“Seems like you’re really passionate about your startup idea.”
In my early-to-late teen years, I was raped and experienced sexual trauma and harassment that required an immense amount of work to begin to heal once I was in college. I began engaging with the women’s center and the Gender Studies program my Freshman year which led to opportunities to volunteer with local women and children’s advocacy groups and direct service organizations. This gave me life. Surrounded by women I deeply admired — doing work that helped me heal in the process.
After spending two and half years working with various grassroots organizations and becoming certified in trauma-informed care, a friend recommended I apply for an internship with The Company Lab, our local accelerator. She had seen me participate in regional pitch competitions before where I presented some implausible and absurd ideas, so I guess she knew I was well on my way to becoming an entrepreneur.
At that time, I was feeling stuck in the policy and advocacy work that I was engaged with. My colleagues and bosses were incredible. The work itself was and is desperately needed. Yet, I felt like I was putting a band-aid on the symptoms of a problem when I should have been looking for the root cause.
Prior to, during and after my time with the CO.LAB, I used my undergraduate thesis as an opportunity to dig for…
