Filed under: shokat cards | Tags: death, grandmother, mourning, shokat parsa, sick, strength
How the heat stabs me in the back,
Each step, a twisted memory of the past.
The breeze is your shadow, life’s contradiction.
Tears are the drizzle this unexpected front in july.
The glass of your eyes.
Strong and beautiful.
i must be too. i think I am too.
Filed under: Fresh180 | Tags: adoree durayappah, Fresh180, healthy fast food, pepperdine business plan competition, sarah parsa
Meet Adoree.
Adoree is one of the first to arrive. She knows the Encino campus well as she had been attending classes there for just over a year now. She sets her colorfully oversized motorcycle helmet on the floor behind her seat, she wouldn’t be using it for another four hours at least.
Adoree had recently left her job as a producer at PieTown productions, a television production company that produces and develops programming with Women’s Entertainment, Lifetime, Logo, the Food Network, and Home & Garden Television. She had enough of entertainment and enough of ego – she was an entrepreneur and wanted to start the adventures.
Meet Sarah.
Sarah walks into the crowded classroom - a few minutes late as she battled the 405. She wonders how her best friend Corey managed to convince her to take the class in Encino. Her eyes scour the room for familiar faces, no such luck. There is Corey, he saved her a seat.
Without realizing, she volunteers herself to pitch her business to the class. She is the first of many to take part in this process and only four concepts would be selected to pursue in class.
Ever since Sarah started the MBA program at Pepperdine, she had been waiting for the opportunity to focus on her greeting card and invitation business, shokat cards. She was an entrepreneur and the business needed help -she needed to work smarter, not harder. She didn’t know how she could possibly work harder. She hoped to get shokat cards off the ground and couldn’t wait to collaborate.
Sarah had just finished explaining her startup brick and mortar/ online greeting card company, quickly followed by another lady who worked for Hallmark cards. That’s funny, Adoree thought. Another girl with a greeting card company. Adoree had her own start-up greeting card venture. All the forces seemed to be pointing in the direction of greeting cards.
Adoree was the last to speak and her words had a natural glow to them. Healthy fast food? That just seemed too straight forward. It’s a no-brainer. . . how come it hasn’t been done yet? Various people in class offered diverse yelps of support ranging from: We all want it! Let me know when it opens! The reaction was overwhelming and the excitement more than any Pepperdine classroom had felt in awhile.
Sarah liked Adoree’s energy and ideas and spent the twenty minute break talking about their shared passion for greeting cards. . . and healthy fast food? By the end of class, Susan and Marty formed the other half of our team and we were well-balanced and ready to move forward. Little did we know where it would take us. . .
Filed under: Fresh180
February 2nd, 2007 at Pepperdine’s West LA campus
Email Header: Semi-Finals!!!!
Adoree was the fuel behind the fire. Ever since she had presented the idea of a business plan in our class, we moved forward at super speed, researching every aspect of the plan with the passion and persistence of entrepreneurs. Now, four months after the initial idea – we had made the semi-finals of Pepperdine’s competitive business plan competition.
Marty just had a baby. Susan was crazy with work. And Sarah was trying to rebuild her company. . . Besides that, everybody was still in school. But, there was something about this plan that could not be overlooked, we really believed in it’s potential. We truly felt for its future. We could not help but take it seriously.
And that we did. We found ourselves tweaking the plan and powerpoint in the wee hours, preparing for the “Fast pitch” semi-final round. Apparently, we were one of ten teams invited to present out of the otherwise large pool of applicants. We were just about ready.
Adoree was sleep-talking the presentation- mastering the statistics, the accents, and the logistics behind each slide. And we found ourselves tweaking the final presentation just moments before the presentation. She looked sharp. Slim and dark with a touch of lime green, just like our logo. The presentation was even sharper. Clean and simple, appealing visuals throughout. And the research was phenomenal. I was impressed by us.
One of the panelists reached for a deliciously large cookie and begins to munch. She is quickly deterred upon realization of our concept: healthy fast food. We laugh and encourage her to enjoy it in moderation. So the presentation begins. I felt like a proud mother, watching Adoree deliver the presentation with poise and confidence. And when she closed the deal with our last slide, our favorite slide, the panelists broke into applause.
We were shocked. . . did they do that for everybody?
We felt like a bag of money was fork-lifted off our shoulders and deposited into our bank account and stood anxiously before the panel of professors, awaiting the much-anticipated Q and A. We had practiced our “um, we have no clue” line that could be adapted, depending on the nature of the question: “That is a wonderful question, indeed. That is something that we will consider and most certainly discuss with our board of advisors.”
Hiccup.
She just asked about financial percentages and spoilage. Our financial specialist was trapped on the 405. Two minutes into the Q and A, I had already used our line, allowing us to carry on. So we carried on and beautifully fielded the other questions, primarily clarifying our general concepts in greater detail.
Our financial expert enters the room, slightly distraught from her experience on the world’s most frustrating highway. She quietly placed herself in the corner and I quickly retreat to her side, seeking answers for the previous question. In no time, Susan recites the percentages and appeases the judges with credible answers - teamwork and Timing. That is what this is all about.
Thank You, Susan. Great work, Adoree. Our heads are high and our eyes are on the prize. The cookies, that is - we were starving!
Filed under: Fresh180
February 20th, 2007
The blue letters of my ICal read it months before, but little did I know that our team would be chosen to compete in the Finals of the Miven Partners/Pepperdine Business Plan Challenge.
We were given almost two weeks to double the length of our presentation and present before a amphitheatre full of students, entrepreneurs, and professors at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus.
Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much nor did we successfully manage to balance life, school, our own businesses and the competition. We worked great as a team - what she couldn’t do, I could and vice versa. And, before we knew it, it was 8 am on the twentieth. There was nothing more we could do. Our friends and family came out to support and managed to serve up the samples (aka judges bribes) in good form.
The presentation was fabulous, Adoree was a pro! We were optimistic and anxious to hear the results, happy to know that we had given it our all and it was now out of our control. It was noon and the award ceremony wasn’t for another six hours. However ironic, We were too tired to go home and nap. Unable to sleep on Malibu’s wet lawn, we just hung out. Something we had not done for ages.
Before we know it we are at Dukes restaurant in Malibu, anxiously awaiting the news. So. . . .?
At Dukes, we like to say that we both “won” and we “lost”:
We are HONORED to announce that we won Pepperdine University’s Socially-Minded Entrepreneur Award 2007, $1,000 cash, and a Gap Analysis (valued at $5-10,000).
We were disappointed to hear that we did not come in at #1 in the actual competition. But, we are entrepreneurs and that certainly
won’t stop us! It is worth noting that we did walk away with an additional $2,500 and a lot of motivation to carry on!
The award demonstrates that we are heading in the right direction. . . we are very proud to have such recognition behind ourselves and our business. And we are honored, that you, too, are a part of it.
Where does that leave us? I think we will probably sleep for the next few days. . . and then after that, we will take a “fresh” look at our plan, utilizing all of your fabulous feedback in order to make the concept stronger. In addition, we plan to enter more business plan competitions and to speak with angel investors and VCs to help us figure out the best way/ time to move forward.
Filed under: Fresh180
Malibu, California.
http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/students/bplan
Filed under: Fresh180 | Tags: fresh180 healthy fast food pepperdine business plan com
Most people didn’t understand why we were sponsoring this event. How can you question anything having to do with charity?
Adoree and I agreed that our decision: “just feels right”. We were not sure why and could not quantify our decision to sponsor Aviator Nation’s Challenge for Charity Run. . . but we never, once, doubted our choice.
I found myself rocking out to Billboard’s top hits of the 80s in the car on the way to Malibu. As we drove to the race. . . At five in the morning. . .Yes, It was still dark. Very dark. . .
We were all geared up for the event: trunk full of marketing and mercandising materials, hula hoops, jump ropes, bean bags, healthy schoolbook cookies, colorful fruits, and a whole lot of energy. You know, the usual stuffs. 
Adoree was a lil’ jumping bean all morning. A chiling mixture of cold and excitement. We spent our time meeting new people, touching base with old friends, and playing with the kids - From the lovely Butter Buster’s nutritionist to our fellow Pepperdine students who had read our business plan to the fabulously well-mannered children from the Children’s Lifesaving Foundation who could not get enough of the hula hoops!!!
We have so much to look forward to! We cross our fingers and continue to work hard to make this fabulous vision come true. Thank you Aviator Nation, The Children’s Lifesaving Foundation, The Special Olympics, and Rajan for making this all possible!
Filed under: Fresh180 | Tags: fresh180 healthy fast food pepperdine business plan com
I peer back to observe the herds of children in matching shirts- they obediently follow their teacher up the escalator. The stairway is almost empty - we are the only ones. The irony is disturbing and T try not to let this bother me.
Adoree and I, as usual, are starving and make a quick stop in the cafeteria before heading to the next seminar entitled: “How to eat healthy at fast food restaurants”. It was noon and the cafeteria was PACKED with children and I cannot help but observe the ironies.
1) We are all attending a health expo - shouldn’t they serve healthy food? Children were drooling at the unhealthy food options - there little that could be considered to be fresh or somewhat healthy in sight.
2) Children need supervision/ guidance/ role models (I am sure they were there, but I did not see one teacher/ anybody superpervising in the cafeteria)! Of course kids will continue to purchase burgers, french fries, soda (and who knows what else) if nobody is looking after them. I mean, I sure did it when I was a kid - but thank God for my parents - otherwise I would be living an uphill battle!
Don’t get me wrong - I am not blaming the teachers, I am analyzing the system and something is not right. Is it the school’s fault? The parents? Our culture? In my opinion, it is an odd combination of all three, mixed with a slurry of other factors.
Background: Tavis Smiley, a PBS phenomenon and fabulous speaker, has taken on childhood obesity. The event, sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, took place in LA’s convention center on Friday and Saturday, March 30th and 31st (event was free to the public) Please visit: www.roadtohealthtour.com for more information.
Filed under: Fresh180 | Tags: fresh180 healthy fast food pepperdine business plan com
Excuse me? Did we hear you correctly? You want Fresh180 to sponsor Challenge for Charity run in Malibu??? We are flattered and honored but I don’t think you understand. . . we are still a concept. You know that impressive marketing budget in our plan – it’s not real! At this stage, we don’t have that kind of money. All we have is a few thousand dollars from Miven Venture Partners/Pepperdine Business Plan Competition.
Adoree and I bounced emails back and forth enjoying the attention we were getting and playing with the idea of a sponsorship.
The more we thought about it, the better it sounded. Not only was the event in support of children’s charities, but it was also a great opportunity to build our brand equity and increase brand exposure. As socially minded entrepreneurs, we believe in helping support children’s charities. As businesswomen, we believe in getting the word out using alternative methods to generate awareness, build a buzz, and ask for help from those who are interested. In fact, we were scheduled to sponsor a 10K in year three of our plan, but why not test it out on a micro scale early on?
At this early stage of our business, we are unable to afford to sponsor kids or merchandise, but we will use our creativity to get the most out of the experience with the least amount of money. The possibilities are endless and we are thrilled - we look forward to seei you there!!!
Come out and join our team on March 31st in Malibu for the 5K or 10K: Please wear green and sign up at: http://pepperdinec4c.org
Filed under: Fresh180
March Seventh, 2007 at usc.
Adoree and I sat next to each other, listening to a large, sophisticated panel of angel investors interrogate the two otherwise boring-looking men at the front of the room. We were the last group to present and our stomachs were quite upset - as if rebelling from the snickers and fruit juice we called lunch (oh, the irony).
Mix in a few servings of nerves and before you know- . . .”now, we’d like to introduce two students from Pepperdine University, representing Fresh180, winners of the Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs of 2007. Please understand that they are not pitching for capital, rather, for feedback. But treat them just as you’d treat any other group”.
We scurried to the stage with our flash drive in hand, surprised to see our powerpoint was already loaded. These people were Legit!. . .And so were we - now was our chance to prove it. Adoree delivered the presentation with the grace and passion she has become known for. The absolutely smitten smiles of the room pacified any feelings of insecurity - the positive energy was contagious.
All in all, another great pitch. Every opportunity challenges us and pushes us to the next level.
We are *extremely* thankful for the opportunity to present to the Maverick Angels in such a constructive and non-threatening environment. Their feedback and potential connections will be critical in helping us determine the best strategy moving forward. So, Thank You “Values-Centered Leadership Lab” and Thank you to Jeff, Shelley, and everybody who was involved in helping make this happen!
Filed under: Fresh180 | Tags: fresh180 healthy fast food pepperdine business plan com
SYSCO trade show for Food and Collins School of Restaurant Management Visit
Thursday, March first, 2007
We were exhausted but knew that we had to attend the trade show. We needed to better understand the supply chain, the food industry and culture, make connections, and start narrowing in on supplier possibilities. What we thought would be “work” ended up being an absolute blast! If only we had shirts that read “WE LOVE FOOD”, that would have been most appropriate given the quantity that we ate.
We sampled everything from burgers to drinks to healthful desserts for the restaurant. But, truth have it that we could not walk by the tri-tip from our favorite restauranteer and potential advisor “Layne” nor the scrumptious cheescake from our loyal friends and supportive teams in the dessert aisle. The samples were absolutely fabulous and the whole event was invigorating and entirely exciting.
We spent a lot of time with the “toy man” - he would become our loyal partner in toy products and kid meals bags as we move forward. In fact, I walked out of there with an inflatable bat (you should have seen some of the funny looks I got!) and Adoree went home with a lot of colorful, paper menus and a frisbee. We also spoke with people regarding packaging options, beverage choices, restaurant connections, and any advice and connections for newcomers entering this competitive market.
We were exhausted but wanted to capitalize on the the opportunity to visit the Collins School of Restaurant Management at Cal Poly Pomona. Our fabulous SCORE advisors recommended we speak with the Collins School as we seek professionals in restaurant operations and culinary expertise. So, we thought, why not? I mean, how often are you in Pomona?
We find our way to the top of the hill where the school is discretely located. The school appeared to be quite empty but we eventually found some students and asked for guidance. Instead, a distinguished gentleman recognized that we needed help and quickly heard what we had to say. In no time, he was pulling a professor, Sandy Kapoore out of the classroom. Apparently, she was THE healthy chef in the school and she has owned and operated two businesses herself. We were impressed with her credentials, but, more than anything, we liked her vibe. She clicked and seemed to uphold the same values that we stood for.
We couldn’t believe our luck and walked away speechless. Almost stunned and excited and overwhelmed by the thoughts of our future. We both got into our cars and headed home, thoughts raging and phones ringing. This was just the beginning and we hoped to continue to follow luck’s path.
