Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Craftistas takes top place in Student Sandbox Demo Day competition

Thursday, August 16, 2012, By Diane Stirling
Share
School of Information Studies

Startup entrepreneur Camille Malkiewicz found out that going last among 15 presenters in the RvD IDEA Student Sandbox Demo Day competition had its benefits, after all.

Craftistas entrepreneursHer company, Craftistas, took first place, winning $1,000, a travel stipend, and most importantly, a highly sought spot on the presenters’ stage at the Early Stage East venture capital showcase this fall. The slot represents a huge chance to attract serious potential investors and to obtain funding to take the subscription service do-it-yourself fashion-kit company to the big time.

“I’m estatic, I’m so happy,” says Malkiewicz. “There were so many solid teams. The last few months I’ve been working alongside them, and I think highly of every single team, so I was really so surprised to win,” she says. Malkiewicz also is thrilled to be attending the Early Stage competition. “You have to apply, and there are hundreds of thousands of applications to present,” she says. “And to get the golden ticket—wow! It is so exciting!”

Malkiewicz, of Syracuse, graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communicationswith a master’s degree in advertising in May. She spent the last 12 weeks in the RvD IDEA Sandbox, further developing the company along with her team member, To Thu Tra, who is a current student in the Newhouse advertising program.

The idea for a service that curates fashion trends and delivers them monthly to subscribers has been on Malkiewicz’s mind for some time. Into crafts as a girl, she let her creative side go when soccer overtook most of her secondary school spare time. Eventually, she longed to get creativity back into her leisure hours, and that’s how the idea originated.

Fourteen other startups pitched to an audience of about 250 fellow students, mentors, RvD IDEA Sandbox staff and SU and other college supporters at the Demo Day competition. The presenting teams were selected from among 34 teams initially brought into the RvD IDEA Sandbox this summer.

The objective of the RvD IDEA Sandbox is to accelerate the process of ideation, development and deployment through mentoring and coaching. The experiential-based program’s objective is producing revenue-generating entities or investment-ready firms, according to John D. Liddy, entrepreneur in residence there and an adjunct faculty member at SU’s School of Information Studies (iSchool).

More so, the experience provides a taste of real-world startup life within a backdrop of support, guidance and access to resources. Students who spend their summer in the RvD IDEA Sandbox enjoy a dimension and scope of practical experience that wouldn’t otherwise be obtainable before they step into the real world, he says.

“It helps them recognize that having the idea is not enough, that you have to execute on that idea, and that execution takes lots of parts and pieces,” Liddy noted. “The experience portion is vital; through the process of doing it, you become much better at it—and by that, students will have a much richer education.”

The RvD IDEA Sandbox, an EDA University Center, has experienced tremendous growth, going from a modest start in 2009 with five teams, to 12 in 2010, 21 last year and 34 in 2012. There also has been tremendous growth in the number of mentors active in the program: from four initially to the 115 who assisted with all aspects of guidance this year—including entrepreneurs, professors, technologists, subject matter experts, attorneys and accountants, Liddy says.

Judges were entrepreneurial leaders David Freschman, Christine Tate and SU University Professor Carl Schramm.

  • Author

Diane Stirling

  • Recent
  • University Musicians, West Point Band to Perform Together This Weekend As Part of Events Around Military Appreciation Day
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Christine Weber
  • Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • Languages Unlock Opportunities for English for Lawyers Alumna
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Hope Alvarez
  • Fall 2023 Career Week: Helping Students Achieve Professional Goals
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Gabrielle Lake
  • A Commitment to Arts and Sciences Excellence
    Thursday, September 21, 2023, By Dan Bernardi

More In STEM

Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers

Miguel Guzman ’24, a native of Lima, Peru, is a senior biotechnology major in the College of Arts and Sciences with an entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises minor in the Whitman School of Management. His research centers on developing bio-enabled protein…

Center for Sustainable Community Solutions and Environmental Finance Center Announces New Director

The College of Engineering and Computer Science is pleased to announce the transition of Melissa Young into a new role as director of the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions-Environmental Finance Center (CSCS-EFC) at Syracuse University. CSCS-EFC is housed within the…

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Attends UN Session on Reducing Plastic Pollution

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Svetoslava Todorova attended the second session of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee on Plastics this summer in Paris, France. Todorova was invited as an academic expert based on her research on the environment,…

Experts Say Federal Agency or Global Organization Should Govern AI, New Survey Co-sponsored by Two University Institutes Finds

A new survey co-sponsored by two Syracuse University institutes finds that a majority of computer science experts at top U.S research universities want to see the creation of a new federal agency or global organization to govern artificial intelligence (AI)….

Q&A With School of Information Studies Dean Andrew Sears: Seeing Countless Opportunities in the Ever-Changing Tech World

In the rapidly changing world of technology, School of Information Studies Dean Andrew Sears knows it’s hard to predict how technology and the iSchool will evolve if you look too far into the future. But, he knows if you pay…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.