Interview: Headbands of Hope

I promised in my opening blog to share stories of entrepreneurship and student entrepreneurs from a sideline view. With that in mind, I wanted to profile Jessica Ekstrom, a senior in Communications here at NC State, this week. She is the founder and CEO of Headbands of Hope, a company creating hope for young girls with cancer. Her organization's profile seemed like the perfect fit for in-between holidays!


Jessica started as an intern at Disney where she was introduced to children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She immediately took an interest in the children and the organization, which lead to an internship opportunity for her during the summer of 2011. During the internship she met with children in hospitals and went on "wish trips."  Over the course of the visits she discovered young girls liked to wear headbands after losing their hair to make themselves feel girly and pretty. Jessica took this observation to heart and immediately began brainstorming how she could make a significant impact in all little girls' lives who are battling cancer. Headbands of Hope became her passion and creative form of involvement, designing and selling headbands to raise research money for childhood cancers. The name for the company described a feeling and product that Jessica wanted to pursue. Jessica wanted to meet two needs: one directly for the little girls and another for all children battling cancer. It was difficult at first when starting the company, but Jessica reached out to our campus departments to ask questions and form her business plan. She was surprised and grateful for the help and encouragement the Wolfpack was able to provide through her start-up journey. After the website was created Jessica began to promote the business's purpose--once you purchase a headband on her company's website another is simultaneously made for a little girl to receive at a participating hospital. The headbands are available online as well as in some local stores.  Jessica also manages a campus representative program across the country to spread the word. She continues to promote the business through social networking and its website.  Headbands for Hope also has plans to expand into a boys line, which will allow the current Miss. Alaska to endorse the brand as a part of her platform! The business will become a full time opportunity for Jessica after graduation in May and she cannot wait to see what other avenues are available for her business!

Entrepreneurs Lecture Series

Monday kicked off the annual Triangle Entrepreneurship Week with an event hosted by the NC State Entrepreneurship Initiative. The event was a lecture series held at the McKimmon Center on NC State's campus.  There were three keynote speakers at the event: Grant Williard, founder of JouleBug; Jesse Lipson, VP, GM of Data Sharing at Citrix Systems, Inc.; and Gerard J. Hall, founder, president and CEO of SMT. The event was well attended and exciting. Each speaker shared their story with the attendees, made up of both students and professionals in the area. Speakers then offered additional advice in a question and answer session with the audience. The event concluded with a light appetizer social hour among booths hosted by various entrepreneurial ventures of NC State students and alumni. Near the conclusion of the event I had the pleasure of speaking with a Paul Lockett of Lockett Consulting Group. Paul and I discussed the popular debate topic of whether entrepreneurs are born or made.  Paul gave one piece of advice that was unique, "Your best memories are made when there is adrenaline pumping through your body." Soon after my discussion with Paul, I was introduced to Richard Bobholz, a new resident of the Triangle area who has takien the initiative to start his own law firm in the area, www.bobholzlaw.com. He was fresh out of law school yet determined to venture out on his own and avoid the months of aid work he would find in an established firm. I met a truly inspiring group of people at the event and I thank the speakers for sharing their insights on the world of entrepreneurship and the excitement it has to offer. Here are a few pictures from the event!

SN: Invites Andy Albright

Last Thursday night was another exciting night for the Entrepreneurship Initiative's Student Network group! Andy Albright came to speak with the students about his self discovery through entrepreneurship. Albright is an alumnus of N.C. State who sponsors the Entrepreneurs Lecture Series and serves on the Entrepreneurship Initiative Advisory Board. His company's motto is "Laugh, make money, and change lives." He utilizes the same motto in his personal life, where choosing success over settling has made a major difference. Albright came to share his no-nonsense wisdom with young entrepreneurs in attendance. "It's not about the titles, it's about courage." Albright encouraged the students to read success books and to find mentors who can help them pursue their goals.We thank Albright for sharing his time and wisdom with the group.

Visit his website at: http://www.andyalbright.com/
His company website at: http://www.nationalagentsalliance.com/

This was the best turnout at a meeting so far with 50 students in attendance, and many stayed late to network after! Be sure to follow us on twitter "@ncsuei" to keep up to date on events and words of wisdom.

SN: Invites Aaron Gerry

Thursday October 25 was another successful Student Networking meeting at the Garage! It was a great turn out full of new faces, including local Entrepreneur Aaron Gerry. Aaron came to speak to the students about his entrepreneurial path and lessons learned along the way. Aaron is the co-founder of  "StartupandPlay" which he described as a science fair for local entrepreneur's, but it is upgraded with local talent. Aaron first encountered entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, where he attended college as a Biology major. He made it clear that college was a time of change, options, and resources. Aaron encouraged the students to be bold and  daring in their time here at NC State and to reach out for inspiration or advice. "StartupandPlay" provides the opportunity for students to attend specialized events for networking opportunities. After Aaron finished his sharing his story, Sean, the Student Network President, began an activity. The activity encouraged innovation in teams of 4, 4 people who had never met before. My group was made up of an engineer, a Meredith College student, and two business majors. We were given a bag of contents and required to build the tallest tower we could with what was inside, and for the final obstacle we had to balance a marshmallow on top. This activity provided the chance for us to work in a cross-functional group to achieve one goal, following Aaron's most precise guideline. I am proud to say my team was the winning team and we were able to donate our prize to the Garage which was a book of advice provided by Aaron. It was a great event full of excitement and personality. Be sure to catch the next meeting November 8th at 6pm in the Garage!