The Impact Studio is Leveling Up (literally)

By Katie Moore (BA ’25) and Erica Yang

Three-course meals at the Black Pearl. Mentorship from the Boston Consulting Group. A cohort double the size, with ventures that focus on all corners of the world. Safe to say, the Impact Studio at Ross Business+Impact is reaching new heights — complete with a new space on the third floor of the Ross School of Business, with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Since launching in 2020, the Impact Studio has been building up to moments like these. The Studio has always had more students apply to be part of the Studio than could be accepted, and the need for a space like the Impact Studio is evident — a place where students can come together across disciplines and solve some of the biggest problems our world faces. “This year, we’ve struck new partnerships and built infrastructure that’s finally allowed us to exponentially increase the number of ventures we could accept into the program,” says Erica Yang, Impact Studio program specialist. “I’m really excited to see where we go from here, and the kind of impact the students will be able to make!”

The 2024–2025 cohort is certainly groundbreaking. Not only has it “more than doubled in size” according to Applebaum Innovator-in-Residence Moses Lee, but they come from ten different degree programs across campus. Founders and Fellows range from BBAs, to professional journalists in the Knight-Wallace Program, to MDs. Their entrepreneurial ideas are just as diverse, with a vast variety of ventures: AI for African languages, gardening aid for Bangladeshi immigrants, and redistribution of unused athletic equipment to underserved communities, to name just a few.

The cohort’s diversity is certainly an upside, that’s not all that the Impact Studio offers. “I initially joined because of the interdisciplinary-ness of it all,” notes Tiara Julien, a dual degree student studying for her master’s in UX design and business who returned to the Studio for her second year. “Everyone’s coming from a different program with different experiences; even though it’s in Ross it’s not only Ross. In terms of me coming back, I was able to build such strong relationships that inspired me to pursue my MBA, so the Impact Studio has a special place in my heart.”

Indeed, the Impact Studio is notable in Ross for its commitment to teaching students design-thinking and entrepreneurial skills that are equitable and impact-focused, and focusing not just on typical business models but all kinds of social enterprises and impact-driven ventures. “It’s the only place in Ross where we don’t have to think automatically about a unicorn startup,” says Maya Ambady, also returning for her second year at the Studio. “It could be a nonprofit and still change the world.”

The program stands out to more than just returning students, though. Yasmine Mansi notes that what originally drew her to apply to the Studio was that it “offers interacting with different people from different schools” and that she “saw an opportunity to grow and use the resources of Ross to grow my venture to make a bigger impact on other people’s lives.”

This year, the Studio is vastly expanding its resources to reach more students on the University of Michigan campus. The application process to get into the Studio has always been highly competitive, and the Studio hopes to be able to continue to scale and grow to meet student demand.

The year began with a weekend-long Bootcamp aimed at giving students a crash course in entrepreneurship so the rest of the year could be focused more on hands-on business growth. Kicking off on Thursday night with a three-course meal at the Black Pearl, the Bootcamp set a new tone for the Studio: one more driven, professional, and inspired than ever before.

Fancy meals and 8:30am weekend challenges aren’t all the Studio is adding to the table. Founders and Fellows jump into the program armed with not only a custom-made Impact Studio Guidebook that guides them through the Design Thinking process and teaches core principles in designing equitable enterprises, but also advice from experts in their field such as Nikki Gusz, co-founder of Lloyd, an affordable career-coaching platform that eventually sold to leading job seeking company Talent Inc. “As an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to deal with the unexpected, deal with failure, and keep being tenacious throughout those obstacles,” Gusz notes. “You also have to have empathy for your customers, for your colleagues, for your partners, for your investors, and also for yourself… I think those are skills that I see in [these] students and that I hope to utilize in interacting with them as well.”

Gusz is just one of an array of mentors the Studio is bringing in this year to help student ventures reach their full potential. Founders and Fellows have access to successful entrepreneurs, startup and educational experts, and — in a new and thrilling addition to the Studio — collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group. Spearheaded by BCG project leader and UM grad Noam Kimelman, this year’s participants will have the chance to visit BCG’s Detroit offices and talk to consulting professionals, gaining invaluable insights into how to better their businesses. Whenever the partnership is brought up, there’s a noticeable, crackling excitement in the air; the Studio’s students are ready to bring their best. Together, these mentors are an integral part of the new infrastructure the Studio is bringing together to be able to support more student ventures.

Even in the early days of a new age for the Impact Studio, it’s notable how inspired the Founders and Fellows are coming into the program. Speaking to anybody involved in the Studio, conversations inevitably focus on passion, excitement, and transformation for good. “I’m really excited about the people,” says Steven Lohan, a BBA student and founder, adding that his Studio peers are “big dreamers who think that they can change the world.”

It’s just this ethos that the new-and-improved Impact Studio fosters: a drive to make good, to solve problems of underserved communities, and to truly change the world.