Goizueta Class of 2018,

We wanted to take a minute to thank you again for your class gift supporting the Start:ME program by sharing this recent article from Emory News Center. Your gifts continue to make a direct impact in the community through Goizueta.

Thank you. Always Emory.

Thanks to support from donors like you, entrepreneurs in Clarkston, East Lake, and South Atlanta have been given the opportunity to blaze new trails, and create a future for themselves and their communities. Join the Start:ME family tomorrow to shop and socialize with these one-of-a-kind companies.

What: The inaugural Shop Start:ME Market will be held tomorrow, September 29, giving the public the chance to shop Start:ME businesses and learn more about free business training program. The market features alumni from all three Start:ME communities, East Lake, Clarkston, and Southside Atlanta, and showcases their art, fashion, skin and hair care products, food, and more.

More information about these ventures, the market, and how to shop from all 158 alums can be found at startmeatl.org/shop.

When: Saturday, September 29, 2018, 9 a.m. – Noon

Where: Refuge Coffee, 4170 Ponce de Leon Ave., Clarkston, GA 30021 Map

Find a featured list of Shop Start:ME Market entrepreneurs in the EmoryBusiness.com article here.

Thank you, EvMBAs!!! We raised $4,521 to support Social Enterprise @ Goizueta’s Start:ME program. You all gave, shared the campaign, and encouraged others to support this worthy cause. You’ll see these results again during graduation weekend when we will present a “check” to Dean Erika James commemorating our donation to the Start:ME program and the 2018 EvMBA Class Gift legacy. For those who gave at the Wise Heart Society level of $500 or more, you will receive a note from our development liaison, Molly Shepherd, explaining the benefits of Emory’s leadership annual giving society.

Don’t forget that if you work for a matching gift company, you can also double and in some cases triple your impact this year by applying for your match. Search the Emory corporate match database to see if you qualify.

Thank you again, and we’ll be in touch later this year with update on the 2018 Start:ME classes you helped support!

–John Grubbs, 2018 EvMBA President, Class Gift Chair

It’s the FINAL COUNTDOWN!

[SINGING ALONG!] It’s the thrill of the gift ~ rising up to the challenge of Goizueeeta ~ and the alumni click this link in the night ~ and Goizueta’s watching us all in the eye of the tiiiiiiiiger!

Hey GBSers! We’ve got 3 days left, and we’re 90 percent to our goal. If you know someone who hasn’t given yet, please share this page one more time. Send a text to let them know how much time they have left to give. Write a letter… wait, don’t write a letter… there’s no time! Please, tell your friends to give before midnight on March 30!!

http://momentum.emory.edu/2018EvMBA

-John Grubbs, EvMBA Class President

Welcome back from Spring Break! Well, what we as working professionals may get of a spring break. You know who else does not get a spring break, though? The entrepreneurs of Start:ME. These enterprising souls work double time throughout the year to build their companies and a better life for themselves, and for their communities. They never tire, and neither should we! Let’s keep the momentum going and blow our campaign goal out of the water. Last year’s EvMBA Class of 2018 raised more than $9,000 for various programs at GBS. Can we beat that? Give, share, promote, and do this!

http://momentum.emory.edu/2018EvMBA

-John Grubbs, EvMBA Class President

Class of 2018! Welcome to the week of our last International Colloquium and spring break. Due to spring travel schedules for many of our classmates, we are extending our Start:ME Momentum campaign until March 30th.

Thanks to you, we’re 85% toward our goal. As one of our dedicated donors, you can help us reach 100 percent. Over the next couple of weeks, take a moment to tell your friends that you gave to the 2018 EvMBA Class Gift, and ask them to match you. Text messages, direct messages, and emails are all valid and will help to share the story of why you want your classmates and friends to support Start:ME for the 2018 EvMBA Class Gift! With your continued support, we will blow this goal out of the water!

–John Grubbs, 2018 EvMBA President, Class Gift Chair

It’s not every day we have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, but someone’s life can be made different every day. Start:ME mentor, Rick White 14B, knows this from experience:

“This program provides structured ways to think about starting a business and exposes participants to real-world obstacles so they know what’s in front of them,” says Rick, owner of White Brothers Auto Parts. “The program participants are left with the confidence needed to break down any barriers in their way. Honestly, I learn a lot from them because they have unique perspectives, different from my own. The process is so fulfilling.” Rick worked with two Start:ME entrepreneurs in 2017, both of whom he still keeps in touch with, and looks forward to participating as a mentor again in the future. Goizueta alumni will have the opportunity to serve as Start:ME mentors.

Continue to share this momentum campaign with your network to increase support to Start:ME so that we can continue to support entrepreneurs in the Emory community. 

momentum.emory.edu/2018EvMBA

To all who have supported the EvMBA Class Gift through our Start:ME Momentum campaign, thank you. We’re 65% toward our goal which is a great testament to your dedication to a sustainable Atlanta market. Programs like Start:ME give us the opportunity to share our deep knowledge in business strategy, strong Goizueta network of alumni mentors, and institutional resources with those who may not have access to an MBA program at Emory. While you’ve already made your gift, there is still work to be done! Please share this campaign with your classmates who’ve not yet participated and on your social media pages. You don’t have to be a 2018 EvMBA to support a great program like Start:ME!

–John Grubbs, 2018 EvMBA President, Class Gift Chair

momentum.emory.edu/2018EvMBA 

Thank you, 2018 EvMBAs! Your dedication to supporting small-business owners through Goizueta Business School’s Start:ME makes Atlanta a better place to live and work. Rochelle  Porter, for example, is a Clarkston Start:ME beneficiary. She always loved drawing and designing but never had any formal art training. “I’ve been sketching for years,” she says. “I would see designs on products in stores, and they’d remind me of my own work, but I didn’t know where to go from there.” Determined to turn her hobby into a career, she sought out Start:ME. “I had no plan, just a vague picture of what I wanted and where I wanted to go,” she explains. “And by far the biggest benefit was the structure I gained. The program really encouraged me to get organized.” The result was Rochelle Porter Design, a vibrant lifestyle brand with a focus on sustainability and ethical manufacturing practices. The brand offers colorful throw pillows, phone cases, travel pouches, and more, all featuring Rochelle’s unique designs. “Start:ME completely accelerated my trajectory because we accomplished so much together,” she says. “It’s such a supportive community; they want to see you succeed.”

As we aim to support and replicate stories like this with our campaign, we’ll also be celebrating them. Please join us for the 2018 Class Trivia Night on 2/17 at 7:00 in W525 for food, drinks, and fun in the spirit of contributing to the Start:ME effort.

Finally, please continue to spread the word, and help us reach our goal. Together we can support aspiring small-business owners and make more stories like Rochelle’s possible.

http://momentum.emory.edu/2018EvMBA

Thanks to you, the trend setters, the 2018 EvMBA Class Gift campaign is off to a great start. We’re 33 percent toward our goal of $5,000 to support the budding entrepreneurs benefiting from Start:ME. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing the stories of some the most enterprising members of the Start:ME community. We encourage you to share these stories via your personal Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages so that anyone from your network can help the EvMBAs reach their class gift goal! Thank you for your part in making Atlanta a better place for small business owners!

–John Grubbs, 2018 EvMBA President, Class Gift Chair