Incubator promotes creative business ventures

As its name implies, the newly formed ACC Incubator has taken its place among ACC's clubs and organizations to nurture and encourage students in the creative use of their talents through business ventures and community collaborations.

ACC student and local business woman Wendy Lopez is the president and founder of the Incubator. Lopez said that her motivation for starting the club was to help students who are starting out in their careers, just as she received help as a young entrepreneur.

The premise of the club is to provide students with real world experience by using their skill sets in actual business ventures. The plan, Lopez said, is to have students form businesses around specific projects. Students will learn the steps involved with setting up the business along with using their skills to produce a product or service for their client. There are also plans to have presentations by ACC professors and CEO's from Fortune 500

companies to instruct and guide students in the running of their businesses.

Each company will engage students from different departments such as film, music, architecture, journalism, fashion and photography.

According to Lopez, Incubator projects may stem from many avenues such as putting on events for Student Life, fellow ACC students and community members.

Jeffery Gonzales is a veteran of the Iraq War and an ACC

student whose new project may be a perfect fit for the Incubator. Gonzales said that he joined the Incubator for help with Operation Talent.

Operation Talent is an organization that Gonzales wants to start in order to help fellow veterans suffering from conditions such as anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder by allowing them to express their talents and gifts through art therapy.

According to Gonzales, it is sometimes easier to express emotions through art than by talking to a therapist or psychologist. "That's what worked for me when I got back from Iraq," he said.

Gonzales said he has already learned a lot about setting up the venture from attending Incubator orientation meetings.

Commercial music management student Rodney Espinosa has also joined the Incubator. "I see a good opportunity to advance my studies with real life experiences," Espinosa said. "I'm just trying to broaden my experiences to help my degree plan."

As a commercial music management major, Espinosa said that he is interested in Incubator opportunities that will involve launching the careers of musical artists and has expressed this interest to Incubator president Lopez.

Lopez is also the owner and president of WCI Entertainment which provides services ranging from event

planning to sound, lighting and stage management. Having managed and promoted bands as part of her current business, Lopez said that she has already contacted some up and coming artists who would like help in launching their careers. "Knowing the positions I've held and the businesses that I've run, people have come to me asking for help since I started college in 2010,"Lopez said.

The Incubator's role, according to Lopez, is to help the artist get their career to a point where they are big enough to hire a professional company. Lopez said that, any proceeds generated from music promotions or any of the other Incubator businesses will be used to fund future Incubator projects.

According to Lopez, she is a major proponent of entrepreneurship because it allows people the freedom to do what they want. "I'm not saying we'll all be millionaires, but we may start our own little business doing exactly what we love," Lopez said. "It's a great way to live."

Lopez who is relatively new to the college experience, said that she is enjoying her time at ACC and with the Incubator. "Even though I've accomplished so much in the business world, I never had the opportunity to go to college. So this is my turn," she said.

"I hope everyone gets to do what they want. For me, this is it," Lopez said. "I love to teach and I want to help."