Promote beauty products using a cadre of amateur enthusiasts? Sell athletic shoes by creating a community of artists? Monitor a patient’s level of insulin with a cutting-edge microdevice? Yes, yes and yes. When it comes to innovation, the game has changed—and these three graduates are playing to win.
Fashion And Technology Meet in a Thriving Business
For as long as she can remember, Stephanie Horbaczewski ’96 has loved fashion and beauty. As a teenager, she tore pages out of magazines to inspire her personal style. At Nobles, she was able to express herself sartorially while still adhering to the school’s conservative dress code. Today, her closet is home to a wide array of handbags, jewelry and shoes—150 pairs of shoes to be exact—and she has established relationships with thousands of fashion gurus from around the world. Horbaczewski is co-founder and CEO of StyleHaul, the first and largest global online video network for fashion and beauty on YouTube. Click here to read more.
An Iconic Basketball Brand Takes a Leap
When Jim Calhoun ’85, son of the legendary UConn basketball coach of the same name, joined Converse in 2011 as CEO, the company was struggling with its once-iconic basketball sneaker division. How could the brand that manufactured Chuck Taylors and sneakers once worn by NBA legends like Larry Bird, uh, rebound? Click here to read more.
Microsensors with Macro Impact
Technological advances are about to disrupt health care and medicine as we know them. And Emma Tall Bigelow ’06 is doing her part to make it happen. Bigelow is part of a three-person start-up, the Baltimore-based Diagnostic Biochips (DBC), whose goal is to use biomedical instrumentation and intervention to revolutionize medical treatment. The team is developing biosensor technology to monitor critical cellular-level chemical changes as they occur within the body. She is co-inventor of the technology—which uses some of the same parts found in cellphones.Click here to read more.
These profiles were featured in the winter issue of Nobles magazine. Click here to read more or download the iPad version to see exclusive content and interactive features.