We Must Start

Bristi Basu is a 2015 graduate of DSST: Green Valley Ranch HS and is currently a sophomore at the University of Denver. As a senior at DSST: GVR HS, Bristi participated in the first ever senior intensive entrepreneurship course as well as a summer experience in East Africa. Through these respective experiences, Bristi and her team developed a youth led academic support platform and a clean water/hygiene curriculum. At the University of Denver, Bristi is involved with Volunteers in Partnership, the South Asian Student Alliance, and the Public Achievement Program at CCESL. Bristi is passionate about women’s rights and access to education.

Fletcher Richman is an engineer, entrepreneur, and a venture capitalist. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he started a couple of failed startups before cofounding Spark Boulder, a student incubator and coworking space that teaches students modern technology skills and provides a space for coworking and events. He also helped start TEDxCU, and built a lot of cool hardware including gloves that use motion to control music. After he graduated, he worked as a data analyst for PivotDesk, a Techstars company, then joined Galvanize to help them with their venture fund. Today, Fletcher works at Galvanize as a data analyst.

Kathy Ku is the co-founder and head of production at SPOUTS of Water, a startup that is working to provide access to safe drinking water by manufacturing affordable ceramic water filters in Uganda. Kathy first traveled to Uganda after her freshman year at Harvard University and while living with a host family she experienced firsthand the problems of water-borne illnesses. After failing to find an existing organization willing to take on this problem and manufacture ceramic water filters, Kathy decided to take a year off from college and pursue SPOUTS full time. To date, SPOUTS has provided 55,000 Ugandans with safe water and they continue to expand both their reach and impact. Since starting SPOUTS, Kathy has also completed her B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and M.S. in Engineering Science at Harvard University.

Christian Chamberlin, aka Low Viscosity, grew up in Westminster, Colorado and at the age of sixteen he and his brother successfully crowdfunded his first mixtape via Kickstarter. Christian has always sought to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and curate his own education, as demonstrated by the fact that he attended Watson University in 2015 and madelife in 2016. Since releasing his first album, Christian has continued to create music and use rap as a vehicle to inspire and empower listeners to live their authentic lives and share their unique talents with the world. Interested in checking out Christian's music? You can download his first mixtape, second mixtape, and also listen to his most recent music on bandcamp.

Sheila Qasemi is a 2015 graduate of DSST: Green Valley Ranch HS and is currently a sophomore at Yale University. As a junior at DSST: GVR HS, Sheila participated in the first ever entrepreneurship course where she prototyped a henna pen. Sheila went on to join the senior intensive entrepreneurship course and summer experience in East Africa. Through these respective experiences, Sheila and her team developed a volunteer matching program and a clean water/hygiene curriculum. At Yale, Sheila is involved with Design for America, Community Health Educators, the Living History Project, the Teaching Peace Initiative, and she is also a public school intern at Hillhouse High School.

As an undergraduate student, Bill co-founded Spark Boulder, a creative space for students to grow themselves and their companies. Today, in addition to pursuing his MA in Communication, with a research focus on civic engagement and interaction design, Bill works for Elephant Journal, as well as running Arete Logistics, a third-party logistics provider he founded in 2010. Through his many projects and roles, Bill constantly seeks to engage in his community and address public issues through a problem solving mindset.

Wahid Hossain is the founder of Oikkyotan, a professional consulting firm, which supports rural entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Wahid also created the global brand, Tiger Bow, a bowtie that supports rural artisans in Bangladesh. His goal is to simultaneously protect and promote the unique heritage and culture of Bangladesh. In 2014, Wahid was honored as a Resolution Project fellow at the Harvard National Model United Nations. Also check out his 2016 TEDxCU talk titled “Globalization: A One Way Road?”.

Tessa Zimmerman is the founder of ASSET Education. ASSET Education started because of Tessa’s personal struggles growing up with severe anxiety— and her recognition that the school system’s attempt to provide her with the support she needed didn’t work. The social/emotional curriculum of ASSET Education incorporates practices like mindfulness and positive psychology to help students self-regulate their emotions and become resilient in the face of adversity. Tessa is a recent graduate of Watson University and has been recognized as a thought-leader in the health and wellness industry. Additionally, Tessa is featured in the book, 2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers And Changing The World.