Fostering Creativity & Innovation in Student Communities
Role
PRESIDENT
CREATIVE STRATEGIST
As President of Igoodea Creatives, I led the development of interactive workshops, events, and programs designed to help students practice creativity in their everyday lives.
I collaborated with the leadership team and industry speakers to create engaging experiences that encouraged innovative thinking, problem-solving, and hands-on learning. Key initiatives included organizing UN-recognized World Creativity and Innovation Week and supporting the execution of Techstars Startup Weekends at Miami University, positioning Igoodea as a hub for student creativity and entrepreneurial exploration. This role provided invaluable experience in creative leadership, program design, and building a culture that inspires innovation.
A Closer Look
I created this network experience along with my co-founder, Kelsey Haus. We identified an unmet need at Miami University. So many students would go to Career Fair, resumes in hand and leave without any meaningful job prospects. Career Fair didn't attract jobs most creatives look for and the connections made in those passing interactions are very brief and unmemorable.
We created Connection Square. An intimate networking event for creatives where students and employers could connect on a more meaningful level. Through longer conversations and a lower student to employer ratio, we were able to successfully connect students to employers who were hiring for jobs in the creative field and all participants were able to walk away feeling like they did made a few significant networking connections.
This event was created through using the Design Thinking process extensively.
BRAND REFRESH
NETWORKING EXPERIENVE
Igoodea hosted the annual event, Creativity City, which later became a UN recognized event known globally as World Creativity and Innovation Week. Miami University is now the proud headquarters for this large-scale event. Teams of Igoodea members were tasked with creating their own station for Creativity City. The purpose was to teach that everyone is creative and to engage passing students in creativity on the way to class. I used key design thinking tools and methods to create my own team's exhibition as well as work with the Igoodea Leadership Team to organize and execute the entire Creativity City.
View an article about Creativity City in it's early days here.
Check out what World Creativity and Innovation Week has become with the UN here.
U.N. - WORLD INNOVATION WEEK
BRAND REFRESH
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The Igoodea Leadership Team along with Miami Entrepreneurship professors, Jim Friedman and David Eyman, facilitated a month long innovation workshop for the community center in College Hill, Ohio. We led the community members and faculty through the process of defining the problem, gaining insights, and developing potential solutions. We used tools such as brainstorming, journey mapping, story telling, reverse brainstorming, and more to facilitate this process. The end of the workshop series resulted in multiple viable solutions and a comprehensive final report.
WORKSHOP FACILITATION
Worked with the organizing team to bring Techstar's Startup Weekend to life, two years in a row. I designed the banners, flyers, logo, and TV displays. Additionally, throughout the weekend I managed all social media and marketing efforts.
View final branding here
View final TV displays here
BRAND REFRESH
TECHSTAR'S STARTUP WEEKEND
Facilitated various workshops for groups of 20-50 people at a time. These focused on practicing creativity through the lens of design thinking. The interactive workshops were a monthly occurrence and students were able to practice iterative brainstorming, prototyping, storytelling, empathy, collaboration and more.
BRAND REFRESH
INTERNAL WORKSHOPS