Impact Studio Alumnus Gains Momentum in Ross Michigan Business Challenge
By Lily Solek (BBA ’27) and Loren Townes Jr.
In a resounding victory, Sasha Rodriguez Kolodkin, Impact Studio Founder Alum, and Founder and CEO of Affirmative, alongside Matt Liu, co-founder and head of product, and their team at Affirmative won first place in the 2024 Michigan Business Challenge — Seigle Impact track.
The Michigan Business Challenge, a prestigious campus-wide competition spanning from November to February, offers student teams the opportunity to compete and win total cash prizes exceeding $100,000 while receiving invaluable feedback from industry leaders and expanding their business network. Over 100 teams enter the fray, winnowed down to four teams in each category across three tracks: Seigle Impact, Innovation, and Invention. Finalists present their business plans before a panel of judges, followed by a rigorous question-and-answer session, culminating in selecting one winner from each track, earning a prize of $15,000.
Affirmative, founded by Sasha Rodriguez Kolodkin, is a pioneering care navigation service aimed at making healthcare affordable and accessible for all members of the trans community. Utilizing a combination of personal attention and technological efficiency, Affirmative quickly matches clients with the right care providers to meet their specific needs. The company’s creation was spurred by changing legislation that often necessitated transgender individuals to travel long distances for medical procedures. Sasha’s unwavering commitment to ensuring healthcare access for every trans person stems from her professional background in nonprofit policy advocacy and technology.
Affirmative was born in the Impact Studio and developed through interactive workshops, prototyping sessions, and collaborative coworking Fridays with Applebaum Impact Design Fellows and Studio Founders. Sasha credits, “The Impact Studio is a space designed to do something very specific — intended to elicit creativity from people in a space that is often not one where creativity comes out to shine.” She further acclaims, “What the Impact Studio allowed us to do was release our own creative instincts, which — in combination with the analytical tools we’ve been equipped with as business students — carried us to victory.”
As important as harnessing creativity was in the evolution of Affirmative, Sasha underscores, “In the earliest stages of a venture, one of the most important things to get ahold of is that first collaborator — that first person to bounce ideas off of, the first person to challenge you.” It was in the Impact Studio when Sasha discovered her first collaborator, Jonathan Amos, who served as an Applebaum Impact Design Fellow and was uniquely matched with Affirmative based on his background and skills. In gratitude, Sasha expresses, “Jonathan was a core part of finding our way to what we hope to become today.” She further acknowledges, “The Applebaum fellows program is an incredible service to new entrepreneurs.”
After one year in the Impact Studio, she joined forces with Matt Liu, now co-founder, who shared her passion and could contribute to the company’s growth. Together, with their ten-person team, they have successfully navigated the challenges of building the company, gained momentum, and secured both human and financial capital. The company is poised to launch a pilot program at the end of March 2024.
The vision of Affirmative is simple: a fusion of human and AI intelligence to provide underrepresented individuals access to essential medical care. For $25 per month, users gain access to a comprehensive database of doctors and physicians equipped to address their specific needs. Sasha’s ultimately “want[s] to live in a world where I can get older,” underscoring the profound impact of the Affirmative mission.
