On Wednesday, January 22nd, BUILD community members from across the country came together to celebrate National Mentoring Month by participating in our virtual Flip the Pitch competition. BUILD volunteers were split into groups and assigned a real student product to create a pitch for. All they received was an image of the product – it was up to them to decide what it was, who it was for and how to pitch it! Judging our competition were three amazing BUILD Alumni – Marianny Solis (NY), Nahla Limbrick (CA), and Aury Fernandez (NY).
“This event reminded me how powerful collaboration can be—it pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me see other perspectives in ways I didn’t expect.” – Katie Fernandes, Global Employee Experience Team Lead at AppDirect, BUILD CA Corporate Partner
The competition included three teams. First up was Claydoh – presented by Eileen Stewart (BUILD Pittsburgh), Katie Fernandes (BUILD Bay Area), and Riley Rodgers (BUILD Bay Area) – a product pitched as being a better-formulated and parent-approved replacement for Play-Doh. Next up was Decompress in a Pack, a “stress survival kit” pitched as an impulse buy item for college bookstores, presented by Doug Fielding (BUILD Bay Area), Irene Montalvo (BUILD Bay Area), and Kevin Perry (BUILD DC). We closed out the competition with Woof! Waffles, healthy and fresh dog treats from the minds of Ahsan Ahmed (BUILD LA), Candice Tang (BUILD Bay Area), and Jen Sprague (BUILD Boston) – their team was especially impressive with their ability to put together a full PowerPoint deck in the few minutes they were given to prepare their pitches!
The winning team of the night was Decompress in a Pack! It was a tight competition, with Woof! Waffles close behind in 2nd place and Claydoh was only 1 point behind in 3rd! Our Alumni judges gave fantastic feedback with volunteers saying it reminded them of the advice they would share with student mentees.
It was so special to gather many incredible BUILD volunteers and alumni from around the country to celebrate their contributions to our student community and recognize the amazing trajectory of our alumni! We are so grateful to all our volunteers, Business Team Coaches, and Board Members who give their time and energy to mentor our students throughout the school year and into the future.
