Lightbulb moments to business plan

While many people might tend to lean a bit toward being more analytical than creative or vice versa, Alexandra Wong has decided to choose both.

A self-described “crafty” person who also has a job lined up as a data analyst after graduation, Alex came to St. Paul's GreenHouse to push her boundaries and do something outside of the scope of her degree in math/business, where she is in her final year, and to take action about issues she is passionate about.

Throughout the term, she has had several “lightbulb moments,” where all of these diverse elements have come together to form a business plan. She began by thinking about the difference between consumers and citizens, and then at a climate change talk at St. Paul’s in early February, where someone asked what ordinary people could do to contribute to solving climate change, she learned about how the Blue Box recycling campaign had first started in Waterloo, largely through educating and inspiring children.

That night, she began thinking about how to reach out to younger people to engage them as citizens. As she thought widely, she recalled creative birthday parties her mother had planned for her when she was a child and realized that there was likely a market for a business offering innovative birthday parties.

Alex decided to create a company, CUE Parties, that offered engaging zero-waste birthday parties with a heavy emphasis on teaching youth about sustainability, particularly in terms of consumption. She realized that hands-on activity is often the most effective way to learn because it doesn’t feel like learning.

Alex observes,

Birthday parties are often a very wasteful and expensive event for families, with disposable cutlery, disposable decorations, and loot bags full of junk and plastic. I plan to provide non-disposable everything and coordinate birthday parties for busy parents who are interested or curious in sustainable actions, but may not have enough time or energy to dedicate to solving sustainable details like sourcing compostable cutlery.”

Her goal, like that of the Blue Box campaigns, is to change citizens’ perspectives of their consumption habits. Noting that approximately 20 percent of food is wasted by consumers, and textile waste being responsible for up to 10 percent of landfills, Alex believes that the (tentatively named) Zero for Heroes birthday party will be a starting point for children and their families to rethink their consumption in all parts of their lives.

She also plans to make the parties fun and engaging, noting that that really is the point of a birthday party and that she values kids and their happiness.

Being part of GreenHouse has helped Alex in developing her business idea. She has found it particularly helpful to be part of a community of people with passion for diverse interests. She also has found conversations with Elle Crevits, GreenHouse’s entrepreneur-in-residence, to be especially helpful in terms of setting goals, action plans and milestones.

It’s great to have that accountability and guidance. I wouldn’t be as effective or efficient without it.”

By the end of the term, Alex found a co-founder for her business -- her GreenHouse classmate Katherine Chen! They are excited to be moving forward together with this exciting social entrerprise.

- by Susan Fish