Whitney Chen visits Lehigh

What does it take to get a FoodTV network start to visit a pilot class called, "Art Entrepreneurship Community?"
Awareness, actions, and a lot of connections. Not to be self- serving on this post, but I feel it's important to note some key awarenesses when tracing the path to success.

It all started when I was watching my favorite network, FoodTV. My love of this network started nine years ago when the only thing I could do on maternity bed rest was couch bound. In the days before social media, FoodTV kept my spirits up - keeping me in touch with one of my favorite things to think about, even when I can't cook or eat. Fast forward eight years plus a summer. Grateful now that my kids now love to watch the cooking shows with me.

We were watching the latest "Next FoodTV Star" reality competition. This particular episode featured a backstory on one of the contestants, Whitney Chen. She was talking about how she used to make gazpacho for her DG sorority sisters at Lehigh University. As soon as I heard that, I jumped to the internets for some investigation. Turns out, Whitney graduated just before I came to campus, but had a great story about plucking up the courage to leave a lucrative engineering consultancy to pursue her passion - food.

Through the capacity of Twitter and Facebook, I found my enthusiasm was shared by many of my friends and campus colleagues. Knowing that my enthusiasm needs to be checked - I made sure folks in other offices on campus (especially alumni relations) were OK with my enthusiastic support for her before I wrote this blog post. I also started following her on Twitter (@Whittybites) and after I posted a link off the ArtsLehigh facebook page, she friended me.

A good friend in the engineering department (Thanks Amanda Fabrizio) kept me in the loop of the plans to invite Whitney back to campus - and even asked me for ideas of connecting her to courses. As luck would have it, her schedule allowed her to come to my ENTR 198 - "Art Entrepreneurship Community" course to meet with the students. Knowing that she was very involved in the Lehigh University Art Galleries as a students, I was thrilled to be able to have the class meet in the main galleries at Zoellner Arts Center.

Students were a little timid, but Whitney warmed them up with her charm. After she left for her next appointment at her former sorority house, students shared their thoughts about the characteristics any entrepreneur needs to success. Whitney's story pointed out courage, tenacity, and blod steps AFTER considerable thought and making sure you keep all your windows open as you walk through the next door.

As a professor, I couldn't have been more pleased with the opportunity the students had to meet "the real deal." That moment wouldn't have happened without the tools of social media and strong relationships among the various staff and inter-connections on campus. I owe a great deal of thanks to Amanda for coordinating Whitney's entire visit with finesse.