State Forty Eight Foundation Entrepreneur Speaker Series

State Forty Eight Foundation hosts its first-ever Entrepreneur Speaker Series Sept. 1 through Oct. 13. As part of the organization’s initiative to foster local entrepreneurship and innovation, the free virtual series will offer aspiring entrepreneurs and current business owners the opportunity to learn directly from Arizona industry experts and business leaders.

The seven-part series will be streamed live from the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation located on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in Downtown Phoenix. Sessions will take place weekly from Sept. 1 to Oct. 13. and will consist of the following topics and speakers:

Sept. 1: The State Forty Eight Origin Story: Our Biggest Lessons in Entrepreneurship
Mike Spangenberg & Nicholas Polando, Co-founders of State Forty Eight

Sept. 8: Identifying Your Vision & Your Why
David Freedman, CEO and Founder of Freestar
Carly Figman, Market Research & Validation Lab Coordinator at CEI

Sept. 15: From Dream to Reality: Business Goal Setting
Julia Peixoto Peters, Founder and Co-owner of Peixoto Coffee

Sept. 22: Cover Your Bases: Legal and Financial Planning
Talia Offord, Associate General Counsel
Kim Reedy, President and CEO of OneAZ Credit Union

Sept. 28: Building a Brand & Creating Retention Through Sales and Marketing
Lorena Garcia, CEO and Co-founder of Majka
Dominic Orozco, Chief Strategic Marketing Officer at Gila River Hotels & Casinos

Oct. 6: Help! Identifying Resources
Charlie Lewis, VP of Venture Development and Physical Sciences at Skysong Innovations
Sarah Benken, CEO and Founder of KNOW Women

Oct. 13: Maintaining the Entrepreneur Mindset & Learning from Your Mistakes
Templeton Walker, Entrepreneur and Investor
John Shufeldt, NextCare, MeMD and Author

The sessions will be a mixture of motivation, storytelling, and practical advice, including direct access to professional resources and tools provided by series speakers. In addition, those who attend and fulfill all requirements will be eligible to apply for a grant in the amount of $500 to put towards their business venture. Grants have been made possible thanks to series sponsors like the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, Stellar Technology, and Soulpod.

To learn more about grant eligibility and to register for the series, visit www.sfef-speakerseries.org.