The original idea for the Pay It Forward Summer Internship Grant came through the intensely creative mind and generosity of Dr. Amol Sarva ‘98CC, Founder and CEO of Knotel and a professor of Entrepreneurship at Columbia College. Professor Sarva was able to recruit two colleagues from the Class of 1998; Dr. Neil Patel ’98, ’00 SEAS, and Matt Grossman ‘98CC.
The idea that these Class of ’98 colleagues had was to give students a grant now and ask them to sign a (non-binding) pledge. The commitment goes something like this: If in the course of their entrepreneurial careers they reach a comfortable financial position, they agree to support future generations of Columbian.
This year’s grantees are Camila Rodriguez ‘23CC and Shahreen Hossian ’23 Barnard. Shahreen worked at Issue Voter Inc., an organization that offers clarification on the performance of incumbent officials, explanations of complex bills, and best practices for getting the attention of your representative.
Ms. Rodriguez is majoring in Sustainable Development and Business Management at Columbia Collage. She is also a member of C.O.R.E., the student entrepreneurship club. Camila worked at a new startup Glow Botanica, a platform that promotes hormonal health and wellbeing.
Congratulations Camila and Shahreen.