stARTup

“The collective experience of Arts alumni is so important for current students to see and learn about,” says fourth-year student Amy Zhou. “It’s an opportunity to inspire the next generation.”

That conviction, and a well-timed chat with Nancy Mattes, Arts Advancement associate director, about the new Arts Entrepreneurship Awards, inspired Amy and other members of the ARBUS (Arts & Business) Society to organize stARTup — an event that brought together a panel of entrepreneurial Arts alumni with current students.

Three of the five panelists, Trishala Pillai, Tim Souza, and Daniel Pearson Hirdes, who shared insights and answered questions from current students.

“stARTup is designed to introduce students in the Faculty of Arts to entrepreneurship and innovation on campus,” stated the event invitation. “This will also be an opportunity to introduce the entrepreneurship community to Faculty of Arts students.”

Working with fellow ARBUS Society members, Amy reached out to young Arts alumni who are making their mark with innovative ventures. They also invited reps from UWaterloo’s leading start-up incubators: Velocity, Green House, Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre, as well as the Entrepreneurship Society.

Amy, who has held numerous student leadership roles during her undergraduate years, wants to “redefine what entrepreneurship is for Arts students.” And stARTup certainly helped to do that. The message collectively delivered by the panel and start-up experts was clear:

Yes, Arts entrepreneurs provide the broad knowledge, creativity and human-focused insights that are needed in the development and marketing of new ideas or products.

With over 80 students registered to attend, stARTup also attracted a strong nod from UWaterloo’s President Feridun Hamdullahpur, who attended along with Jay Shah, director of the expansive Velocity programs — “the largest free startup incubator in the world.”

“This is the kind of event that makes UWaterloo special,” said Doug Peers, Dean of Arts, in his opening remarks. “And it’s an important opportunity to show how the multidisciplinary strengths of Arts learning are so applicable in entrepreneurship.”

Event organizer Amy Zhou chats with staff member from Velocity.

Sharing their collective experience, the invited stARTup panelists were:

• Trishala Pillai, (BA’16 Economics) who works with Shopify and launched The Dialogue Xchange, which facilitates engaged dialogue and action-oriented events on social issues, then digitally documents and amplifies the exchange for wider engagement.
• Daniel Pearson Hirdes (BA’15 Psychology) co-founded HealthIM, a comprehensive technological solution that provides police officers with immediate resources to respond to mental health crisis calls.
• Renish Kamal (BA’14 Liberal Studies) founded Fidget Toys, which designs and manufactures tools and toys that alleviate stress and increase concentration for children on the autism spectrum. 
• Tim Souza, an Arts and Business student, founded Livelocal, a web-based marketplace that connects travelling business people to local experts; he is a mentor in Jamii, a virtual incubation network at the Conrad Centre.
• Crista Renner (Master of Peace and Conflict Studies ’16) is a business advisor at Velocity, supporting social and service business entrepreneurs who are interested in socially responsible business models. 

Arts student Muaaz Masood, recipient of the Randy Bauslaugh Arts Entrepreneurship Award, with President Hamdullahpur.