Pepperdine GSEP Holds Its 3rd Social Enterprise Collective In Washington DC

Pepperdine MA in Social Entrepreneurship within the Graduate School of Education and Psychology and the Pepperdine School of Public Policy recently held its 3rd Social Enterprise Collective in Washington, DC.

The Collective with over 200 attendees was designed to allow our students and seasoned industry professionals to interact and learn from each other. The event featured engaging discussion panels with prominent leaders across government, for-profit/non-profit sectors, student presentations, and academia fostering interconnected dialogue with social impact professionals. Some highlights included our featured speakers Jonathan Soros, the founder and CEO of JS Capital Management LLC, and Laura Lucas Magnuson, Executive Vice President of the Global Programs at the Obama Foundation, a networking mixer, and the Social Entrepreneurship and Change program’s Fast Pitch.

The Fast Pitch is the culmination of a two-term capstone project where the students devise a new social enterprise or related project within an existing organization. Students develop a thorough business plan and go-to-market strategy in collaboration with successful mentors and faculty who are scholar-practitioners and nationally recognized experts. 

During the collective, six of the program’s students, narrowed down from twenty-one students originally in a regional round, presented their ventures to industry leaders in a “Shark Tank” style competition. From these presentations, three were selected as winners. The first-place prize received funding to launch their venture. Below, you'll find a synopsis of each of the winners and their ventures.

First Place: Michelle Boghossian - Palettes of Positivity

Michelle Boghossian is passionate about bringing mental health awareness, support, and resources to children in underserved communities. She created Palettes of Positivity as an outlet for children to comfortably navigate through difficult emotions they may be experiencing with the help of professional art therapists. Not only will they be providing professional art therapy for these children, but they will also have an innovative app linked to their business that allows the children to upload their one-of-a-kind artwork to a digital marketplace. More importantly, the app facilitates effortless connections between artists and buyers, thereby ensuring financial stability for the children's future. Michelle believes that using creative expression through art allows us to color the lives and restore the minds of our future generations who may be struggling with their own mental health issues and financial stability.

Second Place: Stephanie M. Mosely - The Antidote Conference Inc.

Stephanie Mosley, founder of The Antidote Conference Inc., created a tax-exempt nonprofit that facilitates two-day events of intriguing and comforting panel discussions, creatively therapeutic workshops, and entertainment to help turn [domestic, sexual, & sex trafficking] abuse survivors' lives, chances at justice, and finances around. They will be launching in Los Angeles, CA in April 2025 before embarking on a nationwide tour via college campuses to help survivors in every state in the nation, and they won't be doing it alone! Not only are they strongly advocating for the creation and implementation of a Federal Safety Net to help all survivors rebound, but they are also expanding a budding relationship with the U.S. Dept. of Justice Office on Violence Against Women to collaborate on the evolution of our Criminal Justice System to become vastly more trauma-informed.

Third Place: Jason Strickler - Thinking Academy

Thinking Academy, founded by Jason Strickler, is an individualized after-school program that assesses students' individual needs, connects them to social services, and provides them with comprehensive mentorship and support to help them thrive. The organization intentionally focuses on youth who fall through the cracks and by doing so improves outcomes for students, families, and schools in low-income communities. Get involved by sending an email to jasonstrickler13@gmail.com.

The SEC Enterprise Collective takes place twice a year in Los Angeles and Washington DC for our MA in Social Entrepreneurship and Change program.