Asking Cohort 8 Fellows, “Why optiMize?”
What Makes the Social Innovation Challenge So Unique? Hear From optiMize Fellows Who Have Walked the Walk!
As we recruit students and projects for the 9th Social Innovation Challenge, we asked Cohort 8 Fellows about what they gained from participating in optiMize. We hope that their stories and projects inspire you to ask yourself, Why not me?
Hear from Isaac, Maxwell, Jonae, Rachel, Hugh, Kat, and Linda.
Note to readers: The following first-person accounts are transcribed from interviews with Cohort 8 fellows. However, quotes were selected, edited and organized by optiMize students Alec Anderson and Megha Kunju.
Isaac Coenca, Ur Internet Friends
Pronouns: They/Them
Isaac is a business mogul and the Founder/CEO of Ur Internet Friends. They identify as a black, non-binary artist and creative entrepreneur, and studied French and Communications as an Undergrad. Isaac was an optiMize Fellow this summer, working on Ur Internet Friends, a digital and print multimedia platform for traditionally marginalized online creatives. There have been two print issues of the Ur Internet Friends Zine, alongside a slew of podcast episodes. Isaac also participated in Cohort 7 with Star Laces.
Visit the Ur Internet Friends Instagram or Website to learn more.
I heard about optiMize through my friend who was doing it and online, and I was interested in it because it seemed so not like just another pitch competition - you guys were trying to build a community. The workshops really made me realize, ‘Oh, these people are actually trying to help.’ Even had I not pitched [for optiMize funding], I still found the workshops and mentor check-ins super beneficial.
I genuinely don’t think there is another community on campus quite like optiMize, that is so non-competitive, encouraging, and not only invested in your project, but invested in your success, as well as in you as an individual; the amount of things like catching up and checking in with each other that make it feel so normal? That stuff really makes a difference.
My interests lie very much so in social innovation, art, gender identity and entrepreneurship. So during Cohort 7, I joined my friend's project Star Laces, which helped to normalize pronouns through shoelaces and bring them into the mainstream conversation. After having seen how optiMize works as a whole, and considering the question “Why Not Me?” I thought about all my internet friends who were creating, but didn’t have an agent, or a tie to the mainstream media. I felt like there was a big hole. Just like the pronoun shoelaces, these were things I would have liked to see growing up. I wanted to be a part of making sure that it exists for other people.
Ur Internet Friends started as just a zine (mini, self-published magazine), but the challenge and the fellowship helped us realize that we could be a bigger platform. Now we have a website, and the podcast, which I am super excited about. Also, the zine is just so much better this time around, thanks to the perspectives and feedback we were able to get from peers and mentors. Also, the fact that we worked on the zine during the height of the COVID pandemic? Without the ongoing encouragement from optiMize, it might not have gotten done. Being a part of the fellowship, and having a warm community while there was so much going on around us was crucial. We still wanted to bring happiness into the world and we were able to do that because of optiMize.
For anyone entering the challenge: don’t limit yourself, your project, or your vision of what it can be. Go into the challenge wholeheartedly and give it your best. There’s so many different things you can gain from the workshops or talking to a mentor, so try to figure out what you can do with those resources instead of stressing about your project being perfect or presentable immediately.
Maxwell Weng, Vitam
Pronouns: He/Him
Maxwell is a third-year at the University of Michigan studying computer science on the pre-med track. Maxwell is the co-founder and creator of Vitam, an online communication tool that is totally personalized to people with Aphasia, a condition where people lose the ability to express language, so that they can reach their dreams and reconnect with their loved ones. Maxwell is a Cohort VIII fellow and is now a peer mentor for optiMize.
To learn more about Vitam, visit their website.
optiMize is a rocket that can take you and your project to the moon and back. We all start in very different places here on Earth, we have different lived experiences coming in, but optiMize can take all of us out to the next level. That truly embodies the optiMize experience, where we start with such a diverse and inclusive and just amazing cohort of people working to solve all sorts of problems to make our future more just and sustainable. It's that community that you can’t really find anywhere else on campus. The community of people who are all doing different things but who all share that same goal.
The diversity of the people, the participants, and the staff side truly make optiMize unique where you can consider and engage in topics that end up proving really relevant to your project and your work. An example of this was actually this year where we had to find another way of reaching and engaging with our community of people with aphasia, their caregivers, and their speech language pathologists. So we actually launched an aphasia community art project. This wouldn’t have been possible without the engagement and experience of our peers and cohort
optiMize helped us take what was an idea and really fashioned that product into something that people with aphasia could use day-in and day-out. They helped us get started on this journey that we are still on right now to find our optimal product market fit, to find where we are as an organization, and continue with the care that these patients with aphasia receive. We are still on this journey, but without optiMize we wouldn’t have even known that this is the path that we should take. That’s sort of the optiMize experience. It opens doors, it clears the fog away, to let you see what the path is and what the journey is forward.
Jonae Maxey, Maxey Real Estate Investments
Pronouns: She/Her
Jonae is a Senior in the Ross School of Business and was born and raised in Detroit. At U of M, her identity lies in her extensive involvement on-campus, having been involved in the Black Student Union, the Black Business Undergraduate Society, as well being the founder of the International Deaf and Hearing Alliance. Jonae Started Maxey Real Estate Investments, an LLC that aims to revitalize Detroit neighborhoods without displacing residents by acquiring, renovating, and selling homes with the help of the local community.
To learn more about Maxey Real Estate Investments, send them an email at maxeyrealestate@gmail.com.
There’s a specific culture that’s very unique to the organization that attracted me to optiMize my freshman year. I knew I was going to come back - it became a mission of mine to participate in optiMize by my senior year, even if I didn’t have a project. optiMize supports me being a creative, innovative entrepreneur. In school, it's not the same - the goal is “get a good career.” The optiMize community allowed me to explore, ask the questions I needed to ask - but it also gave me a roadmap; as an entrepreneur, your journey at the beginning is a roller coaster. Being surrounded by positive-minded people who have been through that roller coaster is what all entrepreneurs need. That community aspect is key. During the fellowship, doing weekly meetings to check-ins and talks about progress allowed me to set weekly goals to put on my wall.
My career interests are in human capital consulting, or in other words, providing solutions to companies undergoing organizational or technological change that incorporates and analyzes the people aspect of change. That idea of putting people first is representative of everything I’m involved in. The idea for my company, Maxey Real Estate Investments, came from a time when I was at rock bottom. It led me to find my passion, and figure out how I wanted to leave an imprint on this world. Going through the [optiMize Social Innovation] Challenge helped me to find the overall mission and purpose of the company - and in December, I bought my first property. It had been vacant for seven years, and now it’s being resided in by a Detroit family of five. It’s super cool to incorporate the community because in business putting people first is not always aligned with business objectives, and I’m trying to be that change. It’s my life’s purpose.
To those who are applying to the challenge: complete the challenge! Some projects go to the first few meetings then fall off, without really utilizing all the resources that optiMize has. I’m still learning about resources that optiMize has, and I’m on staff now! So reach out to mentors, ask all the questions you think are dumb, and really try to build connections within the community - it’s a safe space for entrepreneurs, which is very hard to come by. There are opportunities on the other side of fear - you’ve got to just do it.
Rachel Kennelly, Ur Internet Friends
Pronouns: she/they
Rachel Kennelly identifies as a queer, disabled, Jewish woman from Kansas City studying Computer Science and is a transfer student to University of Michigan- Dearborn. Inspired by the art their friends were making Rachel started Ur Internet Friends with co-founder Isaac, to lift up marginalized voices in arts and media. What started out as just one zine has turned into a website, podcast, business, and brand all about representation. Rachel is a Cohort VIII Summer fellow and is now a peer mentor with optiMize
Visit the Ur Internet Friends Instagram or Website to learn more.
The community that optiMize has brought into my life is just unparalleled. optiMize really gave us the space to make what we wanted, to make it on our terms , and gave a lot of support for us to do that. The optiMize community wanted to see what we were making. Also, I am so inspired by the other cool stuff that people in the cohort of the challenge and my cohort of fellows were making. I think our cohort in particular had such cool, diverse projects that it's really inspiring to see the stuff that other people are doing.
Ur Internet Friends is officially a company now, which is very cool. That felt like a really big stepping stone. It definitely shifted from just an art project we made to a brand that we're trying to build. We've now released two magazines and we have an online store where we sell merch. Not only do we sell stuff, but people buy it, which is cool. The first zine was really born out of the whole optiMize message of “why not me?” We have added this whole business behind our project, which is cool, and I don’t think I would have been able to do without optiMize. The connections we've both made with optiMize mentors have really empowered both of us. At the beginning of my fellowship, I would not have even called myself an artist, creative, or business person and now I label myself as a creative entrepreneur who has a company. That's probably not something I would have had the confidence to describe myself as without optiMize.
My advice to you is dream big. If you're thinking there's no way I could do that, there is probably a way you can—you might just not know yet. The people at optiMize are here to help you figure out how you can do that. Really internalize that “why not me?” message because it's always better to try and fail than just wonder what would happen if you had, which I know is kind of a cliche platitude, but I believe it wholeheartedly. Just shoot your shot. The best thing that optimize gave us I would say isn't the money, it's the community and the empowerment. You have to remember that what you're doing is helping the world in its own way. You should definitely do the challenge, especially in this time where everything can feel really isolating and alienating and hopeless. optiMize doesn't feel like that, and that's really important. I know I take advantage of that as much as I can and you should too.
Hugh Davis, Revolin Sports
Pronouns: He/Him
Hugh, Founder & CEO of Revolin Sports, is a graduate of the Engineering School, where he studied Industrial and Operations as an undergrad, and attained a Masters in Design Science during his fifth year. As a student at U of M, Hugh’s involvement in the Supermileage team and the Solar Drones team sparked his interest in sustainable material engineering, which he combined with his love for tennis and pickleball to create Revolin Sports. Headquartered in Hugh’s hometown of Holland, Michigan, Revolin is a company that designs high performance, eco-friendly pickleball paddles. They launched their first commercial product, The Equinox Paddle, which is certified for tournament play, on September 22nd of this year.
You can learn more about Revolin Sports, or purchase the Equinox Paddle, on their website.
My senior year, when I got really into my venture, I started to look for what other resources were at Michigan (which I wish I had done earlier - there is so much here), and I thought, ‘Wow, optiMize looks really cool.’ I actually stayed on for a fifth year masters, and I really wanted to use that year to capitalize on U of M’s resources. From the very first conversation I had with Jeni (Associate Director), I was hooked; she was so open-minded, passionate and interested in what I was doing. What I realized is that having that incubation period of talking to peers and mentors is so important...I dove in.
Back in high school, when about 2% of the country knew about pickleball, I discovered [the sport] and loved it right away. My friend and I actually won a tournament, and through a Facebook post, we got a sponsorship from one of the few companies that were actually in pickleball. They sent me a paddle, but it broke four months later. Then I got sponsored by a new company, and that one broke. All these paddles were breaking. I figured that I came to school for material science, I have a love for sports and a love for invention: maybe I could try to make something better! I built my first 12 prototypes in my garage; while building these prototypes and learning about materials, I saw how wasteful the manufacturing process was...that’s what caused me to pivot into a sustainable sporting goods company. The summer of 2019, we officially became a company.
During the [Social Innovation Challenge], the first thing I noticed about optiMize is how resource rich, dedicated, and supportive the community and leadership are. I felt from day one that I could go back to mentors, and that I’ve built real relationships with other students. We’re even working on collaborations with other optiMize projects, such as Lillian Augusta, who is making hair out of natural fibers. After [the Social Innovation Challenge], we realized, “Oh, we can do this together.” Now we have monthly meetings. optiMize brought us together and made us talk about this stuff. It’s just so cool being surrounded by other students that are passionate, innovative, and challenging the status quo. That kind of stuff gets me so excited.
To students entering the challenge: spread your net wide. Learn a little about a lot of things; other students, other projects, and mentors. Then, over the course of the next few months, narrow it down. Find the things that really excite you, that you really want to do every day; find those mentors, and those students, and go for it.
Katherine (Kat) Yang, MA:E Magazine
Pronouns: She/Hers
Kat is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Michigan in the Ross School of Business, and she is originally from Northville, Michigan. Kat is studying entrepreneurship, and it was through an entrepreneurship class that she met Anabel Nam, Audrey Ling and Christine Park, co-founders of MA:E Magazine. MA:E Magazine is a publication and creative collective by and for the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) community. MA:E has released two editions of their magazine and produced a multitude of digital content including a blog, photoshoots, and social media content.
You can learn more about MA:E Magazine on their website, their instagram page, or their facebook page.
My first foray into the entrepreneurial sphere at U-Mich was coming up with the initial idea for MA:E in an Entrepreneurial Creativity class where I met my now-co-founders and close friends. Shortly after, we joined optiMize, and I really realized the joy of creating, entrepreneurship, and having a network of people who are also creating. The way optiMize is designed is very open - anyone who is interested in doing anything can come in - we talk about our processes, our ideas, we show off our products, and we get to learn what people are interested in! Finding that community of people who are driven to make an impact was really, really cool. It’s part of why my three co-founders and I all decided to declare minors in Entrepreneurship.
What attracts me to optiMize is the sheer variety of ideas present, and people who participate, help out or are mentors. You just meet so many unique personalities, who have unique interests, and are a part of unique, targeted communities that you may not even know of. Just hearing them talk so passionately is always energizing and inspiring. You don’t even have to have an idea as long as you have something you care about deeply. That approachability was a huge factor.
MA:E grew so much throughout the spring - just in terms of our concept of who we are, our mission, who MA:E serves, and why we do what we do. And we really brought that to this new semester, which is really exciting. Being a part of the fellowship really ignited the trajectory of our project. We finally had a lot of time, a lot of guidance, and very targeted workshops each week. Of course, we encountered a couple challenges during the summer - but having the supportive network of peers was super helpful. I probably reached out to at least one mentor a week.
To those considering the Social Innovation Challenge, regardless of whether you come in with a team or solo, or whether you have an idea or not: go into the challenge with an open mind and a willingness to talk to, and listen to, other people. You don’t necessarily have to be a part of their project, but even just learning from others can really broaden your perspectives. It’s a very shareable space!
Linda Weng, co-founder of Vitam
Pronouns: she/her
Linda is a freshman here at the University of Michigan studying Computer Science at the College of Engineering. After their grandmother suffered from a stroke and was diagnosed with aphasia, Linda and Maxwell felt the frustration in her, and created Vitam to help others. With aphasia reconnect with their loved ones. Linda is a Cohort VIII fellow and is now a peer mentor at optiMize.
To learn more about Vitam, visit their website.
I think what’s unique about optiMize are the mentors. While we were updating our product and making it even better and more suited for our customer user, I was pretty stuck and I didn’t know what to do. I found it really helpful to have those mentors who had that experience doing website development and adding these features which really helped me pick that lock. Even on our business side, we found a lot of mentors we could just talk ideas through, which was really helpful. We are always thinking about Vitam, we know every little detail about it, but when you are talking to someone who doesn’t know that much about your project, you can see the gaps, where you can improve, and gain new ideas. I really think mentorship is also a huge part of optiMize.
I’m always so surprised when I look back and see how far we’ve come. On the product side, optiMize helped us rethink some features and some ideas that we gained from the community members. They helped us update Vitam to be more accessible and useful for our customers and users. But more on the business side, I feel like optiMize helped us think differently about how our organization and our company is going to run. Through optiMize, we have gotten to another idea where we incorporate Vitam into a bigger organization instead of just doing software, bringing in student volunteers who help people with aphasia use this technology and help them.