Juniors Start New Entrepreneurship Club

Upper School Entrepreneurship Club: It all started on the golf course. Where else?

Back in the spring, juniors Amelia Dickerson and Courtney Comeaux were talking at golf practice about starting a club.

“My mom [Elyse Stoltz Dickerson ’93]wanted me to start a club, andCourtney also wanted to start a club,” said Dickerson. 

Comeaux added, “Freshman year, I wanted to start a DECA [Distributive Education Clubs of America, which  prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management] club, but you have to take an economics or business class, and they [FWCD] don't offer that until junior year, so it wouldn't have been possible,” Comeaux said. “Amelia  mentioned something about maybe having speakers come, and I thought that was  a great idea.”

Because the Upper school doesn’t have any clubs that cover entrepreneurship and Dickerson’s mom had some connections, including Allison Ellsworth, Founder and Chief Branding Officer of Poppi, they decided to create the club.

Dickerson’s appeal to entrepreneurship was watching her mom start her own company, while Comeaux’s inspiration is her mom, Katie, who works in finance. Both are interested in studying business in college. 

Dickerson and Comeaux hit the ground, hosting  their first speaker on October 18. Abe Minkara, who runs Legacy Knight investment firm and previously worked for Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, came to campus. He talked to students about how to become an entrepreneur, what it was like to run the various Shark Tank businesses that Cuban invested in, and provided some Shark Tank behind-the-scenes stories. 

Their second  guest speaker was Ellsworth. Over Zoom, Ellsworth shared her background and how she created Poppi and why. Following the presentation, students had the opportunity to ask questions about the company and about starting a business in general. 

Dickerson and Comeaux also have incentives for students to come hear from the guest speakers and attend the meetings. The last incentive was a drawing for two cases of Poppi.

They have been working hard to plan the rest of the speakers they want to either invite to campus or have on a Zoom call. Coming up are Holly Thaggard, Founder of Supergoop; Mia Meacham, Former Vice President of Marketing for Drunk Elephant; and Kari Crowe Seher, Founder of Melt Ice Cream. Dickerson and Comeaux are so excited about this club that they are already planning the guest speakers for next year.