBC post shared results from a study out of Harvard that analyzed small talk and determined that those people who asked more meaningful questions were perceived as being more likeable. The piece shares 7 tactics for improving your small talk – which is even more important now when our in-person interactions are more limited!

Brené Brown Interviews Elizabeth Lesser

Book jacket for "Cassandra Speaks" by Elizabeth Lesser

Professor and best-selling author Brené Brown recently shared an Unlocking Us podcast where she interviewed author Elizabeth Lesser on her recent book entitled Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes.

Cassandra Speaks looks at the cultural stories we all know and often blindly believe – from famous myths to religious parables to fairy tales. Each story shares specific lessons about gender roles, power, leadership and other values. Yet all of these stories throughout history have mostly been written by men. Despite our evolution as a society, these stories and the way we carry the lessons within us endure. This book – as well as the podcast – is about what happens when women become the storytellers and explain what it is to be human from their perspective.