Major: Management
Minor: Entrepreneurship
Year: Junior
Hometown: Northport, New York
Favorite spot on campus: The Stack Center
HC: What’s your favorite class at Siena?
My favorite classes at Siena are the entrepreneurship classes, BUDV 310 and 410. The faculty has real world experience that brings a whole new element to teaching. It’s useful information that everyone could use, especially for someone who wants to own a business.
HC: So is that your plan for the future, to own your own business?
Hopefully, and hopefully it won’t just be one.
HC: Why are you interested in owning your own business?
My mother and father both own small businesses. I’ve grown up around business, the logistics behind business, and I’ve worked for my mom since I was about seven years old standing on a stool washing dishes, I always loved to make money. I always see where things or services can be improved, and I always look at opportunities in terms of business. I look at things I can improve.
Also, my aunt owns a large event production company in New York City. I have worked for the company, every summer and throughout the year whenever I can, for the last six years.
HC: Are there any cool events that you’ve worked in the past?
Yes, I have been working Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim down in Miami for six consecutive years. And I’ve also worked at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week New York. Also, I worked Yahoo’s Flickr re-launch.
HC: What do you do there?
I am a production assistant. So basically, I am the head producer’s right hand man. I generally oversee things, make sure things are going smoothly, make sure the client’s happy, make sure the vendors and sponsors are pleased, and when it’s crunch time I usually do some manual labor. I usually have a team of roughly 6-8 people that I oversee. I control all product flow at events, handle special guests, and occasionally in a fashion show escort models around.
HC: What are you involved in on campus?
I am in officer in the Entrepreneurship club. The club puts me in contact with a lot of people, and it also it gives me the opportunity to help other students as well.
HC: Are you working on anything now?
Currently, I have a product that I submitted to Quirky to hopefully get an idea moved a little quicker. It’s something that I would like to bring to market, but I wouldn’t have the capability to do that without them.
HC: What is it?
It is a whiteboard eraser that uses a plush microfiber cloth as the cleaning surface. The cloth is removable from the eraser base, machine washable, and reusable. Inside the base there is a spray bottle that contains cleaning solution, which makes it an all in one whiteboard cleaner that cleans the board more efficiently, and effectively with a longer product life.
I’m also working on a local rideshare program specifically for colleges.
HC: Tell me more about your submission to Quirky.
So I submitted my idea over the Internet, a couple of pictures of my prototype, a few paragraphs explaining what it solves. The Quirky team has approved it to be voted and commented on by the community. With a good amount of feedback, the Quirky team would be more apt to take my product to the next round, which would be accepting it to a pool of ideas to develop. Once in that pool, they do a live vote and if they pick my product then they will develop, build, and market the product for me giving me a certain percentage of the sales.
HC: How can we help?
You can click the link to my idea, create an account, and vote, leave a comment, give feedback, discuss any problems you have seeing the whiteboard in class. Support is really appreciated, especially from the Siena community.