“I’m very creative. I feel like when I’m not being creative I’m wasting my time here on earth,” said actress and producer Ashley Tisdale during the Startup Grind entrepreneur conference held in Redwood California on Feb 14.
This conference was put together for the purpose of gathering startup companies already established as well as young entrepreneurs who wish to network and gather more information on how to start their own startup companies. Students from Delta College’s career education programs, including four students representing The Collegian newspaper, attended for one day of the multi-day conference.
Startup Grind hosted a multitude of different guest speakers discussing topics such as “social media and engagement” which discussed how we as consumers engage in social media and “the power of influence” which detailed new forms of media and how they influence society.
Other topics discussed included the rampant use of click-bait.
Tisdale was interviewed by StyleHaul CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski about starting her own production company Blonde Girl Productions. The session was the most popular among the student crowd, with the theater filling up quickly.
“I’ve had a production company for eight years and one of the reasons I wanted to do that was me thinking about as an actress and then I’m not doing a project … I feel like I have to be a creative person so I started that and it’s been amazing,” said Tisdale.
Ethan Moentcihong, a student at Menlo College in Atherton, was an attendee who was there promoting his own startup conference.
Moentcihong who attended many of the talks said he was fascinated by two particular subjects.
“I really liked the ones about venture capitalists and taking about Bitcoin … I’m doing a startup with a friend so it’s very relevant to me,” he said.
Aside from the sessions that were held every hour during the day, booths were set up throughout the conference that showcased the different startup companies and various products such as an app called Lubwe radio mix. This is an app that costs $1.99 in the Apple App Store. All revenue goes towards building a hospital in Zambia brick by brick.
Pheramor was also present showcasing it’s dating app that matches couples based on DNA.
R.J. Manguera, a Delta College fashion student who attended the conference remarked, on what he took away from the experience.
“It’s all about the apps, it’s all about quick response,” he said.
Manguera said the relationship between technology and fashion is important, linking what he learned back to his area of interest.
“The world runs fast because of the Internet and so does fashion it’s related, this is related to fashion because whatever you see out there on the runway goes through social media,” he said.