The School of Business and Global Innovation (SBGI) held its annual leadership symposium on April 17, in the Liguori Center. This event began as a networking event for students, giving them the opportunity to make connections with local business entrepreneurs.

This year’s theme was “It starts with you,” an idea credited to Gabby Troch, one of the event’s main organizers.

Planning for the event began in October 2023, and Troch stated that one of the greatest challenges with planning was finding a way to make everything work.

“You can have ideas for days, but as for what is possible and what can be done, that is the challenging part,” said Troch.

The event began with light refreshments and an introduction from Dr. Chris Spheicher, the executive director of the School of Business and Global Innovation. Posters were set up outside of the main hall and students had an hour to form connections with other people in attendance.

This year’s keynote speaker was Christi Lukasiak, who is most well known for being an original cast member of the hit reality TV show “Dance Moms.” The keynote session was organized by Matt Kokinda, who has been working for Lukasiak for over a year on her podcast “Back To The Bar,” which she hosts with her Dance Moms co-star Kelly Hyland.

Kokinda reflected on what it has been like to work on the podcast with Lukasiak.

“Working with Christi on her podcast has been a dream come true…I cannot fully express my gratitude to Christi for taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity,” said Kokinda.

In terms of her entrepreneurial ventures, Lukasiak has run many different businesses. Before joining “Dance Moms,” she had a business called “Stretch-N-Grow,” a children’s fitness company. As her oldest daughter, Chloe Lukasiak, moved into adulthood, she set up another company known as “Adulting 101,” an online program helping young adults learn information they may not have learned in school.

During her speech, Lukasiak discussed the seven important skills when it comes to business: prioritizing, work-life balance, how to manage a brand, diplomacy, conflict resolution, crisis management and delegation. She discussed a little bit about each topic and then opened the floor for a short Q&A session.

When discussing work-life balance, Lukasiak explained “I tell my daughters to schedule 10 minutes to themselves every day. And every week, once a week, you put an hour into your schedule to do something that is going to help you rewind. Finally, once a month, you schedule a day for yourself, where you allow yourself to completely recharge,” said Lukasiak.

Lukasiak closed her speech with advice to all students, stating:

“As you go through life, and there is something that you see that you want to try, just try it. Truly, try it. You never know what can come to you when you go for something. If you don’t try, you will always think about what could have been,” said Lukasiak.

Following her Q&A, Lukasiak held a meet and greet for students and faculty to get pictures with her.

The symposium concluded with an entrepreneur panel featuring Keyser Leepier and Brianna Florovito who are both local entrepreneurs who run their own businesses. Leepier’s business revolves around the creation of an adult “freestyle-soda machine” that dispenses alcohol. Florovito’s company centers around helping small businesses to grow their companies.

Both entrepreneurs discussed certain challenges that they faced when entering the business industry.

“My entire life I started with money being an obstacle. When I first started, I struggled because I thought that money was the greatest motivator in life, however, that is not true,” explained Leepier. Leepier continued by saying that confidence is how you succeed in the field of business.

“It was really hard to learn how to have this entrepreneurial mindset of having to learn from the ground up.,” explained Florovito.

Despite their struggles, both entrepreneurs were able to build up their businesses, stressing the importance of networking in the industry.

Gabby Troch and Matt Kokinda reflected on the event’s turnout.

“I am thrilled, I think just getting people here was the hardest part. We had a beautiful room, a good selection of food and lines of people. That is more than I could ask for,” Troch explained.

“The event turned out so much better than I had anticipated. I’m thrilled that so many people showed up to hear Christi’s speech and I hope that everybody took at least one thing away from it,” added Kokinda.

Make sure to look out for more information regarding next year’s SBGI leadership symposium.

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