The benefits of Greek Life go beyond the college experience. Many of the most successful CEOs and business executives participated in sororities and fraternities, so we spoke with two female entrepreneurs about how their sorority experience has influenced their best business practices.
Fallyn Smith and Chelsea Starr Alexander are the women behind SMITH & STARR, a lifestyle brand that just launched The Conway: the first-ever handbag that keeps you hydrated and looking good. The Conway was created to promote health, sustainability and style since 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. It is the perfect bag for homecoming, tailgates, festivals, Spring Break and everyday hydration.
Fallyn and Chelsea worked together in New York City and were inspired to start SMITH & STARR after both moving to San Francisco. Fallyn, a Delta Phi Epsilon Alumni from the University of Maryland and Chelsea, a Delta Gamma Alumni from Boston University shared three key elements from being involved in a sorority that helped them achieve success in growing their business.
Community – Being in a sorority is all about being part of a community including your sorority sisters along with the larger network at your school including Greek Life and other organizations. Through their experience, Chelsea and Fallyn learned the value of cultivating and caring for your community. While operating a business, you have many different stakeholders including partners, vendors, investors and customers, so learning how to create successful relationships across interest groups and build a community is essential to growing your business.
Communication & Collaboration – Living with 40 girls in one house, determining the theme for formal and organizing volunteer opportunities all take serious collaboration and communication. These skills can translate into every part of life and especially in business when you are working with many different people with different skills sets trying to achieve a common goal.
Creativity – Whether it’s creating a new bid day shirt or coming up with a new fundraiser, Chelsea and Fallyn learned that allowing time and space for creativity is the key to success and fun. This holds true in building a business as well. From coming up with a name, to designing your product and developing engaging ways to attract new customers each day, creativity is key. In order to keep ideas flowing, take time to do things you love to stay inspired.
SMITH & STARR believes in living life to the fullest and is excited to bring The Conway to college campuses to help women stay hydrated in a simple and stylish way. Check them out @smithandstarr on Instagram and on facebook to stay updated!
