68. Start-ups, school, and a new generation of women entrepreneurs

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In our continuing series spotlighting female entrepreneurs, we wanted to talk to a few founders who are just beginning their journey. Part of the Summer Entrepreneurial Internship program at Western University, Lily Yang, Maura Selvakumar And Madeline Noftle are current students who are spending the summer working on elevating their start-ups. Ivey entrepreneurship faculty member Janice Byrne sat down with the three of them to uncover their journey into entrepreneurship and the unique challenges they navigate as women and student founders.

Janice Byrne 

I'll start with you, Lily, if that's okay. Can you start by telling us a little bit about your venture and how the idea for it came about. Yeah.

Lily Yang 

So BsafeKC, we sell non lethal safety products. So it's basically like a keychain that combines safety products like safety alarm whistles and also key chains like wallets and fashionable accessories so that someone can carry it with them on a day to day basis without feeling self conscious that they need a safety item. How I started this business and how it came about was in first year, when I first came to Western and I'm out of out of province student, so I was unfamiliar with the area. It was dark, and I was scared to go out after dark, especially alone. So that really impacted my personal life, going to varsity trainings and going to classes. So I thought that I needed a safety item, and it became this one, and it really helped me in my first year, especially getting to know the campus and make

Janice Byrne 

friends, brilliant, cool. And this is definitely something that when I found out about be safe, it's definitely something that I know I've had students email students talk to me about like that, this is a real need or a problem. So what about you? Mayora, tell us a little bit about you and Masca Vintage.

Maura Selvakumar 

So, I sell women's vintage and secondhand clothing online, and my goal is to essentially provide a better secondhand shopping experience, and then also just to promote like circular fashion an d sustainable fashion practices. And then how the idea came about was ju st more and more. I started to shop more secondhand, and I just noticed a difference in quality, and I just started to move away from more fast fashion in my own wardrobe. And that's when I moved into selling a little bit. And then I realized that there's really a market for it, and I could help other people solve the problem that I myself had

Janice Byrne 

cool. And again, I was also super excited about this, but more on a personal level, just because I adore I adore clothes, and we don't need to buy more clothes always, we can just buy clothes that already exist rather than make more clothes. I guess Maddy tell us a little bit more about the Starfish Studio.

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, so the Starfish Studio sells handmade art pieces, typically made out of resin and press flowers. All of my products are thoughtfully handmade by me with the intention of spreading joy and creating change through art. My business kind of started accidentally, because it started off as me making Christmas presents for friends and family, and the people that I gifted my art to were big fans and encouraged me to try selling it. So I started off by selling on Facebook posts, local markets, and then eventually I opened up an Etsy and things kind of just snowballed from there

Janice Byrne 

Cool! As for the three of you, and I think for every entrepreneur, the pathway is unique. So in some cases, it's like sparked by, like a defining moment or a realization, or sometimes though people have, always wanted to be an entrepreneur. It's something like, you know. So for some people, it's just like it's an unexpected turn, or it's something that kind of came about. For others, it's kind of like they always had a deep desire to start their own thing. So if I just even start with you, Maura, for you, what was this something you always wanted to do or?

Maura Selvakumar 

Entrepreneurship wise, definitely, my dad was an entrepreneur. So growing up like it was always just interesting to see how his day like, day to day was always different. And I just thought that was so interesting. So even as a child, I was like, oh, I want to grow up and be my own boss. I want to start my own business. And even just like little things like, I had a passion for baking. So at one point I was like, selling cookies and cakes and cupcakes at school. So I think that passion and like, that underlying entrepreneurial spirit was always there, and it's just nice that I get to, like, build on that even more now and see it really come now.

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, I think that I didn't always want to be an entrepreneur, but looking back, I feel like entrepreneurship has always been a part of my life. I have a very vivid memory of me being a child and being at a sleepover at my friend's house and waking up all my friends, waking all my friends up at like 6am to go outside and sell friendship bracelets that we had made the night before so we could get the ladies going to church like bright and early. I. Um, and that was a regular occurrence for me. So I think that I've always had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit, whether it be fundraising for nonprofits or selling different things that I've made. And then as I've gotten older, my mom is an entrepreneur. She has been building her business for the past 10 years, so I think watching her grow that, and watching her succeed at that has really inspired me, especially just seeing the autonomy that she has over her life and the freedom that she has to kind of design the life that she wants to live, I think is very empowering and something that I aspire to do as well. I've also always wanted to be an artist, ever since I was a kid, so I feel like I'm kind of living out that childhood dream.

Janice Byrne 

Cool. Lily?

Lily Yang 

Yeah so I've been selling things since, like, elementary school. In grade five, it's nothing super big. I've just been selling to my classmates in high school. I sold, like, squishies to like overseas. So that kind of helped me, I guess, a little bit before this venture, and I honestly wasn't expecting to be starting a vet a business in like, university. I have always wanted to go into corporate first to gain that experience, and then with that experience, I'd go into my own business. But this one kind of took off unexpectedly, and I learned so much from this venture. Like, I honestly don't regret it. And for any of you that have always wanted to start something, just take that step, because you never know where it's going to take you.

Janice Byrne 

I think that's great. I think you raised an interesting point. I'm just going to put a pin in that for the moment, because this question is something that students often talk to me about. This question, you know, of like, Well, should I start my venture now? Or, you know, should I wait? Like, Should I go get a job, go into corporate world and then come back? And so I'm going to just put a little pin in that for now. We're going to come back to it. But one of the reasons, I guess the three of you are here together is because you're all part of the entrepreneurial summer internship. So it's a 14 week program, and it's specifically designed for undergrad students. So undergraduates who have a business idea, or maybe have recently started a business, and the program focuses on idea feasibility, market research. You do stuff on branding, you learn about business model development, you have some workshops on sales, marketing, you learn about pitching. And at the end of the program, I believe that there is a pitch competition with prizes for each winner. Okay, so the idea is, by the end of the program, the goal is that students will have developed a feasible business model and gained some traction and get some key insights from the potential customers, and then go on to launch or grow their startup. I guess if you could just tell me a little bit more about how you have kind of experienced the program, or your impressions of it so far. Maura?

Maura Selvakumar 

So first off, it is quite a small cohort, which I think is really nice because it's just like, it's just nice to be in a smaller environment. It's a lot easier to be open and like, share your ideas and receive feedback.

Janice Byrne 

How many of you are there?

Maura Selvakumar 

There's 10 businesses. Yeah, okay, cool. So, yeah, it's nice just to receive feedback. And then also we have a lot of like workshops and speakers, which also makes it nice, because then there's a lot of chance for that one on one feedback right on our businesses. And just just the collaboration aspect of it, I think, is really nice, and just hearing like those fresh impressions, because a lot of the times when you're surrounded by the same people every day, you hear the same things, right? So hearing that fresh perspective on your business is really, really helpful, and that's just something that I've really appreciated so far in the program.

Janice Byrne 

Cool. Maddie?

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, I've never been one to really enjoy networking events. They make me a little bit uncomfortable. So I feel like ESI has been a really good way for me to grow my network and connect with other people and professionals in the community in a more authentic and genuine way. And it's been amazing to have so many people come in and just volunteer their time to help us with our businesses. It really has gone very far away. Additionally, I think that I've personally found entrepreneurship to be it can be a little bit isolating sometimes, or there's definitely moments where it's very can be very emotionally turbulent. There's a lot of ups and downs in entrepreneurship, and I think that having a group of other like minded students who can really relate to you and provide feedback and support and advice and from people who are on the same level as you, I think has been something that's been extremely valuable to me. We've become very close knit and close with each other, and I feel like that's just been such an incredible experience. And I've I've never truly experienced anything like that before. And then additionally, I think that ESI has really helped me to take my business from kind of a hobby and to turn it into more of a professional business. I think the speakers that we have come in has really helped with that, doing things like helping us with our websites and SEO and a marketing strategy, and learning more about finance and legal, more of the technicalities, I think, has been really beneficial and will really help to take my business to the next level,

Janice Byrne 

Fantastic. And to come back to the question that I said I was wanted to pin for later, just because you evoked it, there a little bit too, this notion of, like, you know when to start, and is it scary as a student, think, you know, well, I could actually start this business now without having worked for many years in the corporate world, without all those years of work experience, is it scary, or is it empowering? Or what are your impressions of...

Lily Yang 

I can't answer on this a little bit, especially when I first started, I was just tippy, toeing my way through, like I was just navigating what I was comfortable with, and through networking, I was able to talk with different businesses and get a better idea of the steps that I need to take. And especially after this, during the ESI program, after I started the resources that were provided to us, I was able to, let's say, incorporate, know how to get my taxes done, how to keep track of my books, all of these technical knowledge, which may not be like everyday knowledge that everybody knows, but very important to your business, nevertheless.

Janice Byrne 

Lots of practical learnings there then I guess. Yeah, Maura?

Maura Selvakumar 

Yeah, I'm all for just like jumping in with your ideas, because I think a lot of the time you can hold yourself back with just overthinking, right? And it's always going to be scary, like, even as confident as I am in my business and what I've started and knowing that I want to keep going with entrepreneurship, I do still have doubts, and I do still have like, fear surrounding it, right? But I know that no matter what, it's a learning journey, and no matter how much experience I have, I feel like there's always going to be those smaller, like maybe pitfalls or failures that I have to learn from. So no matter why it's a learning journey, and I think starting sooner rather than later is always better.

Janice Byrne 

Right! Positive attitude to have. Maddie?

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, I completely agree with Maura. I think that I haven't necessarily felt the need that I need to get more experience in a corporate setting, because I learn so much every day in my business that if there's something that I don't know how to do, then I can seek someone out to help me learn that and then apply it directly to my business. So I think I'm constantly learning every day in my business and gaining the specific experience that I need that's relevant to my own business. But I think to answer the question, I think that the right decision is the one that feels right to that person in the moment, like to me, I know that entrepreneurship is what I'm meant to be doing right now because I'm enjoying it and it just feels right. And I think that there's no right way to do entrepreneurship. I think that you should just go with the decision that feels like the best fit for you in your life right now and then, just do the best that you can in whatever decision you choose.

Janice Byrne 

Tell me so far, what's the best advice you've received on your whole entrepreneurial journey?

Lily Yang 

I think something that really surprised me as I was bringing up, like the pitfalls that was that was that was experiencing, was every entrepreneur had thought about quitting at some time, right? And it's just really comforting to know that everyone feels the same way, like there is always going to be ups and really downs. So it's, it's just comforting to have a group of people that really understands you.

Maura Selvakumar 

Something we actually heard in a workshop yesterday, from the speaker was that entrepreneurship is really like an evolution, and you should focus on what works now. And I know for me, a lot of the times, I get so in my head about what I want my business to turn out to be, or what I want it to look like in the future, and maybe like perfecting that and keeping up to that high standard that I just get in my head a lot, and I don't put out what I want to put out. So I think just keeping in mind that it's an evolution, and just focusing on what works now so that I can grow my business and just be consistent has been really helpful.

Janice Byrne 

Yeah.

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah. I think that the best advice I've received so far is one of our speakers told us, she said, "Do not assume yourself incapable of these things because it's to your detriment." And she was talking about finance, but I think that it's applicable to many different things, and I think that it's something that a lot of our speakers and people in our cohort have had in common is everyone has the mindset of, oh, like, we'll learn or we'll figure it out. I think prior to coming into the program, I assumed that a lot of successful entrepreneurs just knew how to do what they were doing, or they were a professional in the industry before, so then they were able to go off on their own and create their own successful business. But what I've learned is that many people just are kind of figuring it out as they go and have that mindset of that they'll figure it out, that they can learn. So I think that a lot of people will kind of get stuck in that mindset of you're not capable of doing it, or you don't know how to do it, and kind of getting stuck in that like analysis paralysis. But I think that learning to just take action and learn as you go, and having the mindset of that failure, failure is an opportunity to learn has been a really big lesson that I've learned in ESI.

Janice Byrne 

Yeah. Are any surprises, I guess that you've met along the way, either not necessarily just on the program, but just even since you've started, any surprises with your business to spring to mind.

Madeline Noftle 

I don't know if I call it a surprise, but something that I've learned is that most entrepreneurs fail, or like have failed at some point in their life, and that it's just part of their journey. I think that when I was first starting out, I was so scared of failing or saying that I was going to do something and then not doing it, or going in a pitch competition and fumbling or not doing it. But I think that failure is an opportunity to grow and learn, and it's an amazing way to grow and learn, and a very quick way. So I think that I I've been surprised that I'm almost not seeking out failure, but embracing it a bit more, and trying to reframe my mindset as as an opportunity to grow and learn.

Maura Selvakumar 

Yeah, something that I've learned is, like, especially going into an idea, you can think that you're so set on something and then somehow kind of pivot and realize that that's really what you should be doing. So like, for me, I started with, like, a passion for fashion, so I wanted to make an online clothing business, so I did that. But then I kind of learned more about the environmental impacts of fast fashion, and again, like my own closet stopped being as much fast fashion and more secondhand. So that's when I kind of pivoted towards secondhand fashion and discovered that whole world. And then that's what I'm doing now.

Lily Yang 

I guess what surprised me the most is the rollercoaster. Like it's not like studying, where the more effort you put into reading your textbook, the more you memorize, the better you will do on an exam. For business, well, at least in my situation, in most times, the input does not equal the output, at least not right away. So let's say you make cold calls, you send emails if you're not sending it at the right time, like, for example, university bookstore buyers are the people that I contact most of the time, and in the past entire month, they were busy with graduation. So no matter how many cold calls I sent, no matter how many emails I sent, nobody responded. And that was just really, really sad for me. But then I realized it was the timing, so hopefully now they respond.

Janice Byrne 

Yeah, oh, it's what this it's true. It's like, they're practical insights that you learn along the way, right? I want to ask, speaking of practical, because I am very pragmatic person, I want to ask the question and perhaps it is a bit personal, but I'm going to ask it anyway. And it's, I mean, when you're a student, there's the obvious thing for me is we don't always have lots of money, right, disposable income. So for me, it's just like often students can think, okay, no, I need to get through my college years, and then I can start earning. And that will be a pull, for example, of going into corporate life or whatever is that. You know, you've got this fixed salary coming through. With entrepreneurship, if you decide to do this, you are going into a more risky territory of, am I actually going to be able to sustain myself financially on this? So I don't know. I'd just like to hear your thoughts or your own kind of experiences or share as much as you'd like to share on that, but I just think it's one of those things that, like students, obviously it is. It's it's not just about what you want to do. It's also about what's feasible for you, right? I don't know who wants to jump in with that.

Lily Yang 

I can go really quickly. So in terms of financials, it depends on the kind of business that you do. But when you start a business, you can choose not to invest. There's some businesses that you don't need to invest a lot right away, like, for example, you don't need huge capitals to start a business. You can just start with a little bit of inventory and then start selling and make the margins and just put it back into your business and just have a rolling like that. It's very safe, and you don't need a lot of money to start.

Janice Byrne 

And I hear it when you're saying that, Ellie, I hear that's a voice of experience when you say that, that's what it sounds like to me, am I right? Because this is not, like, just number one business for you, right? Yeah. So you have been here before, type of thing, is that, right? (Yeah) Yeah. Maura?

Maura Selvakumar 

Well, for me, I'm not a big risk taker, if I'm being honest. So I find sometimes I gravitate towards kind of the safe or like mix, moderately safe option. So I always see myself kind of maybe getting a job after I graduate as well, and then working alongside my business, just so that, you know, I can keep going with it, but also not put all my eggs in one basket, kind of a thing. And even, like, now as a student, that's something that I that I honestly still do, like, I work a part time job during the year and run my business, and I think it's just a way for me to, like fund that passion, but still keep that safety net and go down a path that I'm I'm comfortable with.

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, I'm in the same boat as Maura. I've had, like, part time jobs off and on, while I run my business as well. So I think that it is possible to do both, like you can have a job and also have your business. And I think that starting a bit smaller is sometimes safer, so then you can just kind of continue to reinvest in your business, and it can fund itself until you start generating a larger profit from it. I also think, I think that university is a great time to start a business, because you have so much access to people who are willing to, more than willing to help you. Um. Like, I think, for instance, ESI, we get a stipend with that, and that is a fantastic way to kind of alleviate some of the financial pressures, so you are able to focus a little bit more on your business, or even just having access to, like a business prof who is able to give you feedback on your business and or advice if you're doing a pitch competition. I think there's a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurship support on campus, both financially, but also just advice as well.

Janice Byrne 

Yeah. I want to come back to something that that used that you said earlier, Maura about it just made me think about challenges that you can experience or encounter along the way. And also what you just said, Maddie and Lily, this, you know, the notion of kind of you can it can be a side hustle. It can be something that you do alongside. Well, in this instance, it could be you do it alongside your studies. That can be a challenge, though, right, having to actually, you know, manage your workload, your studies, and your revision, or your reading and all of that stuff that you need to do for your college studies, but then at the same time, manage what you need to do on a day to day basis, I guess, with your business. How? How do you how do you manage that? How does that work out in reality?

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, I think that the biggest thing for me is kind of working in the same flow as the school year. So there's moments in the school year where the workload is very heavy, and it's exam time, and you have to put a lot of effort into school, so I but there's also down periods where perhaps the workload isn't quite as heavy. So that is when I would focus in more on my business and try and plan ahead so that I don't have as much business work to do while the school year is very heavy. So kind of like you would a part time job, like you might request some time off during exam period so you can study. I would do the same thing with my business, and try my best to treat it like a part time job. Make a schedule for myself of exactly when I'm gonna work and work more in the times when school isn't as demanding,

Janice Byrne 

Because you are the boss, when you ask the boss for that time off, the boss says, Yes! (Exactly) Lily, what about you?

Lily Yang 

So I keep a checklist of the things I do for my business and a checklist for my school. So what I found the most frustrating is when I'm trying to do my homework while I'm thinking about what I could be doing for my business. So this way keeps them separate, and I have a separate time for to do each of them to ensure high efficiency.

Janice Byrne 

Cool, Maura.

Maura Selvakumar 

Something I do is just really try to keep on top of my calendar, to ensure that everything in my life is organized. So I'm like, also time blocking, essentially, so that I know, okay, this hour I'm going to spend on studying, these hours are going to be for my business. And then I also include like, personal things, like hobbies, appointments, anything like that, just to really hold myself accountable. So at the end of the day, I could see that I actually accomplished what I meant to and then also just tons of reminders to keep me reminded, because I tend to forget. And then also for me, like a little tip is I find that everything's super digital, sometimes it just it's easy to forget. So I like to have, like, a physical calendar. I like to write stuff down, just so that I can, like, pull that out and, like, write notes and read it and just know exactly what I have to do.

Janice Byrne 

Cool, okay, I have two more questions. One is wildcard, and one is a fairly predictable one. So we'll start with the predictable one, maybe. So looking ahead. Where do you hope to be with your business in the next two to three years? Who wants to go first on that one?

Lily Yang 

I guess the best scenario for me in two to three years would be having my products in big box retailers like Costco or Sephora, or, I don't know, like another Walmart. Yeah, it's just really cool to see.

Janice Byrne 

 Yeah, cool. Nice ambition. Yep, Maura?

Maura Selvakumar 

I would hope that I would kind of raise some brand awareness. Since I am, like, fairly new right now, I would love to just build a community around my product and around the initiative that I'm trying to get across, and also, just even if I'm not doing this exact same thing, I hope I will still be doing something, something around my kind of core value of Sustainability, for example, just to continue off of this business.

Madeline Noftle 

Yeah, I think for me, I would love to see my business transition to work a little bit more on the high value custom orders. I think is the direction I'd like to take my business so doing more custom work, such as like preserving people's wedding bouquets or memorial art pieces to kind of commemorate important moments in people's lives, and continue to scale the impact that my business has, whether that be building out some sort of nonprofit or just increasing the donation that we do having some sort of positive impact is, I think, really important for me, and something that I hope to continue to grow in the next two to three years. I'd also love to have some sort of team with me to help me scale. Scaling an art business is difficult, so I think that being able to build up a little bit of a team sounds very exciting, but, yeah, I'm just excited. To keep learning and growing with my business.

Janice Byrne 

Fantastic. My last question to you all, so three women, three young women entrepreneurs, what does it mean to you? If it means anything at all, to be a woman entrepreneur?

Lily Yang 

I feel like right now is a good time to be a woman, to be honest, because there's a lot of resources that's only available to women, like, for example, grants. I've seen a few that's like for women businesses, and I feel like people are starting to understand and the gap is getting smaller. So now is a good time to start.

Janice Byrne 

Agreed.

Madeline Noftle 

I think I found a lot of empowerment being a woman in entrepreneurship. I find that, yeah, I get, I just, I get a lot of fulfillment from it. And I really love the freedom that entrepreneurship can bring. And I find it has really helped me in building my confidence a lot.

Janice Byrne 

Yeah fantastic.

Maura Selvakumar 

Yeah, I would 100% agree, especially on that confidence note, because I think when you're making a lot of decisions, and you know, all the ideas are your own, it's easy to let other people's ideas kind of bring you down. And I think being a woman entrepreneur, it's just it is empowering to just be able to make your own decisions and be confident in them, and be confident that you know what's right for your business, you know what you want to do, and then going after that great.

Janice Byrne 

And I sense that there is a lot of there is a sense of camaraderie between you, and definitely the nice group spirit, I guess, in the ESI. And does that help?

Madeline Noftle 

Definitely.

Lily Yang 

Yeah, it feels like family.

Madeline Noftle 

It's really nice to just have people to openly talk about things and who are experiencing the same things as you, and to be able to bond over that, I think, is incredible.

Lily Yang 

And some everyday like trouble, things that we have, we can share to each other, and actually, most of the time, someone has a pretty genius suggestion, right?

Janice Byrne 

Yeah.

Madeline Noftle 

I feel like even if you're not able, if you don't have access to a program like ESI, finding a group of people like that in your life, whether seeking them out over social media or in your friend group, having someone that you can go to to talk business with and get some motivation from I think is really invaluable.

Janice Byrne 

Great, fantastic. Okay, well, thank you all for joining us today. I'm sure that the experiences and the reflections that you have all shared will undoubtedly help others, spur them on, inspire them and so thank you for coming and sharing your stories and your insights and reflections with us, and hope to see you again soon and hear more. (Thank you) Thank you.

Introduction/Outro 

The Entrepreneur Podcast is sponsored by Quantumshift 2008 alum, Connie Clerici and Closing the Gap Healthcare Group. To ensure you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player or visit entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time you.