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Categories: Events, Jobs & Career, Must Read, News
Tell us a bit about each of your backgrounds, your interest in social enterprise and why you decided to get involved with SECON?
Jocelyn: I attended SECON 2010 as an HBS admit, and was blown away. I met interesting people who were passionate about solving social problems, heard skeptical voices and cautionary tales, and learned about innovative business models around the globe. My finance background is fairly traditional for HBS and very unconventional for HKS. I love SECON because it bridges both sides of the river. An added side benefit has been getting to know our amazing leadership team – since we all have similar interests, three of us were interning in East Africa this summer and managed to travel together!
Renee: During my first year at HKS, I pursued my studies in international development and began to explore social enterprise as a means for creating sustainable change. Social enterprise is a different way of approaching development, challenging my traditional perspective on development and offering market-based solutions for social problems. I became involved in SECON because it seemed to be the perfect forum to engage with people passionate about social enterprise at both HBS and HKS. My experience with SECON last year only confirmed this belief and inspired me to be part of the leadership team for a second year in a row.
Tony: I grew up in Colorado and studied Finance and Accounting in college, which eventually led me to a consulting job in New York for 3 years prior to business school. My senior year of college, I took a class on sustainability and business, which initially sparked my interest in Social Enterprise. Since then, I’ve tried to explore Social Enterprise further, through internships in microfinance and non-profit as well as courses and clubs here at HBS. I decided to do SECON because I wanted to deepen my leadership skills within the context of a topic about which I was passionate.
What are you most excited about this year’s Social Enterprise Conference?
Jocelyn: Everything! We have two incredibly jam-packed days. Our speaker caliber is phenomenal, and we have great keynotes, panels and workshops. This year we are also experimenting with more creative events, such as a Dear World photo project TEDx-style talk and a documentary premiere. I just watched the documentary ‘Who Cares’ which is very powerful and inspiring. I’m particularly excited that this year we’re giving away FEED bags stuffed with socially-responsible products to our attendees. For each bag we give away, FEED will donate meals to schoolchildren in the developing world, for a total of 6,000 meals. This is the first time the conference is making such a tangible contribution, and I’m hopeful we can continue doing this in the future.
Renee: Like Jocelyn, it’s a difficult to pinpoint one particular thing I’m excited about for the conference. Our leadership team has really done an incredible job of organizing a stellar event with rockstar speakers and hosting a broad range of panels and workshops. We are experimenting with innovative technology to enhance the attendee experience both prior to the conference and at the actual gathering. I’m also really looking forward to our more creative programming – a closer partnership with The Value Web to improve attendee collaboration throughout the two days and the Dear World, Write Our Future TEDx-style talk on Sunday. Lastly, I can’t wait for our FEED bags filled with socially responsible goodies!
Tony: We’re trying to incorporate technology much more into this year’s conference such as a mobile app as well as a Q&A tool. We’ve revamped our website and have relied on social media to get the word out. I am super excited about our keynote speakers and also about getting FEED bags for our attendees (each FEED bag represents a donation of 5 meals to children)!
You are running a massive operation with over 130 students, 40 panels and workshops, 4 keynotes, a Career Fair, and Pitch for Change Competition across two days at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. What has been the most challenging part of your role and how has this leadership experience added to your graduate school education?
Jocelyn: Sometimes running SECON feels like running a startup – there’s always new ideas to brainstorm and fires to put out. I get to be involved in all aspects of the conference, from creative design to pricing to bottlenecks in our bag-stuffing process flow. The two main differences between SECON and a startup are a) the experience has a finite end date, and b) I have no equity stake. It’s been a wonderful (if all-consuming) education.
Renee: The most challenging part of my role is balancing and managing all the moving parts of the conference. For example, we are constantly responsible for making critical decisions that affect the entirety of the conference and can never be 100% certain of its impact. The process, however, has added significant value to my graduate school education, as I have been able to hone my leadership and operational management skills. Additionally, getting to know the leadership team has truly been a rewarding experience for me. I’m constantly humbled by the intelligence, commitment, and energy of everyone on our team; it’s been an honor to lead such talented people.
Tony: Learning when and how to be tough has been the hardest part to me. Since everyone responds differently to various leadership styles, you learn you have to adapt your approach for each person with whom you work.
How can people learn more or get involved with SECON?
Jocelyn: Attend the conference! http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2493953482. For next year’s conference, we are always looking for volunteers, panel/workshop managers and directors. We are also always looking for introductions to prominent speakers, so if anyone has a personal connection to Bono, please let me know…
Renee: We hope that you’ll attend our conference, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet other interesting attendees and share innovative ideas with passionate people in the social enterprise community. Please monitor our website for updates about our upcoming conference and we look forward to seeing you on February 25-26, 2012!
Tony: Start out with our website, it has nearly all of the information that you’ll ever need. If you still don’t have an answer, feel free to reach out!
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