When you have a vision and you begin to achieve a little bit of traction, the notion of scale becomes clearer, becomes manifest.
My vision for the Designtrepreneurs series of conversations is to create the space for designers, entrepreneurs, and the LGBT community to coexist, connect, and share their stories. It’s a magically delicious trifecta of passion, professionalism, and perseverance.
Design and entrepreneurship are parallel practices: we go where the world can’t yet see, we bring form to things we believe need to exist. Similarly, the LGBT community has always questioned the way things are; our difference is but one of our strategic advantages.
Last night was the fourth time I’d curated and moderated a panel of stellar storytellers, all Designtrepreneurs in their own way. It took place at WeWork Soma, in the midst of SFDesignWeek. Over 150 attendees – the most we’ve had to date – gave their rapt and undivided attention to the panelists’ personal, raw, and unedited stories about being persistent, navigating difficult feedback, leveraging your network, emerging from fear, and being kind. In one story, we learned how to turn deeply personal challenges into viable business models.
I’m so gratified the panelists felt empowerment, freedom, catharsis. And the volunteers from the StartOut SF chapter who helped produce the event said that I was “doing great things for this city.”
What’s next is turning the series into a light and even more scalable template, not unlike the CreativeMornings model. Onward!