I'm Rita, a senior entrepreneurial student in Baltimore. My passions lie in helping people and food, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life making this a better world for everyone to live in.
Please read, enjoy, and spread the word!
ENTR 320, UMBC, Spring 2013
AMST 422, UMBC, Spring 2014
This blog post is going to be awfully short. I need to make the decorations and work on Saturday to cook. My mom said she could come help cook if we want :) Oh and I need to get the prints from Evan and draft up a certificate for the chocolate covered strawberries. My grandmother might have some more gift cards to auction off if we want! And my family says they're buying tickets even if they're not able to come! :) I invited my sisters and my friends so I hope they can comeeeeeee! See you in class!
I went to the garden work day this past Sunday, which was awesome! I met two community gardeners who were eager to work and help. They seemed excited for the event. They also want to purchase tickets, but I went on a whim so I didn't have any on hand...
The first picture above is the strawberry patch we weeded! Ahhhhhhhhhhh it looks so much better. You can see plants. And the gorgeous flowers that are around it. The next picture is from the (first ever!) community gardener-run workshop about planting in hay bales. It was pretty neat, and the benefits seem like they would be great for the Baltimore area. -- It keeps the Baltimore soil from infesting the plants, and the hay decomposes to give the roots room to grow, as well as food to eat. The last picture is just the gorgeous water tower.
Went to the networking event last night -- won a $25 gift card. Almost couldn't go so I'm glad I did!
Even better, I got to speak to Jen from Relay foods, and she has a few great contacts in the area, and she already made an email introduction with one of them. She gave me some great ideas on other organizations to contact as well. Fingers crossed!
Here's my ideas for the food, if we buy prepared food and don't have any catering help.
I'm guesstimating on what exact products we were to get, but for example:
Crab Cakes - $6.99 for 8 minis (Just a generic price I found online for Phillips). We'll need like 200 (ugh) = $175. But to be honest, we'll probably need more than that...
Chicken wings cost around $8.99 for 4 lbs. I'm guessing 4 servings to a pound. So for 200 people, it would be about $115. With spices and everything else, I'd guess it would end up being $140. Round up to $150.
Buying a smith island cake would be around $60 for 10 (regular sized) servings. That means 20, which means buying enough cake would be like $600. Not gonna happen. Making it would be some work, but if we buy other stuff, or you know -- get donations, it would be worth it. I don't even know how to cost this one out, to be honest. I guess $15-$20 / cake, that's supposed to serve 10-12.
I want to contact berger cookies and see if they would donate. I'm going to talk to a few grocery stores, but I may need help reaching out. I have work at the most inconvenient times for calling restaurants/businesses. I could ask UTZ too... Thoughts?
Now that the first push of our ASKS have gone out, I think it's time to bring up the day-of logistics. I am going to be emailing my group Steve Bradley's layout of 2640 (below) and my suggestions for what we can do about decorations and how we can set up our booths.
The pictures of this location are absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to take advantage of it. I think, to start, we should consider keeping the food area closer to the kitchen. I suspect, with a long event, we're going to have to keep the ovens on and food rolling out at different times, so not having to carry hot food through a busy venue is probably the best plan. I'd like to keep some area in front of the stage open for music fans (and anyone who wants to dance!). The left side of this floor plan, after the food, could be the historical information and walking tours. It would be a nice way to lead people to the bar (or back to the food from the bar) and they'll be more inclined to take a look while waiting in any lines.
On the right side, I was thinking the auction would take up a lot of space, alongside the art exhibit. The lounge area could be used for the kids games. TAHDAHHHHH!
Forgive the fact that they're wedding photos, but I was thinking string lights and burlap. Complimenting it with sage green would make it feel earthy but still bring color... Maybe some mason jars for that hipster feel haha.
It seems less frightening after discussing everything in class. A lot less.
I did, however, find a couple lists of Baltimore restaurants that we can use for a base to contact. Here are the top 100 restaurants (from 2012) in Baltimore, in a spreadsheet, ready to be contacted:
I am more than willing to add more restaurants to the list, but I thought a basis of 100 would get us off to a good start. When I have a second I'll be adding some info that I find.
Tickets are printed and in my notebook for class on Tuesday!
And I am setting up the IndieGoGo campaign today or tomorrow, once I get a few things answered by Jason Reed.
To start, I'd like to say that the way Mark Steiner's parents influenced him into becoming the social advocate he is today. It seems to be the perfect balance of nurture vs. nature... Reminds me of my situation: my mother is a nutritionist and my father is a doctor, and I want to start a non-profit teaching kitchen... to help people. Sound familiar?
"Everyone has something to teach us... If you listen." That resonates with me. I have been very concerned (I'm a worrier, in case you can't tell...) about the interview process and how that will go for me. I have no problem speaking with people, but I would be afraid to misinterpret someone's story. I like the thought of just ... listening. It's calming to realize that you don't need to comment or keep up a conversation, but rather let them tell their story so you better understand how THEY want to be perceived, and how they want to be heard.
Out of all of this, though, the discussion towards the end is what really made my mind wander -- using social media and data to sway a population. It's a "holy crap, why didn't I think of that?!" type of idea. With corporations taking over the country, using the data that they cherish so much to better their marketing strategies and drive customers their way to sway the people into support small business, Baltimore's infrastructure or other programs is a great idea. ...Maybe that's how my non-profit will start. Who knows!
I have to say I'm really disappointed that I wasn't feeling too hot on the work day at the garden, but Dustin & I had the privilege of grabbing coffee with Jason Reed yesterday morning to talk about Dustin's videos and my ideas for the IndieGogo Campaign. For an hour and a half, the three of us discussed ideas and plans for the incredible amount of work we have ahead of us, but excitement was high.
We have a plan worked out, and Dustin & I are going to meet Jason at the garden a week from today to shoot the introduction for the crowd-funding campaign and do the interview for the video we play at the fundraiser. I've got to email Jason questions for the videos ahead of time, and send him the pictures we'd like to use so he can get releases from the school & parents. And I want to send him a copy of what the IndieGogo is going to look like ahead of time. Since a lot of the successful fundraisers have had a SPECIFIC goal in mind, through discussion we thought that asking people to fund the Farmer's Market would be the best way to market this. I'm excited to see where this goes. I'd like to bring up in class how much money we would be asking for, and Jason & I came up with some nifty ideas for "prizes." We have to market this pretty well -- I'm pretty sure that's why their Kickstarter wasn't very successful. They had little to no marketing, whatsoever.
Feasibility studies are the worst. I have had to write them for entrepreneurship classes in the past, and they are so draining -- but completely necessary. Our goals have to be event specific, and we have to have clear and concise timelines for what we do and how we do it. Planning events is not an easy thing.
Prior to this final draft, our study only focused on the main event at hand, but part of this class is having on campus fundraising and outreach events. We're adding a bit more information in order to cover all of our bases.
I emailed WearMonument, a local clothing line who sells apparel for Believe in Music, asking if they'd want to attend/sell tshirts like they've done in the past. I wish there was a phone number for them, but alas. :(
Side note: I'm really excited to be working with a classmate on his video for the crowdfunding campaign. Dustin and I are going to visit the garden and do a short video inside to introduce the garden to potential donors outside of the area.
I'm afraid my blog post for today can't be as long as usual -- I already posted about MissionTix last week.
It already feels like crunch time and we've still got a while to go.
I'm the marketing intern for MissionTix, a ticketing provider in the Baltimore area, to give you a little background.
(Aka I'm the person who writes this!)
I finally had a chance to speak with my bosses and they are EXCITED to help us out with our event. Since they already knew the space, they figured we could sell out at around 500 people. That seems like a crap ton of people to market to and get to show up... That puts the ticket price at $20 a head, and we'd meet our financial goal if we sold out.
Keeping that in mind, I was reconsidering the ticket price a bit. I think we should shoot for around $30 or $35 tickets, and offer discounts for the community members. We can also consider tiered ticketing. Kids tickets cost one amount, community members another, sober tickets one and people drinking a little bit more expensive. Then we can also accept donations...
We need to check with Red Emma about the capacity of 2640, and we'll have to keep in mind the space needed for the staging, sound equipment, art pieces and our research assignments. Oh... and food!
On Tuesday of this past week, our class finally split into committees, which is exciting and scary at the same time. I'm always worried about the parts of the project that I have to focus on, for fear of messing up or things not working out the way I want to, but they asked me to work on food & I have some fantastic ideas.
I believe we mostly want to do hors d'oeuvres, because of the timing of the event. I think the best way to fulfill this would be to compliment the Maryland/Baltimore area food. Using flavors that are unique to the state, or from local restaurants & chefs would be a great way to show off our commitment to the area. Another neat idea that was brought up was to make dishes, sides, etc from the fruits & vegetables that grow in the garden, and offer recipe cards for people to take with them. This way, we have a bit of learning attached to our menu.
On Thursday, Mercedes and I visited Professor Bradley's class and got to speak with the IRC fellows. They had some incredible ideas, and we were able to elaborate a lot. We talked about potential money making opportunities, including bake sales and mini sales throughout the semester. Mai has friends who would be able to get us keychains that we could decorate ourselves for VERY cheap, and we'd be able to sell them to campus for ... a lot more. (We do have to let her know about 3 weeks ahead of time, though!) We also discussed selling herbs in small paper cups, where the students would be able to plant their own seeds and have them grow them at home or in their apartment. Various herbs are very simple to grow, and we could include the Filbert Street logo, or our designs with the plants, and tell the students to visit the garden as community outreach. We were thinking about selling mint (because it's super easy to grow), basil, sage and rosemary (because those three are growing in the garden now!).
After some collaborative time, we were able to hear Ryan Patterson speak. He is an incredible inspiration! He came to the Baltimore area as a MICA student and has stayed in the area for 10 years, after falling in love. As a community artist, he is passionate about bringing people together for the sake of art, outreach, fun and collaboration. He explained that community art isn't necessarily all art projects for kids, there are many hands coming together to create something. We were able to explore his work from the area and see how he engaged the students to create parts of artwork for the garden. Something that really resonated with me that he said was that Curtis Bay needs safe, shared space. We're all working to help that happen, and it's an amazing thing.
P.s. I ordered my cap and gown today -- how surreal... Real life Baltimore, here comes Rita!
Ah, the things we learn when we are doing research. I don't mind research. I've written plenty a paper on various topics, for a plethora of classes. For some reason, this topic has me stumped. Which sucks... Because this is something I'm extremely passionate about. I think a lot of the reason I'm having trouble is because I have done research about the food desert of Baltimore as a broad term, but narrowing down to Curtis Bay and Brooklyn has made it very difficult. Hoping I can pull together a few more sources that will get me through the first step of the process.
I suppose when we do research and discuss a community, we paint a picture in our minds of what said area looks like, what the people are like and what their view of the world is. Visiting the places that we study in school breaks that fantasy very quickly.
Visiting Baybrook reminds me of my first time visiting my family in India. I got off the plane and the movies I had watched and the vision I had of where my family grew up were completely different than what stood in front of me. Baybrook was the same way. I stood at the top of a hill, next to this surreal water tower with gradient walls and a large white dome that overlooked the hill of row houses and the coal piers.
These kids have a lot going for them through this garden. The first section we came to was a spot to sit with picnic tables galore, where the community can have meetings, and people can come to sit and enjoy the earth around them. Another section of the garden was six plots for teachers of the local school, where they could teach about planting and growing seeds, and eventually learn about composting. There is an asparagus maze and a sunchoke patch, so the students have sensory items to play with as well as being able to get their hands dirty. There are also plots for the community to grow various vegetables, fruits, herbs, the like. The local gardeners are then able to sell their extra produce to high school students, who are able to sell it back to other community members at discounted rates. This program encourages urban farming, entrepreneurship and money management. It encourages a community to get together to help students and adults alike. Another nifty project the garden has is their patches of berries. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and elderberries are all grown for You-Pick days where the community can come in and buy up produce for their favorite summertime desserts.
I was, however, a little surprised that the garden didn't have more "popular" items growing in it. With my background in food, I find it a bit off putting to not be teaching the community how to grow food items that they would actually be able to use and cook without much effort. -- That's not to say I'm not happy with the program. I am very much in support of everything the garden does, and I love that someone took a stand for the urban area's lack of fresh food.
Walking through the community felt like being in the suburbs that I grew up in. We walked in the middle of the streets with no issue, no cars, nothing. We visited the Polish Home Hall in the community, which overlooks the coal piers and the city of Baltimore across the harbor. With such a gorgeous view and a strong history behind it, it's astonishing how this community sits in a food desert.
As I dig deeper and deeper into the topic of food deserts, I get more and more frustrated with the government's definition of food deserts and what qualifies to make an area no longer a food desert. I'm finding it especially hard to stay unbiased as I go. The research does, however, give me motivation to continue on my path of starting my non profit. While the Baltimore area has so much bad press about crime, I am convinced that nutritional and affordability research and education can help the city. The Filbert Street Garden is helping to address these issues, and I think that what I want to do with Arora Kitchens can help in another way. This research just puts more ammunition in my hand to better the Baltimore community and children's education.
This past week, we talked a lot about how creativity and the arts intertwine with our social mission. This excites me -- I started at UMBC as a graphic design major, and I've been doing various forms of art since I was very young. I think this is a great way to accentuate our project, and it gives us leverage to market with.
I think the IRC fellows are going to be amazing resources for us. To start, I really enjoyed meeting everyone. It seems like a very relaxed group with a lot of talent. Certain skills that stood out to me were painting, graphic design, photography and cinematic arts.
With the graphic designers, we could focus on making invitations, brochures, posters, and maybe a bit of branding for the garden itself. Bringing artistic attention to the garden through the internet / outbound marketing may help with donations in the future and create a bigger name for this little plot of heaven.
Photography is my favorite; it's got a special place in my heart. My thoughts for this stem between the graphic designers AND the photographers in the group. I was thinking along the lines of photographing the plots for auctioning off to the community, and maybe also taking the photos to tie into the branding. From a social entrepreneurial point of view, attaching personal photos makes me more attracted and drawn to helping this cause.
As for the videos, I think that could tie into branding as well. I really think that a sum-up or wrap-up video of the clean up of the garden would be really cool, as well as tying in the community. Video-wise, I could picture a short interview about the open position, a time-lapse type video of the clean up and any painting being done, followed by video of the kids pedaling around the community on their bike? That would be attractive for donations, and could be an essential marketing tool.
The video leads me into another idea that would be really exciting for this project -- crowd funding! I'm a huge fan of the concept and I've donated to multiple crowdfunding campaigns for projects I'm passionate about. What if we, as a class, alongside the IRC fellows, created a crowdfunding campaign to donate money through? Alongside tickets, this would give people from outside of the Baltimore community the chance to donate, and may gain us a bit of press. Sites like Indiegogo still allow campaigns that don't meet goals gain money (although they take a little more of a service fee), but every bit helps, right?! I'd be happy to organize a project like this for prior to the event. $10,000 is a lot of money...
I feel horrible about missing class last Thursday. With the ridiculously cold weather, my car had a little trouble running, and it stopped in the middle of the road. Nuts, right?!
Well, anyway, Tuesday's class gave me a bunch of inspiration and I wanted to relate our discussion to another one of my other classes. When we talk about human resource management, we talk about human capital, which is obviously really important in AMST 422. We have to consider what each student brings to the table, and distribute the talent and connections to where they would benefit the project the most. I think our talent and mindset in just our class is amazing, and I'm excited to meet the other class(es?) that we'll be working with too!
Speaking of human capital, I figured out an additional connection that I bring to the table: my internship at MissionTix! It's perfect. If we were to host an event that we sell tickets for, my company provides tickets for the Baltimore area and we would be able to set up an account with them under their 'Tickets with a Purpose,' where they donate a portion of their proceeds back to the cause.
As for my research for the semester, I finally started looking into Food Deserts in the Baltimore area. I found this reference image, taken from the city of Baltimore's website:
Written at the bottom:
*Food Desert: An area where the distance to a supermarket is more than ¼ mile, the median household income is at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, over 40% of households have no vehicle available, and the average Healthy Food Availability Index score for supermarkets, convenience and corner stores is low (measured using the Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey).
If you take a look at the bottom corner of Baltimore, we see that Brookyln is a food desert. We ALSO see that areas of the city aren't considered food deserts if they have a Farmer's Market (which can only happen once a week), or a Virtual Supermarket (where you order your food and have it delivered to a local library). If we didn't include these two, the city would be even worse off; it's just sad!
I believe this research would be right up my alley because of my business plans for post-college. I want to start a non profit teaching kitchen for students high school aged and up, that focuses in nutrition and affordability. This pertains immediately to the city of Baltimore, because food deserts include impoverish areas, homes without cars and a distance of over a fourth of a mile to the closest healthy food. I would really love to see the research about these areas from previous semesters, because I have a feeling there's a correlation between the poor areas of the city and supermarkets being shut down. I never thought I would be excited for research...
This project and this research reminds me why I am so passionate about helping people. It solidifies what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I can't wait to get started, hands on, with this project AND with my company.
This semester, through UMBC's very own AMST 422, my classmates and I will be helping the Living Classrooms organization in Baltimore.
Our social mission this semester is to encourage the growth of knowledge for both the world outside of Baltimore, as well as the students of the Baybrook garden. Not only is fresh produce scarce in Baltimore city, the knowledge of fresh foods and nutrition is too. Helping to keep a program like this alive is an incredible experience.
Our goal this semester is to raise $10,000. Daunting, yeah? I'm worried. That's a lot of money, and we don't have a lot of money in the first place to plan with, comparatively. We've discussed hosting an event, and I can't wait to see what it turns out to be.
Since our last class, I've been thinking of money making opportunities that would showcase Baltimore. In my head, I am envisioning the event to be a cocktail hour type, with a Maryland focused menu (food is my passion!), and featuring a lot of Maryland famous booze. Because this is raising money for a non-profit, it would be ideal to contact lots of restaurants and ask them what they can help us out with. Speaking to local breweries and wineries can't hurt either! Flying Dog has sponsored Living Classroom events before, so who knows, someone else may be interested! Another attraction may be something along the lines of a silent auction. Local artists can showcase their talents and give a portion of the proceeds (or all of them!) back to the garden, and the cause. Being a social entrepreneurship leads me to believe that no matter how selfish the population may be, there are still enough people to give back that we can make this a success!
This blog is going to be for AMST 422. We are so excited to work on this project, and I can't wait for you guys to read about our progress.
It's all too perfect that I started this blog in Greg's class, and get to use it again for another entrepreneurial venture. And the title, 'Delivering Essentials,' seems perfect for the food desert that is Baltimore, and the fact that we're helping to fix it. Here we go, one step at a time.
