001: Michelle Abbs (Babson College WIN Lab Miami Director)

Michelle Abbs on Innovation City

“My answer is really simple—just don’t be afraid.” — Michelle Abbs

Today on Innovation City we’re talking with Michelle Abbs (@michelleabbs on Twitter) about women entrepreneurs—breaking through the status quo, making a difference, and shaping the future.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency in conjunction with Venture Cafe St. Louis and Venture Cafe Miami, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and inclusion, heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community.

This is our first podcast from Venture Cafe Miami, and we really enjoyed sitting down with Michelle Abbs, Babson College WIN Lab Miami Director. Michelle has over 10 years of leadership experience in the education sector, where she was primarily focused on program management and business development. She was previously part of a manage team at Teach for America Miami-Dade, where she set regional strategy, led execution, and coached over 400 teachers in Miami-Dade Public Schools.

Michelle is a fixture in Miami’s local leadership ecosystem. She received her Masters in International Education from Florida International University, and has a BA from University of North Carolina. At Teach For America she was in charge of innovating and creating new program models.

Topics we discuss:

• Babson College
• WIN Lab Miami (Women Innovating Now) Labs
• Goldman Sachs 10,000 Businesses
• Inequality, injustice, and barriers — and how to counteract them
• The Beauty of Miami
• Drake’s God’s Plan Video
• University of North Carolina and Teach For America
• Variance in high-school graduation rates
• Changing the education system and closing the graduation gap
• Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America and CEO and Co-Founder, Teach For All
• Self-efficacy and the social conditioning that female entrepreneurs face
• The power of female role models
• Female founders, testing business models
• Finding the sticky ideas
• Creating a growth plan
• How to launch, grow, and scale your venture
• Seed funding, angel funding, and venture funding
• Miami’s entrepreneur ecosystem
• Creating a 50/50 share of venture capital distribution

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