Ethan Tyo ’17 (iSchool) and G ’22 (Falk, Food Studies) was selected for the prestigious Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship, a 7-week immersive program designed to support student entrepreneurs across the 46-university network. Run in partnership with Future Founders, the 2023 Summer Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship will empower student startups with entrepreneurial resources, mentorship, education, and financial assistance. Student participants will benefit from a community of fellow student entrepreneurs that will motivate them to explore and build on their ideas, and further develop their skills as founders.
Participating student founders will receive a grant to support their time working on advancing their entrepreneurial ventures, as well as other resources and support, including weekly workshops, community-building activities, and mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs and executives in the LaunchPad network. The program also includes intensive LaunchPad campus director coaching sessions.
The LaunchPad Fellowship program has grown into a signature program of the Blackstone LaunchPad network. It is funded by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and coordinated through the Blackstone LaunchPad network and Future Founders.
Tyo will be working on the startup he founded as a student at Syracuse University. Alternative engage people in experiences across the food system that are grounded in the Indigenous values of community, sustainability and land. It shed light on such issues through educational efforts. For instance, Tyo worked with the Native Student Program to create a series of workshops and events around traditional Haudenosaunee foodways, including the Three Sisters Garden dedication. This work has led to collaborations with academic departments at Syracuse to infuse Indigenous knowledge into curricula as well as establishing cultural sites at neighboring universities and partnering with museums.
He is a mentor at Syracuse University Blackstone LaunchPad, and has been named as Todd B. Rubin Diversity and Inclusion Scholar, using his role to bring more awareness to indigenous issues withing the entrepreneurial community.