Speaking at St. John's University

Thank you to Professor George Maggiori and his class for inviting me to speak at today's lesson. The topic was entrepreneurship. As I was hot off the launch of Project Empower it was exciting to share my experience of launching a non-profit with students who aspire to do the same.

Among the many things we discussed, we talked quite a bit about what it takes on a personal level. A few major highlights...

Work ethic. To make Project Empower a reality our team sacrificed blood, sweat, tears, hours of sleep, vacation days and personal capitol. Entrepreneurship is not for those looking to be out of the office by 5 every day. Each of us had our day jobs while working on this project, so between school visits and Miss America prep I was writing up web script, attending midnight meetings, sitting down at dinner to meet potential partners, booking camera crews and more. It became common to have a 20 hour schedule each day. Yes, there were times when I wanted to scream and many nights of sobbing phone calls to my mother but I survived because I was in love with the work. That is the key. When you pursue your own entrepreneurial initiative, the opportunity to focus solely on your passion will ignite an entirely new fire within you.

Bravery. Yes, there will always be nay-sayers who make you question whether your idea deserves to become a reality, but don't worry about them. If you aren't hurting someone then what does it matter what others think of your journey? They are usually making assumptions based on extremely minimal information. There is plenty of room for everyone in this world. There are those of us who will let our own insecurities stand in the way. This is where ignorance can be bliss. Let yourself take a ride without fear of crashing the car, because there's very little harm that can be caused by crashing the metaphorical car of entrepreneurship. The ride will be worth the experience and you will learn along the way. Life is about writing your story. Never be afraid to add a chapter.

Modesty. I stress this when I talk to students about anti-bullying: It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit. We talked about how important it is to bring others into your venture on a partnership level. Ego may leave you unwilling to share the credit, but if you got into entrepreneurship to have it be all about you...you are not going to make it far. You have to keep the mission as the star of the show. It's like holding a balloon: if you insist on keeping your arms wrapped around the balloon it can only grow to be so big before you risk popping it. You have to let go so it has room to expand. It's the same with an idea. Partner with people you trust and who match your level of commitment. Allow others to benefit from the work. When everyone has a stake in the success of the effort then everyone will step up to the plate.

Again, thank you to St. John's University, Professor Maggiori and his students for welcoming me into the classroom! It was a pleasure to share my experience with you, and wish you all the best with your ventures!