By Kate Jones, The ONEIL Center
A self-described “bad kid” turned digital marketing guru wants to pay it forward with a program to funnel at-risk students into digital marketing careers.
T. Osinubi is the founder of STEM Whisperers, a martech-focused college and career readiness STEM program that seeks to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline by diverting at-risk youth in urban schools into training programs to fill the martech gap in STEM fields.
It’s a program designed for students whose educational journey resembles how own, he said.
“I was a pain in the teacher’s class,” he recalled. “I barely graduated high school.”
But he went on to graduate salutatorian of his class at Full Sail University before landing marketing gigs at national companies like ACCO Brands and Proctor & Gamble.
Now he wants to give others the same opportunities with STEM Whisperers.
“I’m not focused on novelties,” T. explained. “I’m focused on solving problems.”
The first step in growing his startup is getting STEM Whisperers into schools. He is working with Dr. Amy Magnus to finalize a 12-week curriculum for schools by January 2021. A mobile app for the STEM Whisperers curriculum is also in development T. hopes to see the program added to curriculums as young as fourth grade.
“You have to see it before you can be it,” he said.
T. was the winner of the spring 2020 Early Risers Academy cohort pitch competition. Early Risers Academy is a free 10-week business bootcamp managed by Launch Dayton partner Parallax Advanced Research, that went virtual when COVID hit in March.
“There are a lot of entry points to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, this needs to be put front & center as the first stop. This needs to be where people start, this is where they’ll get the most value, this is where they’ll get excited,” T. said of the bootcamp.
“If nothing else, do it so you can get a few one-on-ones with someone like Gail, who, if you had to pay her, you probably couldn’t afford her because she’s really high quality,” he added. “To have access to someone like that who’s genuinely interested in making sure that you succeed, that alone would be worth doing it. If you’re new, if you’re not new, there’s something for everyone.”
Learn more about STEM Whisperers here.
Learn more about Early Risers Academy here — applications are open for 2021 cohorts, which will kick off in February.
By Cori Lohstroh, The ONEIL Center
CB Cakes & More isn’t just a business for founder Catrina Conley-Brookover — it’s the realization of a dream she shared with her late mother.
Catrina and her mom bonded over their love of baking. The pair took cake decorating classes together and planned to start a bakery. When Catrina’s mother developed cancer and passed away in 2006, the dream seemed farther away.
“I lost interest for a while, but it was always in there,” she said. “Then one day, I woke up and I decided it’s time to start the bakery.”
CB Cakes & More strives to provide high quality, creative, and affordable products for parties, festivals, weddings, and other events. They collaborate with event planners, florists, and party planners to provide multiple options for budget-friendly sweets. Their primary focus is to serve weddings and events involving families with small children.
“We give you great products, at a great price, to save our customers time to enjoy the event,” Catrina said.
Catrina knew the drive to be an entrepreneur was always a part of who she was.
“I was the kid with the lemonade and rock-painting stand,” she recalled. “It’s hard not to lose yourself when you’re an entrepreneur, but building something for yourself is a very rewarding experience. When you’re building your own, it has more meaning and more purpose.”
Early Risers Academy, a free, 10-week business-building bootcamp managed by Launch Dayton partner Parallax Advanced Research, was key to Catrina’s entrepreneurship journey. In early 2020, the program helped Catrina make the crucial business decisions necessary for her success, she said. She also enjoyed the collaborative nature of her cohort — despite being strangers, everyone was supportive and wanted to help each other grow.
“There was camaraderie as well as competition, and we’ve continued to support each other since the program ended,” Catrina said.
She also plugs Techstars Startup Week Dayton as a valuable resource for new and aspiring entrepreneurs.
“Those types of events are offered for free and offer a lot of great information,” she said. “That’s where you should start every time so you can get genuine resources that are easy to get your hands on.”
Make the greatest impact with your dollars this holiday season by shopping local and shopping small.
Launch Dayton’s partner organizations are collaborating to run the online #LaunchIntoTheHolidays campaign to promote Dayton-region small businesses this holiday season.
Beginning Cyber Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, and running through Friday, Dec. 18, tune in every weekday at noon to the Launch Dayton Facebook pages to connect live with local businesses offering consumer goods perfect for your holiday gift list. The lineup will feature a range of products including baked goods, baking mixes, clothes, jewelry, beauty and skincare products, toys, kitchen and housewares, fair trade goods, handcrafted items, restaurant and fitness studio giftcards, local spirits, seasoning mixes, CBD products + more.
You can use this lineup as your go-to resource for your local Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday shopping this holiday season, too!
Launch Dayton is a collaborative effort of entrepreneurial resource provider organizations across the region to support and promote all Daytonians building businesses. Launch Dayton partners believe everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to determine their own economic prosperity. Several Launch Dayton partner organizations including Aviatra Accelerators — Dayton, Downtown Dayton Partnership, Miami Valley Small Business Development Center, PARALLAX Advanced Research, and The Entrepreneurs Center will also be sharing the #LaunchIntoTheHolidays live videos.
“Our small business community has been hit especially hard this year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Parallax Program Manager John Owen said. “Though we are disappointed not to be able to gather in person for our annual Holiday Startup Market, we hope the #LaunchIntoTheHolidays campaign will enable us to support and promote even more businesses this holiday season.”
Confirmed in the lineup so far are:
Monday, Nov. 30 —
12pm Savorista
12:15pm New Season Wellness
12:30pm Baba Love Organics
12:45pm Yetunde Rodriguez Design
Tuesday, Dec. 1 —
12pm Scattered Shop
12:15pm Foodie Cards
12:30pm Ivy
12:45pm Simply Savory by Rachel
Wednesday, Dec. 2 —
12pm Traveling Pendants
12:15pm FreeHype
12:30pm Harriet Tubman Store
12:45pm Living Simply Soap
Thursday, Dec. 3 —
12pm Lily’s Dayton
12:15pm Lady Eleanor Designs
12:30pm The Entrepreneurs Shoppe
12:45pm Always Blooming
Friday, Dec. 4 —
12pm A Spoonful of Sugar
12:15pm Space Three
12:30pm Pachamama Market
12:45pm m & co
Monday, Dec. 7 —
12pm BESSER Hair Care
12:15pm After5 Clothing
12:30pm Sarah C. Maxwell Fine Art Co
12:45pm Ella Bella Homemade
Tuesday, Dec. 8 —
12p Natural Livity
12:15pm Rich Taste Catering
12:30pm Charmed by Riss
12:45pm Support House of Bread – Shop Bonfire by LMG
Wednesday, Dec. 9 —
12pm SugarSweets by Peeks
12:15pm TheZe DealZ
12:30pm Picture Perfect Paint Parties
12:45pm Super Subby’s
Thursday, Dec. 10 —
12pm Spoonful, The Edible Cookie Dough Place
12:15pm Whitney Brewer Photography
12:30pm The Entrepreneurs Shoppe
12:45pm Liv Naturally Co
Friday, Dec. 11 —
12pm Making Gems — Westside Makerspace
12:15pm D. Bra Boutique
12:30pm Soul Oil Natural Body Care
12:45pm Topsy Turvy Toys
Monday, Dec. 14 —
12pm Style Encore
12:15pm Rare Active
12:30pm Acacia Health & Wellness
12:45pm Fox in Socks Soapery
Tuesday, Dec. 15 —
12pm Brixilated
12:15pm Hall Brothers Distillery
12:30pm Hawthorne Hill Coffee
12:45pm LEAD Products
Wednesday, Dec. 16 —
12pm Tulips Up
12:15pm Foodie Cards
12:30pm Kindred Connections
12:45pm Smooch Maquillage
Thursday, Dec. 17 —
12pm The Gem City Takeover
12:15pm MADE
12:30pm The Entrepreneurs Shoppe
12:45pm Natural Livity
Friday, Dec. 18 —
12pm WACO Air Museum
12:15pm The Little Exchange Fine Gifts
12:30pm Wagtown
12:45pm Vidia’s Closet
Baba Love Organics founder Vaniti Byrd will again host her annual “Soul Made” Market on Sunday, Nov. 29 from 2-5 pm at the White House Event Center, located at 101 E 2nd St, Dayton.
“‘Soul Made’ Sunday is our take on Small Business Saturday,” Vaniti explained. “The market brings together local makers for a family-friendly shop small event + amazing food, all under one roof.”
As well as local, handmade goods, services and food, the free event will feature raffles, a DJ, and a photo booth.
Temperature checks and a stop at the sanitation station will be required upon arrival. Face masks are also required to shop the event. A 6-foot social distancing rule will be enforced.
Perks of shopping the Soul Made Market? Beat the Black Friday rush; purchase local, handmade goods & services; and save on shipping costs, Vaniti said.
“When you support a small business, you support a big bream,” she said.
Keep up with the latest details here.
The Early Risers Academy pre-accelerator program, designed to take participants from business idea to launch within 10 weeks, will kick back off in February 2021.
The FREE Early Risers Academy program is designed to take aspiring entrepreneurs from idea to launch, or to help newer small business owners plan & train to successfully scale. Entrepreneurs of all genders, colors & creeds are welcome.
“This needs to be where people start, this is where they’ll get the most value, this is where they’ll get excited,” said T. Osinubi, founder of STEM Whispers and a spring 2020 Early Risers Academy graduate. “There are a lot of entry points to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Start here first.”
The program went virtual in April to help business owners work on their business, even if they couldn’t work in their business as usual due to COVID. The first 2021 cohorts are also slated to run virtually. There will be four cohorts total in 2021. Three cohorts will be industry-agnostic, one cohort will be tailored for tech-based companies. The dates are as follows:
Participants will spend those 10 weeks moving from idea to founding a business through coursework from the Kauffman Foundation, the country’s preeminent entrepreneurship-building organization. Aspiring founders will receive pitch coaching and hands-on mentoring, weekly discussions with successful entrepreneurs and experts, access to Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, & alumni support after graduating the academy.
The tech cohort will be run by reps from Converge Technologies, an engineering and business advisory firm that helps companies with development and commercialization of novel technologies. This focused cohort will offer additional experts on topics such as prototype development and how to design to appeal to end users and for large-scale manufacturing.
Applicants should be able to commit at least 4-6 hours per week to coursework for the duration of the academy.
Each program will conclude with a pitch event in which one graduate from each cohort will win $1,000 to infuse into their business. Pitch events will be organized with Launch Dayton, a collaborative effort to connect entrepreneurs to peers, resources, and supporters, and to tell the stories of our region’s thriving startup community.
“We are intentionally carving out space for minority founders and business owners to access resources that help build solid foundations and provide hands-on support in order to create successful businesses,” program manager KeAnna Daniels said. “We are committed to reaching non-tech and historically under-represented founders who haven’t always felt seen in Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
This pre-accelerator is supported by The Entrepreneurs Center & Parallax Advanced Research, collaborators on the region’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider (ESP) grant which is funded by Ohio Third Frontier.
For more information, contact KeAnna at [email protected].
Weren’t able to attend Techstars Startup Week 2020 in real time this year? Catch up on any sessions you missed here!
You can also find the recorded sessions on the Launch Dayton YouTube channel. You’ll find a series of playlists including main stage talks, plus the industry-specific lineups for food&beverage, health/beauty/wellness, medtech and materials & manufacturing.
In its fifth year, this free, annual, week-long, entrepreneur-led, community-focused conference brought together the region’s entrepreneurs and small business owners — this year in a virtual setting.
Powerful main stage talks included:
- Marty Grunder, founder of Grunder Landscaping;
- Kala Gibson, Executive Vice President & Head of Business Banking at Fifth Third Bank, as well as MORTAR Board Chair;
- Jerricha Hoskins, founder of million-dollar haircare line Arcani Coil Care;
- Robin Gentry-McGee, the Functional Formularies founder who recently sold her medtech company;
- Lance Juhas, COO of Piada;
- Stephen Hightower, founder of Hightowers Petroleum Co. one of the country’s largest fuel suppliers.
Industry-specific sessions to help you move your business forward included:
- in Health/Beauty/Wellness: Holistic Branding — How to Stand out in a Crowded Marketplace;
- in Medtech: Don’t Tell Me, Show Me: 12 Months of MedTech Deals;
- in Food & Beverage: The Rapid Fired, Hot Head Story, from founder Ray Wiley;
- in Materials & Manufacturing: The State of Manufacturing in Ohio, from JobsOhio’s Glenn Richardson.
And many more! Check out the full lineup, then let us know which talks are your favorites, and what you want to see next year.
To our track captains — These community champions have volunteered their time through spring and summer 2020 to identify topics relevant to entrepreneurs in their industry & secure the right speakers to deliver those messages:
Andrew Cothrel & John Lewis: MedTech
Eric Wagner & Kaila Miller: Materials & Manufacturing
LeKeisha Grant & Tae Winston: Healthy/Beauty/Wellness
Mandy Grosko: Food & Beverage
Ryan Helbach & Anissa Lumpkin: Defense
To our sponsors — We could not have pulled this event off without an amazing group of committed sponsors, many of which have been with us for multiple years:
Our title sponsors for this year were Fifth Third Bank, The Entrepreneurs Center, and Parallax Adavanced Research.
The New Media Incubator was our official Technology Partner this year. They helped immensely as we shifted to a virtual environment.
The ONEIL Center sponsored our Early Risers Startup Week Edition Pitch Competition.
Tangram Flex, Infinite Management Solutions, and JJR Solutions sponsored this year’s Defense Track.
& 937 Payroll, the Downtown Dayton Partnership, and Converge Technologies stepped up as Partner Sponsors.
Thank you all for your ongoing support of Startup Week and our greater entrepreneur community!
Launch Dayton’s partner organizations are collaborating to run the online #LaunchIntoTheHolidays campaign to promote Dayton region small businesses this holiday season.
Beginning Cyber Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, and running through Friday, Dec. 18, Launch Dayton partner organizations, including Aviatra Accelerators — Dayton, Downtown Dayton Partnership, Miami Valley Small Business Development Center, Parallax Advanced Research and The Entrepreneurs Center, will share Facebook Live videos every weekday at noon from local businesses offering consumer goods across their platforms.
The goal is to connect the region’s small businesses with new customers seeking to shop local and maximize the impact of their dollars this holiday season. By sharing participating businesses’ Facebook Live videos, Launch Dayton partner organizations can amplify the businesses’ reach to the partners’ more than 20K combined followers.
“Our small business community has been hit especially hard this year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Parallax Program Manager John Owen said. “Though we are disappointed not to be able to gather in person for our annual Holiday Startup Market, we hope the #LaunchIntoTheHolidays campaign will enable us to support and promote even more businesses this holiday season.”
“There are so many wonderful small businesses in the Dayton region; some have managed to thrive and others have been greatly impacted. In spite of the pandemic, Dayton entrepreneurs have been determined to remain viable,” Aviatra Accelerators — Dayton Director Pam Cone said. “Aviatra — Dayton is honored to have been able to support new and existing women-owned businesses in the area this year, and we are pleased to be part of this collaborative effort to promote local businesses this holiday season.”
Launch Dayton is a collaborative effort of regional entrepreneurial support organizations to connect and support Dayton’s entrepreneur and startup community. Launch Dayton partners are seeking up to 60 businesses to participate in the #LaunchIntoTheHolidays campaign. Businesses in the retail, health/beauty/wellness products or services, food and beverage products or services, and art and creative industries are encouraged to sign up by Nov. 18.
Participating businesses will:
Businesses who sign up should:
Business owners must sign up by Wednesday, Nov. 18. Participants will be assigned their Facebook Live time slots by Friday, Nov. 20.
LeKeisha Grant, entrepreneur and business counselor at the Miami Valley Small Business Development Center, will offer an optional workshop for participants on Monday, Nov. 23 to maximize the impact of their Facebook Live. She’ll share how to prepare to go Live, where to do the Live video, how to pick top products to feature, etc.
31 S. Main St.
Dayton, OH 45402
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