It’s the start of something Beautiful

Finally. Our first official class of the Winter 2018 Cohort has met and I think its safe to say we know each other’s names now. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have had butterflies in my stomach from the interviews until now! My mind has been racing wondering what will our curriculum be? How much homework will we have? Who will my mentors be? And, how will 15 businesses so incredibly different from each other compare and contrast and how will those conversations go?

The dynamic duo of Shelly and Jeremiah instantly eased any tension in the room with their brilliant yet casually serious demeanor. They command your attention without trying, then they make you laugh, all while delivering some important information and engaging the group in conversation . They reminded us this is a safe space for us and our ideas and that this is all about support and growth. We all received binders, posters, post-its and the book “Business Model Generation” as well as our name tents and briefly discussed these components and their roles. They also generally asked about our first mentor meetings and talked about the directions these should be going.

The buzz intensified as we got to know each other and the nervous anticipation seemed to fade away when our guest speaker Caroline Paradis arrived. We did our round of introductions for the first time OFFICIALLY as a cohort. Caroline shared some funny moments in her experiences in the Accelerator as well as openly discussing her life and how she got to the point that she wanted/needed to open her own wellness business. She also talked about struggles and rewards of entrepreneurship and answered a lot of great questions.

We took a few minutes alone to list some goals, both personal and professional, and then broke off into groups to discuss these. It is incredibly interesting and insightful to hear each others goals and get feedback from each other. The exchange of perspective is just awesome.

We played the name game, like it was our first day of summer camp, and it was really fun and funny. Personalities are starting to really emerge and everyone is getting more relaxed and comfortable and I can already tell we are going to have a good time growing together over the next year.

It is with great delight that I can report there was no pressure to use a computer in class and everyone is actively engaged throughout. Also the food was really good from A Kitchen, but not quite as good as D’s (gluten-free) quinoa chocolate chip cookies!

Potato Katey