What It’s Like to be a Ruckus Entrepreneur

A typical day of the Ruckus Entrepreneurs program starts by gathering as a group and discussing what we’ll be doing for the week. The day usually begins with some conversing between interns before our project is shared. Whether it is a presentation or product making we have captains to help lead the groups along the way. As a captain it is your role to facilitate the group and provide assistance when needed.

If the day is about making products, whether it’s lip balms, deodorant, shea balms, or soaps, we make sure everyone understands the process of making the batch . As a group, once we have everyone assigned a role, we begin our process of product making. About half way through our process we take a break where we can communicate with staff or the other group. After this we finish off the product making and prepare for the rest of the week.

If instead we are starting a presentation or another project, we will first get into groups and get ready for the week. For projects, we usually have four or five groups of 3–4 interns. If our project relates to making charts based on past sales then we each get a role, such as researcher, organizer, speaker, captain. As a group we present at the end of the week and share our findings to the other groups and staff.

Throughout an entire session it’s a cycle of product making, project presenting, field trips, and selling events. Some field trips allow us to celebrate all the work we have put in for the past 2-3 months and look forward to the next session. Our selling events involve all the products we have made in the session and setting up at partnerships locations in hopes to sell our products. A few interns will cycle through being upfront with customers that way we can get experience for the future. Eventually the session has to end but by then we’ve made memories to last ages.