CEOs of Tomorrow
We are a group of women who believe in investing in youth early on in life with the gift of social entrepreneurship education– to shape our community-minded youth and arm them with tools to make a positive social change. Ultimately, we are grooming the next generation of leaders, grounded in values and committed to taking what they love doing and using it to make an awesome difference in the lives of those that need it most.with a common passion and commitment to improving the lives of youth in Madison.
Roxie Hentz is an active member of Women in Focus and the State Superintendent Advisory Council on Business, Marketing, and Information Technology.
Hewan Schade is a involved with the Social Innovation & Sustainability Leadership Graduate Program, Synergy Coworking – Accelerator Program, Black Student Union and Results Madison Chapter.
Iris Lowery is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management.
Get to know CEOs of Tomorrow better
Please share about what sparked you all to submit your Amplify Madison proposal? What are some of the challenges you want to transform for yourselves and the Madison community?
At the time of submission of our application, CEOs of Tomorrow was in the planning to pilot a program called, Global Social Entrepreneurial Excursions that would be offered in the summer of 2019. Thanks largely to a substantial grant from the Foundation for Madison Public Schools, our first cohort of teens will be traveling to Botswana, Africa under the leadership of CEOs of Tomorrow staff to engage in social entrepreneurship on a global scale. CEOS leadership believed by attending the Enactus World Cup 2018: Entrepreneurial Action & Social Innovation conference would be pivotal for our team’s learning, growth, and development for our global program. We also believed our internal capacity would be strengthened significantly as well.
Enactus is the world’s largest experiential learning platform dedicated to creating a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators. We knew having the opportunity to connect with the Enactus network of global business, academic and student leaders at the 2018 Enactus World Cup would be a one-time opportunity since the conference travels around the world, and wanted to allow our team firsthand access to global leaders in social entrepreneurship and access to a network of business and academic advisors and supporters as we continue to build our Global Social Entrepreneurial Excursions program. In addition, to the opportunity to increase our learning, growth and development that would be used to strengthen our planning, we were also able to learn about and be exposed to diverse and fresh perspectives that focus on the positive power of business, entrepreneurial action and shared innovation that transforms lives and creates a better future worldwide that could only come from the connections made at this event.
Please share about your experience collaborating across organizations for your Amplify experience – What are you learning about the nature of collaboration?
Our Amplify experience was the Enactus World Cup 2018: Entrepreneurial Action & Social Innovation conference in San Jose, California from October 9 – 11. Enactus is the world’s largest experiential learning platform dedicated to creating a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators. They are the leaders in connecting college students worldwide and changing their lives through creative and impactful social entrepreneurship projects.
The opportunity to collaborate with diverse organizations as part of our Amplify Experience is integral in ensuring we are able to offer this once-in-a-lifetime experience to our teens. We have learned the importance and value of collaborating with diverse partners who have common goals in order to create exceptional programming.
Collaborators: UW-Whitewater – Dr. Choton Basu, a professor with the College of Business and Economics, an advisor of UW-Whitewater Enactus and a leader in social entrepreneurship education, has collaborated and helped CEOs of Tomorrow tremendously in preparation of our Global excursion program by serving as a guest presenter in CEOs of Tomorrow These Teens Mean Business Incubator, a social entrepreneurship training lab provides teens with a supportive, hands-on and engaging environment to test a new or existing business idea. Dr. Choton has trained CEOs of Tomorrow’s teens on Marketing and Branding and brought UW- Whitewater Enactus students to pitch their projects and talk about their experiences with our teens. Foundation for Madison Public Schools has provided a substantial grant to support our first cohort of teens who will be traveling to Botswana, Africa under the leadership of CEOs of Tomorrow staff to engage in social entrepreneurship on a global scale.
Our attendance at the Enactus World Cup 2018: Entrepreneurial Action & Social Innovation conference the world’s largest experiential learning platform dedicated to creating a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators, allowed us to make personal connections from area Enactus programs in countries that could serve as potential sites for our first global excursions. UW-Madison African Studies Program has become a collaborative partner in our Global Excursion Program.
The African Studies Program curates thematic Discovery Boxes featuring specific African countries which include objects related to particular activities, topics, or cultural contexts for hands-on exploration in the classroom. They have asked that our students shop for objects from Botswana to create its first Discovery Box from the country and also feature the students’ experience within it. Like the other educational boxes, our box will join the other free lending resources for educators in the state. UW-Madison African Studies Program will be funding the purchase of the items students select for the box. While in Gaborone, Botswana in Africa, we will be partnering with Bokomoso Junior Secondary School, a school that serves impoverished and academically challenged youth, and Stepping Stone International, a nonprofit organization serving orphaned youth. Together our collective teens will take the first steps in designing and launching two business ideas for global social good.
What is your team’s vision for Madison
When envisioning the ‘ideal Madison,’ it radiates a community where all people are not only connected to, but also are influencers in, all aspects of the city. It is a place that has fair and just opportunities and outcomes for all, including our youth. Finally, new and diverse ideas drive continuous improvement, and the access to services and information advances the quality of life for all its residents.
What has been your team’s experience in preparation to your professional development experience? What are some of the expectations you already have about the event, conference or other similar you are about to attend?
Our team met with Dr. Choton Basu, Professor of the College of Business and Economics and the advisor of UW-Whitewater Enactus, on many occasions, to inform the planning and implementation of our Global Excursion Program. As previously mentioned, our attendance at the Enactus World Cup 2018: Entrepreneurial Action & Social Innovation conference the world’s largest experiential learning platform dedicated to creating a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators, allowed us to make personal connections from area Enactus programs in countries that could serve as potential sites for our first global excursions. In preparation, we reviewed the different countries represented and connected with those who we saw as a potential partner or connection to network with someone else who could support our learning.
Our attendance at the Enactus World Cup 2018: Entrepreneurial Action & Social Innovation conference the world’s largest experiential learning platform dedicated to creating a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators, allowed us to make personal connections from area Enactus programs in countries that could serve as potential sites for our first global excursions. As a team, we knew that we would be among very few African-American women leaders at the Enactus World Cup 2018: Entrepreneurial Action & Social Innovation conference. And though we know the field of entrepreneurship, particularly social entrepreneurship, is heavily dominated by white males, we were eager to be among and learn from diverse leaders in social entrepreneurship from around the world.
What has been your team’s experience during your professional development experience? What are some of the key knowledge, skills and learning you are bringing back to Madison?
Team reflection coming soon!
What has been your team’s experience during your community engagement activities back in Madison? What are some of your key reflections and learning during this period?
Since our Amplify experience, we have been actively engaged with the community to help to bring awareness to the community about CEOs of Tomorrow’s Global Excursion program. UW Madison and PeaceCorps integration. Our Founding Executive Director was Interviewed by East Side News May/June 2019 publication. In March 2019, our Founding Executive Director traveled to Botswana, African for a planning visit. Pictures from the trip was posted on CEOs of Tomorrow’s various social media platforms that has helped to provide the community with a sneak peek into what the students will engage in during the their execursion in August. We plan to continue to engage the community before, during and after the excursion. During other CEOs of Tomorrow’s events such at the Spring Pitch & Launch and the annual Cirque De Le Entrepreneur fundraising events in May, community members will have the opportunity to learn about the program, the teens and the host country partner. In addition, community members will have the opportunity to support the teens at the events through CEOs Fundraising page and individual teen pages. We continue to engage the media to increase awareness outside of our events through information on the CEOs of Tomorrow’s web page, media appearances, public interviews, community presentations and other social media posts.
