2019 Uncommon Voices

Countless inspirations and insights are helping to pave the way to hope for advancing inclusive and empowering entrepreneurship and education. Just ponder these uncommon ideas and examples from 2019 that offer promise for the coming year.

“I want Harlem to see her mom be fearless. I want Harlem to see her mom … struggle … knowing that at the end … there is success too.”

— Chanel Scales, “Opportunity to build her ‘Own Lane'”

“To my fellow ecosystem builders who want to make this world more equitable, fair, and just: know that you are not alone … and know that what you do matters.”

— Anika Horn, “What you do matters. A tribute to my fellow ecosystem builders.”

“I’m setting memories in Mildred, Kansas. If this store is not here 20 years from now, they’ll always know they used to dance in there when they were kids. That’s the part that gets me more than anything… I love it.”

— Loren Lance, “Because of three coolers, Mildred dances on Saturday nights”

“When I moved to small town in Missouri, the bullying increased dramatically, and I was called every name in the book because of my Latinx heritage. I look back at my time and wonder if things would have been different if I had a Latinx teacher that I could talk to.”

— Edgar Palacios, “Would school look different if I had a teacher that looked like me?”

“Growing your own [economy] through investing in entrepreneurs is an economic development imperative for mayors and their cities. Entrepreneurs grow the cities they live in. The money stays in their community. They hire local. This leads to an upward spiral of success for the city.”

— Betsy Hodges, “A homegrown economy starts with entrepreneurs”

“Entrepreneurship is the fastest path out of poverty. It is the social solution to so many of the issues that face our society.”

— Kauffman Foundation on Twitter, Why do you support entrepreneurship?

“If your founding team or advisory board is all men, chances are high that you’re missing something.”

— Wendy Guillies, during keynote at the 2019 Angel Capital Summit

“Policymakers must see the economy not as a giant, robotic system, but a collection of millions of individuals making their own choices. Economic policy must serve the people who make up the economy.”

— Jason Wiens, “America’s New Business Plan expands what it means to be ‘pro-business'”

“You have to recreate the way schools are made. It means giving kids the space to get outside of the classroom and bringing in professionals who are experts in those fields to give kids an earlier opportunity to ideate on what they want to do. We shouldn’t be waiting till junior or senior year to ask a kid, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?'”

— David Muhammad, “Schools must cultivate skills that translate to work”

“Today’s students must be prepared for jobs that don’t exist yet, but also for jobs that exist now but will look drastically different.”

— Derek Ozkal, “Rethinking education to make graduates – workers – future-proof”

“We’re making sure everybody who walks through the doors understands that we don’t tolerate anything other than an inclusive and loving environment.”

— Chris Cain, “Creating spaces of intention”

What if we rebuild the American Dream one entrepreneur at a time? Together.

— “Entrepreneurial ecosystems move ideas to reality”