Earning a seat at the coveted table where decisions are made is no easy feat; especially when the path for women and minorities is riddled with varying obstacles and prejudices. Amplifying these individuals’ stories will not only help foster a stronger community of like-minded innovators, but also help budding young women and minorities gain these critical seats.

San Francisco native, Pilar McDonald proves you do not need a background in entrepreneurship to become an innovator. Rather, an entrepreneur is defined by their passion for problem-solving and their willingness to work. As the world came to an unexpected halt in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, McDonald and her childhood friend Lola McAllister recognized that working mothers were disproportionately affected. Both young women grew up with working mothers and realized that with children unable to attend school, the responsibility of primary childcare would fall to the mother, regardless her working status. McDonald recounts that she “had no intention of being an entrepreneur,” she just wanted to respond to this critical social issue. It was through this concern in which the idea for Project Matriarchs arose.

There is nothing exceptionally average about Georgetown Junior, Tian Shi. Along with triple majoring in Biology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Entrepreneurship, Shi is also the author of Exceptionally Average: Through Their Eyes, an exposé describing the entrepreneurial process.

It was by a stroke of luck that I had the opportunity to meet Babson’s budding entrepreneur, Anna Bilah.

Entrepreneurship epitomizes the American Dream; the idea of creating something out of a sheer idea. This exciting prospect is a sentiment the United States prides itself on, yet it is notoriously only afforded to a small percentage of the population …