The Princeton Spark went to Thrive: Celebrating and Empowering Princeton’s Black Alumni in search of number #1 tips for networking for startup founders. Entrepreneurial alums Carla Vernón ’92, Kareem Maddox ’11, Hank Boyd ’86, Ian Thomson ’09, Theola DeBose ’96 and Kwanza Jones ’93 gave us some tremendous networking advice.  

For more Princeton Spark, follow us on Twitter @PrincetonSpark and Instagram @PrincetonSpark, and check us out on the web at princetonspark.com. 

SHOW NOTES

Carla Vernón was the subject of an excellent profile by The Alumni Society in 2018. Fun fact: her mother Cynthia was one of NASA’s “Hidden Figures” in 1963. Carla is @CarlaInspired on Twitter and the creator of Tiger Sisters. 

Kareem Maddox is a producer at The Pitch, an entrepreneurship podcast by Spotify/Gimlet Media. In his spare time, he’s only just a gold medal-winning Team USA 3x3 basketball player. Check him out on Twitter at @kareemmaddox. 

Dr. Hank Boyd, Esq. is a clinical professor of marketing at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, attorney, writer, and consultant for clients such as the NFL, Verizon, and Stanley Black and Decker.  

Ian Thomson has been all around the world and then some – you’ll just have to read this profile in “the Prince” to take it all in. Get in touch with him for his bespoke executive search services at OneBridge Partners. 

Theola DeBose once went from the Metro desk directly to Iraq, all covered in this recent Washingtonian profile about her life after journalism. You can get in touch with Theola on Twitter at @myjskills or @theolita10.

Kwanza Jones, a self-professed catalyst, is the Founder and CEO of SUPERCHARGED, a lifestyle brand and development app. You can find her on Twitter at @thekwanzajones. 

Read more about Thrive: Celebrating and Empowering Princeton’s Black Alumni at thrive.princeton.edu and our recap of the entrepreneurially-focused programming at the PEC website. 

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Music by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills (Wright Seneres, electric guitar and electric bass; John Damond, Jr., drums). Engineered by Dan Kearns and Dan Quiyu at the Princeton Broadcast Center, and Wright Seneres on location at the Thrive conference. Edited and mixed by Wright Seneres. Promotional readings by Megan Donahey '20.

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