Entrepreneurial Alumni

This month we feature 3 more Alumni who have set up their own business ventures, or who are involved in promoting new projects. We hope you find their stories inspiring.

Aimee Hoefler (August 2008 - London), MBA, RYT is the author of a new book Become Empowered, Take Charge Of Your Life, international marketing professional, owner of the lifestyle website aimeehoefler.com, which is focused on health and wellnes and much more and co-founder of the marketing and design firm Malen-Dyer. Aimee is hoping that all these will inspire others to go for their own dreams and overcome any insecurities they may have that may otherwise hinder themselves from reaching their goals.

Aimee's passion for helping others to become empowered and live a positive life truly embodies so much of what she does. Her professional experiences, from working as an investment banker in London to co-managing a multimillion-dollar retail store in Las Vegas, have propelled her to the forefront of the business world. Through living out those journeys, have propelled her to the forefront of the business world. Through living out those journeys, she has come to fully comprehend the importance and power of leading a positive and empowered life. Read Full Story.

Follow Aimee on Twitter @AimeeHoefler, like on facebook and watch Aimee Living Yoga on YouTube.

Eric Strom (August 2008 - London) is involved in a brand new exciting venture. He joined a team of Crowd Supply in January this year, and they launched on March 20th. Crowd Supply is an online crowdfunding platform and e-commerce store. "It is a site built for entrepreneurs, inventors, small business owners and dreamers. Crowdfunding is democratizing product develpment and making entrepreneurship even more accessible in recent years."

Crowd Supply is bringing forth a new wave of product development from entrepreneurs via crowdfunding. In short, we are like Kickstarter, but focused solely on products. From assisting in sourcing manufacturing, to offering pre-orders and in-stock sales, to offering fulfilment services for product creators, our sole focus and goal is to democratize the way products come to market and give creators the assistance they need in helping them achieve success early on.

Eric explains: "I have been active in a myriad of roles within Crowd Supply, but will focus my efforts on project curation and setting up initial campaigns for crowdfunding their product on Crowd Supply. It is a young and challenging space to be involved in, and crowdfunding has the power to truly alter the way products are brought to the marketplace and general public."

Katy (Bullock) Penman (September 1999 - New York) set up Girl Industries as a sole trader in 2006. She describes how it was inspired in part by a visit to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which has a fairly self-sufficient community of artists and craftspeople. "I was also inspired by a visit to my local museum in Glasgow, The People's Palace, where I found a range of wartime era home furnishings made from perviously used household objects and clothing. The upcycling movement was just taking off, and my business motto became 'making new stuff out of old stuff'. I started to make stationery from leftover wallpaper following a home renovation, signed up with Etsy, orders started to come in and it took off from there - press, TV and radio interviews followed as the resurgence of interest in craft took off."

Katy's Etsy shop focuses on craft supplies and paper goods. She has generated a permanent 20% discount for all orders at either shop, for alumni - this can be claimed by using code ALUM20 during the checkout process. Alumni requesting custom handmade stationery orders will also receive a 20% discount off list prices and free worldwide shipping (She's based in Scotland but ships everywhere).

Alumni Discovering Philanthropy

Heena Randhawa (August 2010 - London) currently works as a Social Media Specialist, External Affairs for Vodafone India, recently completed a ten day rickshaw ride from Delhi to Bombay for Red Rickshaw Revolution with the aim of raising awareness about inspirational women across India and accruing funds for 3 NGOs that are working to empower many more.

Heena explains: "I loved the idea from the start, espcially given the incident that had taken place in Delhi and shaken all of us up. This was an opportunity to focus on the empowered woman, celebrate her achievements, and use the power of digital to do so."

Read all about Heena's "Journey of a lifetime" and find out how you can help and get involved.

Jobs

We have just received details of some new job openings at Stateside, which include a Java Developer in New York, and an IT Project Manager in Dallas, TX. Check out all the current vacancies we have on our website.

Alumni Committee Updates & Announcement

To get in contact with the Alumni Committee regarding newsletter content, events, or any other business we can help you with, please don't hesitate to contact us.

email: vmccordall@mountbatten.org
web: http://alumni.mountbatten.org