Stories & Updates

While the summer heat leads many to long lazy days, two University of Delaware students and one alumna spent the summer of 2021 working diligently to advance social justice and equality of opportunity through their startups. The three changemakers participated in the inaugural Advancing Equity Thru Entrepreneurship Summer Internship Program (ETE), a program designed to support mission-driven social innovators and entrepreneurs as they develop projects and ventures supporting underrepresented and under-resourced groups.

University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship honored 37 women as part of the inaugural 2021 WE Hatch Honor Circle, which celebrates women who are supporting and helping each other overcome the unique challenges faced by women innovators. Nominated by their peers, employees, spouses and friends, Honors Circle members have made a lasting impact on their network and community.

The WE Hatch Practical Insights & Networking Conversations series connects participants with two successful women (a recent graduate and an experienced alumnae leader), who share insights into their careers they wish they had known, practiced or explored earlier. In the virtual sessions participants have the opportunity to listen, discuss, and network in breakout rooms.

At the unique intersection of social entrepreneurship, academia, and public service, you’re likely to find few who have struck a balance as well as Rysheema Dixon, a Philadelphia-born social entrepreneur who has found her calling in serving her community.

Daphne Vantine is an account executive at Wistia, a Massachusetts company that helps marketers make business more human by harnessing the power of video. She earned a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and technology innovation and integrated design in 2018. While at the University of Delaware, she was a member of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority and participated in Horn Entrepreneurship’s VentureOn program.

Avalon Greene is an account executive at NBC Universal Media, where she sells and executes marketing campaigns utilizing on-air, digital, social and on-the-ground tactics. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and entrepreneurship & technology innovation in 2018 from UD, where she co-owned Udwell, which connected off-campus housing owners with potential student renters, and co-founded Revive, a wardrobe-swapping app. She also participated in the Lerner Executive Mentoring Program, Horn’s VentureOn, the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, UDance, the Equestrian Team and a study abroad program in Spain.

Horn Entrepreneurship’s WE Hatch, Empowering Women in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is preparing to launch its inaugural event: A virtual keynote that will feature the program’s associate director, Gail Ball, founder Charlie Horn, guest speaker Amber Glassman, and keynote speaker Erica Nemser.

The event will take place on Sept. 24, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., and audience members will have a chance to participate in a Q&A session.

Having freshly graduated college, Gail Ball was at her first job when she encountered exclusion and discrimination in the workplace because she was a woman.

An avid golfer, Ball decided to sign up to join her workplace’s recreational golf league. But her enthusiasm was cut short to find that her participation was strictly forbidden.

“I got a note saying, ‘No, you’re not invited.

As a biomedical engineer, Ariel Hannum’s foremost mission has always been to make a positive impact on the lives of others. Having recently graduated from her honors program at the University of Delaware, Hannum, CE20, has dedicated most of her time as an undergraduate to contributing to healthcare innovations in imaging technology.