Aw, y’all. I think we gave a great presentation, but sadly, we didn’t win. I admit, I am bummed. The $50K from the Big Idea was awarded to It’s Our Future, an organization training youth environmental leaders.
Thanks to all the Maram instructors, organizers, supporters, and fabulous friends who showed up tonight. I’ve never really competed in this kind of thing before — the last time I did a public competition was, I think, the national Catholic school spelling bee in 8th grade, and only my parents (and maybe little sisters?) were there to cheer me on.
Big thanks to the husbands for awesome support. I think my co-presenter, Carollina Song, would agree with me that we are very lucky. I may have squeezed Kevin’s hand rather painfully during various points of this event, but he never complained
This was super-stressful, competing for $50K for the maker space, which would have let us move into a physical space probably by June, and it really helped having so many supporters there for the process. (That photo against the wall gives you a good idea of my state of mind for much of tonight.)
Now we’re on a longer timeline, I’m afraid, but I want to assure you that we intend to keep going with this — this was just one grant, and there are many more to apply for, Kickstarters to run, business people to talk to, entrepreneurs who might want to invest, etc. and so on.
I don’t think I can do a proper thank you to everyone who worked on this — Carollina Song, of course, but a host of other people came out tonight, or came to pitch rehearsal sessions, or have been helping all along the way.
Also, I have to go pack in a minute, because tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. I get on a plane to go to an academic conference. (The conference is in Florida, and if you think I may be downing a strawberry daiquiri or two while I’m there, that would not be an unreasonable assumption. *After* my panel presentation, of course.)
But thank you, thank you. Even though we didn’t win tonight, we put together what I think is a really strong five-minute pitch, that will likely be useful for other funding presentations going forward. And y’know, we’ll probably be back to apply for the Big Idea next year. Wish us luck!
(If you happen to be a millionaire or billionaire looking to invest in a community makerspace, give me a call. We’ll name a room after you. 🙂 )