In the small town of La Guajira, Colombia, resides a tribe of the Wayúu people. A woman sits cross-legged with thick, colorful thread in one hand and a weaving needle in the other. Around her, ten more women are working on the same creation: beautiful, handwoven bags.

While visiting her friend, Sofía Castaño, in Colombia, Camila Tirado stumbled upon the Wayúu bags that inspired her to begin her business.

Camila — born in Tijuana, Mexico and now a biotechnology major with a French minor at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences — has always had an appreciation for other culture and a desire to see others succeed.

“I enjoy enabling communities to succeed by breaking down people’s mental barriers and helping them believe in the art that they create,” Camila said.

The day Camila discovered the Wayúu people, she bought 15 bags on the spot.

Camila explained that in the U.S., everyone has a go-to bag to take everywhere, but they are often made out of polyester and lack handmade, artful expression. In Colombia, however, the Wayúu bags are not uncommon.

“It’s something everyone has, and they’re very proud of it. The bags are not a trend — people are carrying Colombia’s culture with them,” Camila recalled.

Camila told Sofia, “Let’s start a business. It will be hard and exhausting, and we won’t know what we’re doing half the time, but I think we can pull it off.”

Upon returning to the U.S., she successfully sold all 15 bags.

Touched by the receptiveness of U.S. customers, Camila worked with Sofia — her intermediary and quality control — to buy 50 more bags from the tribe and send them to the U.S.

“I know the bags are beautiful. I have no worry that they ‘won’t sell.’ I just need to get the right eyes on them,” Camila said.

Recently, Camila switched from using Instagram shop to opening an Etsy store after noticing that buying on Instagram creates friction and hesitancy to buy, compared to the more reputable Etsy platform. Over the past couple months, she also developed a better grasp on shipping.

While fine-tuning her shipping process, Camila realized that to make money she needs to invest money. When funding her business, Camila used her own money to maintain peace of mind and remain free of debts and obligations.

“I can make my own decisions and take cool risks, knowing it’s my money,” she said.

Camila invested in a shipping label printer and switched over to decomposable packaging.

“I would rather lose $5 of profit than to know my business is contributing to pollution, which affects the very same people I’m trying to help,” Camila stated. She emphasizes that often, companies say that they support a certain cause, but in reality, this acts as just a nice label rather than a practice adopted in all aspects of the company.

Currently, Camila is searching for an organization that helps the Wayúu people in a sustainable and meaningful way, rather than taking major profit cuts or merely donating the money. Once they identify and meet with an organization that genuinely supports the Wayúu tribe, Camila will be donating a percentage of her proceeds to help them.

After being featured on the Daily Orange, Camila realized, “The story of the Wayúu people matters. Now it’s up to me to spread that history to each person that purchases a bag.”

Camila noted that in Wayúu culture, the women lead the tribe and bring economic profit. They deeply value nature but are terribly affected by climate change. This is the story Camila hopes to raise awareness for.

“I also want people to gain an appreciation for handmade things in a world where it’s so easy to ship something from a factory in China,” she added. “With handmade bags, you can feel the spirit of the woman who made it. If the bag is stiff, that means the knitting was harder, and the woman was feeling something. If the bag feels lighter, she was more relaxed. No bag is exactly the same.”

With every product purchase, Camila also includes a handwritten thank you note to cultivate a special customer experience for every buyer.

Camila has experienced many challenges running the business while being a full-time student, working four other jobs, coordinating with Sofia overseas and managing exchange rate differences. Despite these trials and tribulations, however, she has found the startup process to be very rewarding.

“We live in a really cool era where you can make your own career,” she stated. “And just like I found the Wayúu people, I can find so much more out there.”

Looking forward, Camila plans to expand the shop to include other accessories and work with the Wayúu women to request more in-demand color designs.

“By wearing a Wayúu bag, you’re wearing history,” Camila concludes.

Camila’s Wayúu bag shop can be found on Instagram and Etsy.

Story by Sasha Temerte ’23, LaunchPad Orange Ambassador; photo supplied

Henry and Jordan float into the room as the deafening beat around them thumps in tune with their hearts. Although a cool aura follows them, the two roommates are buzzing with the excitement of a fruitful endeavor.

After meeting while studying abroad in London, Henry Touma and Jordan Zwang set off to break the definition of Syracuse nightlife. They hoped to connect student artists and bands to a live show venue that erupted with vibrant energy: The Bedford.

But this pursuit was just one of the many side hustles that the best friends initiated over their lifetimes.  A competitive duo, Henry and Jordan do everything it takes to transform their ideas into success.

“People don’t understand the meaning of the term ‘hustler.’ We find a way to make it happen. You just go out there and get it done,” Henry said.

Both recent grads of Syracuse University, Jordan majored in history through the College of Arts and Sciences and Henry majored in marketing as well as entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management while working with the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars on their venture.

Initially, they hoped to expand the concept of the Bedford post-graduation, but after the strike of the global pandemic that brought social events to a screeching halt, Henry and Jordan had to pivot back to the drawing board.

They asked themselves: How else can we create a platform for smaller artists to gain the recognition they need and deserve? And moreover, how do we create a platform that listeners would want too? What’s missing in the market?

After surrounding themselves with artists for years, Henry and Jordan understood their pain points.

“We are always finding new music very early. And we wanted to create an avenue for these artists to raise capital without forfeiting future earnings, like they might with a record label cash advance,” Jordan explained.

At the same time, they also realized that many such artists don’t believe they have a fan base despite having considerable Instagram followings.

 By piecing these two facts together, Rogue on Arrival (ROA) was born. ROA’s model allows fans not only to discover artists, but it also allows artists to monetize existing fans to raise funds and gain traction in their music career.

Think of ROA as a musical artist stock market — artists must be invited to join the platform, and they are then valued at an initial stock price and a certain amount of shares that are released to the public. This invite-only format resolves the oversaturation issue that most crowdfunding platforms tend to face by incorporating only talented and engaging artists who interact with followers and are thus trusted by users.

Fans who invest in the artist have access to exclusive interactions with that artist, such as live performances or personal coffee chats. As more fans bid to own these shares, the artist value grows. Fans who currently hold shares can later resell them to bidding fans to earn some extra cash — just like the financial stock market. Once demand rises, more shares can enter the market, similarly to a stock split.

Since ROA’s inception, Henry and Jordan have committed to working day and night at their business.

“It is always better to fail than to do something you hate and wonder, ‘What if?’” Henry said, his eyes brightening at the thought of their passion project.

“As with any startup, it’s always two steps forward, four steps back,” Jordan added. “But our business model is a rolling wheel — it’s wobbly but always going forward. Every week, we ask ourselves, ‘What are the two things we need to do this week to advance the company?’”

They emphasize the importance of teamwork, rather than trying to keep the wheel rolling alone. The power of the dynamic Henry and Jordan developed becomes evident through the energy the two bring to meetings together, even just by building eagerly on each other’s ideas.

 “It’s not industry standard, but we like being co-CEO’s,” they said. “There’s power in numbers, and we feed off each other very well. ROA always comes first, before either of our individual wants.”

When bringing new members to their team, Henry advised, “Always bring on somebody smarter than you in that field. And strive for diversity because then you’ll have different world views on problems.”

Along their journey, the duo has learned the importance of time management and goal setting.

“Not having anyone above you is a blessing and a curse,” Henry said, chuckling. “But you just jump off the cliff and build your wings from there.”

Jordan added, “We need to have our blinders on,” referring to the eye shields horses wear during races. This allows them to keep moving forward without being discouraged, especially when encountering barriers like their young age — a factor that makes it difficult to receive funding to go against the grain of an age-old industry.

They have also learned the value of direct experience.

“Nothing in a classroom can teach you, for instance, how to close a deal or how to sell,” Henry said. “Now, within three seconds of a phone call, we know if we’ll close.”

Jordan nodded, adding, “The best way to learn is by throwing yourself into that position.”

This belief also reflects their leadership style. Taking after their idol Mark Cuban, Jordan and Henry aspire to be CEO’s that are reachable and invest in their employees.

“We don’t want to just sit on the top floor,” they said.

After fondly recalling a time Cuban even responded to an email of his own, Henry observed that “Every major CEO was once a cold email too.”

Looking back at how far they’ve come, the duo has endless advice to offer.

“Everybody has an idea. Innovators are the ones that make it come to life,” Jordan pointed out. “They also bring value to everybody — such as ROA for artists and fans alike.”

Henry added, “People always say, ‘Oh, I’ll start this business when I’m ready,’ but they never start.” Success means making this leap.

Both Henry and Jordan urge college students to start ventures as soon as possible while they are young enough to circumvent most responsibilities that follow graduation and while they have access to the plethora of mentorship, networking, and funding opportunities that universities offer.

They especially praise Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars for its resources and its community of equally ambitious students. Jordan and Henry recommend that hopeful entrepreneurs take advantage of their capacity to learn and network through the LaunchPad, especially with those who are just as driven or can offer wisdom for success.

“We can walk into a room and know who the most powerful person is,” Jordan noted. “That’s the person we want to talk to.”

Jordan and Henry also warn against taking judgement too hard: “If you go against the grain, people will be judgmental. Remember — anybody who gives you criticism but doesn’t give you a solution isn’t worth the stress.”

Ultimately, it’s most important to go all in.

“If you create a strong value proposition, the funding will follow. You just have to start somewhere,” Henry concluded.

The waitlist to sign up for ROA is now live at this link. The closed beta for waitlist users will launch in February, and the full version of ROA is expected to launch this March.

Rogue on Arrival can also be found on Instagram and Linkedin.

Both Henry Touma and Jordan Zwang can be found on LinkedIn as well.

Story by Sasha Temerte ’23, LaunchPad Orange Ambassador; photo supplied

“I am thousands of miles away from home to learn more about the world,” Kaizhao (Zero) Lin wrote on his website portfolio.

Zero — who was born in Guangzhou, China — is now a senior at Syracuse University, studying international relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs along with newspaper and online journalism at the Newhouse School of Public Communications. An incredibly organized and driven student, Zero is also pursuing minors in both political science and economics to supplement his learning.

This very combination of interests alone speaks to Zero’s personal mission: to use the skills and knowledge that he obtains while studying in the U.S. to influence change in China.

“Many of us can see a transfer of superpowers occurring between the U.S. and China right now,” Zero says. “I want to use my experiences to help my home country do better not only in the bilateral relations but also the international community.”

To Zero, global understanding is vital to being a proactive citizen of the world. It is this mindset that also inspired him to work with Globalists, a publication on campus that celebrates diversity and gives a voice to underrepresented perspectives.  When Zero first joined Globalists, he served as an assistant editor before taking greater responsibility and moving up the ranks to copy editor, managing editor, and now — the editor-in-chief himself.

Zero is paving the way for Globalists to publish a print issue in December — a victory that overcomes the challenges print media has faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme of the upcoming print issue will be to reflect back on 2020 while looking forward to 2021.

“People need something to read,” Zero says, “and we want to continue tradition.”

He explains that the team has been perseverant despite the online setting: “Our editors are currently located all around the world — from California to Hong Kong to India — and we are all still working closely together.”

As an international student, Zero hoped to contribute to the international student community through his research and storytelling abilities. Beyond his work at Globalists, Zero has written for The Daily Orange, where he became the first writer for the newspaper to publish stories written not in English for SU’s robust international student body.

These pieces led Zero to be noticed by a professor in the Asian/Asian American Studies department, where Zero now works as a program assistant to help engage and support international students.

Beyond his journalistic work, Zero is also an active researcher. As part of his international relations distinction capstone, he analyzed China’s evolving role in global health governance, especially after the country’s quick and effective containment of both COVID-19 and, in prior years, SARS.

“When it comes to health, China takes a leadership role and shares its lessons with other developing countries, especially those in Africa,” Zero found.

Zero emphasizes the value of this communication between nations and cultures and the importance of multilateralism, which is the collaboration of countries toward a common goal.

“How will globalization influence me?” Zero asks. “How will it influence my country?”

Questions like these are what inspire Zero to use the power of words to advocate for his communities.

Although Zero has examined China’s successfully growing global role in health, he has also investigated the flip-side — where can China still improve? Zero explains that although recent shifts in government have been leading China to enact progressive changes, there are still many problems that must be confronted.

For example, as part of his investigative journalism project for the social justice reporting class, Zero examined lesser-known social injustices in the education system that create difficulties for students in rural homes.

To begin, students in China already face significant pressure due to the National College Entrance Examination — the one standardized test students take upon finishing high school to determine their advancement to college. This creates disparities in the admission process, particularly between students in well-developed cities compared to students living in rural regions with less access to the same resources and educational materials.

Zero didn’t have a classic educational path either.

Growing up, Zero attended an international high school. This was a brave choice by his parents because it immediately alienated Zero from a traditional student identity in China. That said, being raised by a global education with foreign teachers opened his eyes to different perspectives around the world, ultimately shaping him into the thoughtful person he is now.

In high school, Zero was also heavily involved in the Model United Nations, which led to his deep investment in human rights and development.

His time spent studying at an American university has continued to enhance his unique outlook. Zero has even written briefings for the China Development Student Think Tank, where he examines how Chinese international students interpret social issues differently than experts back home.

Looking to the future, Zero plans to attend graduate school to further his understanding of policy so that he can then tangibly influence policy reform. 

 “Some policy reforms in China were not led not by policymakers but by scholars,” he clarifies. This policy-shaping scholar is exactly who Zero hopes to be.

“As younger generations step into leadership, we may see a more open China in the future,” he adds with hope in his eyes.

Zero speaks to what it means to be a global citizen — “Acknowledge your origins and nationality but maintain a long-term vision for the global community. It’s not enough that my country is doing well. We should strive for everyone to have prosperity.”

Though this universal prosperity seems like a tall order, Zero notes that the movement starts on a local scale. “If you want to change society as a student, start with something small in your community first.”

And to all people of the world, Zero urges, “Practice your rights as a global citizen.”

To read more about Zero and his projects, check out his website portfolio and LinkedIn.

Story by Sasha Temerte ’23, LaunchPad Orange Ambassador; photo supplied; story thumbnail photo by Morgan Tucker

When Dr. Gary Rodziewicz came to Patrick Prioletti G ’21 with a proposition, he was immediately intrigued. Dr. Rodziewicz, a neurosurgeon who now works for a private practice specializing in medical cannabis, explained that many of his patients and friends complained that their pain management treatments were not working. He told Patrick, who has always been fascinated by neuroscience, that such treatments are related to receptors in the brain, which are unique to every individual and thus react differently to dosages.

The doctor noted that the first prescribed dosage of medical cannabis is typically only 20-30% effective but that this effectiveness jumps drastically to over 80% after a follow-up assessment and just one dosage adjustment. He hoped to develop an app that would allow patients to report feedback and receive automatic dosage adjustments to streamline the treatment process.

This is where Patrick comes in.

Patrick Prioletti, who is pursuing a Master’s degree in Applied Science at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, has worked for Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars as both a Global Media Fellow and Rubin Family Innovation Mentor.

“I’m pretty good at thinking about a problem and how to scale it digitally.”

His commitment to innovation has led him to now pursue an endeavor in tandem with Dr. Rodziewicz, Dennis Taussig and William Kimball. He is serving as interim CTO and learning systems architect for Your Perfect Dose, an outlet for Patrick to apply his relentless curiosity, abstract thinking and tech abilities to a venture that will transform the way medical cannabis treatments are implemented.

“Pharmaceutical companies won’t be happy when they learn an algorithm can do what doctors can.”

However, the aim of Your Perfect Dose is not to replace doctors but to make custom dosage adjustments more accessible to patients. The app will be based on user feedback — daily or weekly — where patients can quickly rate their pain, log improvements in sleep, report side effects, and more. The goal is to make the process as simple as possible so that even a working mother can input her symptoms between making breakfast and driving her children to school.

The app will offer a suite for doctors to view their patients’ feedback so they can still offer further suggestions. Rather than waiting for months to schedule a follow-up appointment, patients can check in daily for automatic dosage shifts, freeing up doctors’ time to focus on new patients who need more detailed evaluations and automate the patients who have already found their necessary dose.

Otherwise, Your Perfect Dose can also serve as a safer way for self-medicating users — who will continue to medicate regardless of if this app exists — to determine more accurate dosages for their needs.

By capturing a wealth of nuanced data in such a simple way, the app also offers limitless potential for further research.

Currently, the app is being tested on only two users to determine if the program works, but the next step will be to roll out the beta under close monitoring by doctors to patients in Dr. Rodziewicz’s practice to collect an initial foundation of data from which the app will create suggestions. Your Perfect Dose will then continue to improve its algorithm through a machine learning structure that will process patients’ feedback based on its dosage adjustments.

In the future, Patrick and his team hope that the app can be deployed for other medical drugs or treatments.

“If this can work for cannabis, it can work for anything,” he says.

Patrick says his team seeks critique: “If we can hear that something is a bad idea, that’s good because at least then we have direction.”

Yet recently, they have been receiving mostly positive responses, and Your Perfect Dose even started getting noticed by members of the medical tech breakthrough community.

The director of the biotech accelerator at Syracuse told Patrick, “You’re going to shake a lot of cages.” The team will face a lot of initial resistance from the medical community, but that’s exactly how change works.

That said, at a recent business competition pitch, Patrick faced a question that left him taken aback: “If you’re helping people self-medicate with marijuana, aren’t you adding to the problem?”

In this moment, Patrick realized that although medical marijuana has already been proven to work — and act as a much safer alternative to opioids, which can be dangerously addicting — there are still many people that don’t agree.

“We’re living in the future,” he says. “But there’s still a lot of people out there that aren’t going to be on board with this.” This opened his eyes to the fact that they will still need to fight on the regulatory stage more so than in the user engagement sphere.

Patrick adds, “This will exist whether we build it or someone else does.”

The app is groundbreaking not only because of its algorithmic approach to treatment but also because its accessibility will save billions of dollars in medical expenses — especially for populations who may not normally be able to afford doctors. It is a platform where ordinary people can self-assess with guidance from scientific findings and service those who wouldn’t otherwise be serviced at all.

Patrick encourages other entrepreneurs to shut out opinionated voices and focus on testing their ideas.

“If you’re listening to everyone, then you’re not listening to anything.”

Fortunately, Patrick can engage in hypothesis testing for his projects and isolate himself from the expectations of others.

“You can’t put a box around me,” he states.

Patrick also speaks to the nature of innovation: “You will never hear about true innovation until one day it slaps you in the face when you wake up.”

Perhaps someday, when Your Perfect Dose is at the core of the way we do medical treatment, this slap is exactly what we’ll feel.

To learn more about Patrick, view his LinkedIn. To sign up as a test user for Your Perfect Dose, check out ypdme.com.

Story by Sasha Temerte ’23, LaunchPad Orange Ambassador; photo supplied