College Magazine's creator, 26-year-old Amanda Nachman, was a guest speaker in our class today. The young entrepreneur gave us her hard-working story on how she got to where she is today. Nachman started out as a college student here at the University of Maryland. In her junior year, Nachman gained an increasing urge to provide a real, relatable source of information for college students.
"I want to be able to tell a freshman what a keg party is," she said, as one of her examples.
One Friday while Nachman was still a student at the university, she attended "Friday Pitch" at the School of Business' Dingman Center with a group of friends. After pulling an all-nighter, the students' hopes were to get their idea for this magazine approved by the judges. When the judges embraced their proposal, Nachman knew they had something.
Her computer-savvy friend joined the team, and that's when the kick-off began. With the young entrepreneurs relying initially on local pizza shops to buy ads for the magazine, they kicked off College Magazine. They began one of what would become many editions of the print magazine in College Park. After that came editions for campuses in D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Nachman said she became even more assured that her magazine was a hit when she observed students placing it in their bags, instead of tossing it straight into the garbage.
After four long years of hard work and determination, Nachman has advice for the would-be small business owner.
"Don't let funds be your reason for not starting up what you want to do ...that's loser talk," she said. "If you're passionate about something and you want to make it happen, make it happen."
--Savanna Mickens
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