How we Started:
It started with a College Competition
In 2022, during my senior year at California State University Los Angeles, I was part of a program called LEEAF (Los Angles Economic Equity Accelerator and Fellowship) that helped business students learn more about entrepreneurship through hands-on experience. LEEAF was invited to participate in a competition hosted by Sunstone Investment called the 2022 Sunstone CSU Startup Launch. I partnered with my significant other to create a social venture to alleviate food desserts in Los Angeles County using EBT on vending machines filled with healthy food. We made our pitch and won a grant of $25,000 to startup our idea.
After I graduated, I ran into some hardships. My mother passed away, and my significant other was admitted to the hospital and nearly passed away. For some time, I had to put the project on hold. After some time, I went back to focus on the project but was disappointed to find that although our hearts were in the right place, it wasn't a feasible social venture. After talking with my mentor, I realized I had to pivot to another project. After researching, I noticed a trend that artists, although talented, may lack specific skills that could prevent them from launching their businesses. I wanted to bridge the gap that artists faced, such as business know-how, marketing, financial start-up, and more.
We want to partner with artists facing challenges often met when starting their businesses and help diminish them with our services. Our goal is to have ten artists by the end of 2023. We are currently on track with partnering with six artists.