14 January 2016

My Entrepreneurship Story

My exposure to entrepreneurship began in high school with a simple marketing and advertising class. Before this class, I had never imagined myself as an entrepreneur, much less could I picture becoming one. My interest in entrepreneurship really began when I heard about UF's Innovation Academy program for the first time. Through the IA, there is a variety of majors to choose from, while all students share a common minor in Innovation, and attend classes during the spring and summer to leave our fall semesters open for opportunities for "personal innovation" (I like to think of it as entrepreneurial science). The first opportunity that I was offered through IA was the chance to study abroad in Ireland and study the Irish entrepreneurial ecosystem. While there, I really got a taste of what entrepreneurship is how anyone might be able to benefit from making their dreams a reality. Every day we had some type of informative session with international entrepreneurs, start-ups, and huge successful corporations including Google, IBM, and RYANAIR to name a few.
Following that, my semester on campus at UF included two IDS courses that encourage entrepreneurship in action (creativity exercises, prototyping, and pitching). 
After, I moved back to Spain with my family for a semester. While in Madrid, I got the chance to bring my prototype and business ideas to a think tank called ThinkYoung's Entrepreneurship School Madrid 2015 and pitch in front of the directors of Google Campus Madrid. My project won second place in Madrid, which was a nice boost of confidence suggesting that entrepreneurship might be right for me after all.
Through Entrepreneurship School Madrid 2015, I met a variety of amazing people ranging from entrepreneurs, investors, start-up technicians, ambassadors, etc. who were inspiration for me to keep moving forward on my entrepreneurship journey. I attended SouthSummit (similar to the WebSummit in Ireland), and was offered an internship as a translator and PR advisor to a British entrepreneur working in Spain where I worked for the last five months. 
Bottom line: I think I can say I dig entrepreneurship now. 
Aaaand now, I am taking ENT3003 to complete my IA requirements and finish my minor in Innovation!


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3 comments:

  1. Unknown14 January, 2016 21:55

    Hi Sofia,

    That's really cool that you got to study in Ireland, did Google and those other companies explain why specifically they have headquarters in Ireland? They ship their money there to declare it as income to avoid taxes here in America. It's legal so I don't blame the companies that do it, but I really think they should rewrite the tax laws here to prevent that.

    Do you plan on working in Spain or in the US when you graduate?

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  2. Unknown21 January, 2016 19:43

    Hey Sofia,

    I'm in IA as well, its cool to hear how others go about using their Fall semester off. This Fall I'm also planning on studying abroad in Ireland. I'd love to hear about your experiences there sometime. Your time in Madrid sounds invaluable, winning 2nd place is a pretty big deal for a competition like that! And with meeting all of those other entrepreneurs and investors in Spain, it sounds like you've got the "it's not what you know, it's who you know" thing down too. It sounds like you're on the right track to becoming a very successful entrepreneur *thumbs up emoji*.

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    1. Unknown21 January, 2016 19:46

      Also, check out my entrepreneurial story here: http://blazedbananas.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-entrepreneurship-story.html

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