Last summer, Cassie came to GreenHouse with an interest in gamification and experience in working with girls in hackathons. While initially she planned to develop video games to teach leadership to girls, as she researched that idea, she began to shift her thinking.
“I realized was there were many young female focused programs, but it was hard to measure their efficacy and amazing impact.”
Cassie and her team at SheLeads pivoted to develop a game-based platform that effectively assesses the impact of girl-focused programs. Over the last months, Cassie expanded her core team and partners, developed software and ran an initial pilot.
“Our software is at a point now where it can be used even without us there. I can confidently say we are providing something of value that’s needed.”
They’ve also been able to secure funding from the International Business Model Campus and Velocity, as well as being a Big Ideas Challenge Fellow at GreenHouse this summer. Cassie is also the recipient of the Velocity Fund, which offers a $25,000 grant.
As for what she’s learned in the past year, Cassie says,
“More than the business or technical side, I’ve learned the most about the personal side of business.” She adds, “You can always edit code or delete web copy, but you can’t go back in time with human relationships.”
Now graduated from UWaterloo with a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, Cassie is grateful she started her venture as a student but is eager to move beyond the student ecosystem. At the same time, she says,
“I don’t even want to think where I would have been without GreenHouse. Coming to GreenHouse was one of best decisions I ‘ve ever made. It has shaped who I am and being in the social impact space has become a big part of my identity.”