Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

From the corners of Texas, Illinois and North Carolina, through the power of American Airlines, EJ, Laura and Abigail were brought together by Diane Sabato to put on a spectacular event at the Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, MA!

To kick things off, Mayor Sarno of Springfield welcomed back the Tour after a two year hiatus and introduced the one and only EJ Carrion, who as always brought his high-octane moderator mojo and got the crowd going for our two fabulous speakers, Chad French and Christie Rosales.

The Tour was delighted to have for the first time Chad French, a high school dropout and teenage parent who has gone on to be a successful entrepreneur. Chad gave a motivating speech about overcoming early struggles and his how favorite quote “If you can’t you must, and if you must you can” inspires him.

The crowd of 400 high school and STCC students also got to hear from Christie Rosales, a gourmet Latin-flavored ice cream maker (yum!) who has been on the Tour with her sister previously but was solo for the first time. Christie and her sisters looked to inspirational quotes when they were starting their business and Christie had the audience share some of their favorites.

To wrap up our amazing day, we had an outstanding panel of local entrepreneurs in addition to our speakers. Mark Chamberlain, Mychal Connolly, Lisa Johnson Goodman and Edilena Florentino all came by to give us a hand with helping students realize and accomplish their dreams of entrepreneurship. The students and panelists made some great connections, with some panelists going as far to offer internships or apprenticeships to students who are interested in their industry.

After wrapping up the event our team and speakers will be once again spread across the country but will soon reunite to spread the inspiration of entrepreneurship to all!