The +Impact Studio Starts a New Year!
Entrepreneurs, innovators, and creators alike — welcome to the +Impact Studio! With great excitement, we are glad to welcome back our fellows, founders, and staff into the studio space in Ross for the upcoming semester.
The Michigan Ross +Impact Studio aims to serve as an incubation ground for any great idea or project targeting social impact. From opportunity framing to ideation to prototyping, the people who walk in are taken care of as they work to change the world.
Here are a few things the studio is providing:
COMMUNITY.
With a new year comes exciting changes.
On Friday, September 17th, the studio kicked off its Community Coworking sessions. It was heartwarming to see everyone’s faces in-person for the first time over coffee and bagels, and to catch up since the conclusion of the summer Founders Program. This semester, however, founders and fellows can take advantage of Community Coworking Fridays. There will be food aplenty, but more importantly, they can look forward to more informal programming with a support network of friends and mentors at the end of every week.
“Entrepreneurship can be lonely and stressful”, as Applebaum Impact Design Fellow Allison Winstel pointed out. Walking around and being in the same space allows the teams to bounce ideas off of each other. “The fellows and staff are there to be the safety net for these fresh — at times risky — projects.”
ENERGY.
During a recent Friday meeting, the founders went into the space, setting up shop in the work pods and getting to work on the whiteboards. First impressions can be tough, but the Applebaum Impact Design Fellows had nothing but excitement walking into the studio space and as they started collaborating with the teams.
“If I had to describe being in the studio with one word, it would be “energizing”; it moves you to action and think, and you feel like you can be fully creative and create.” Allison Winstel (Applebaum Impact Design Fellow)
“Even with the few times I’ve been at the studio, the energy and enthusiasm is abundant! I love feeding off of others and bouncing ideas around.” Shayon Donaldson (Applebaum Impact Design Racial Equity Fellow)
“There’s a start-up feel to it. [The +Impact Studio] is a very warm place that gives off an energy of entrepreneurship; it’s one of the best places in Ross.” Kachi Ezirike (Applebaum Impact Design Fellow)
OPENNESS.
The studio, above all else, is a space for collaboration and growth.
From the open floor plan to the multitude of workspace choices, even greater are the people coming in with questions and a desire for improvement. The common goal outlined by the founders and fellows on Friday was building transparency between each other in order to create an environment where collaboration will thrive. “Working on their confidence” and helping them “stay motivated” are just a few ways Applebaum Impact Design fellow Lucy Jiang wants to assist within the studio.
As Applebaum Innovator-in-Residence and Impact Design Coach Moses Lee put it, people are “starved for collaboration, community… and snacks.”
Drop by the studio on a Friday and let us know you’re coming, or email us at impactstudio@umich.edu. If you take a walk around, you’ll find ideation is just around the corner.
Check out the ventures +Impact Studio is supporting this fall.
