Candace Nelson headlines campus-wide entrepreneurship celebration

By: Jasmine Simmons

Belmont’s Thomas F. Cone Center for Entrepreneurship hosted its first-ever Big Idea Week, engaging Belmont’s community and cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit through various events.  

“On a regular basis, we have students from every college on Belmont’s campus who have an idea about a potential business,” Jack C. Massey College of Business Dean Dr. Sarah Fisher Gardial noted. “The Cone Entrepreneurship Center is a place for all students who have an entrepreneurial spark and want to start working on it now.” 

Through workshops, expert mentorship and networking, Big Idea Week was intentionally designed to help students discover their purpose and advance their big ideas.

What’s Your Why Panel 

The week kicked off with the “What’s Your Why” panel led by the Cone Center entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIR), a distinguished group of alumni business founders who support student entrepreneurs as mentors. At any step in the business founding process — ideation, launching or scaling — EIRs are available to mentor and guide Belmont students from any major by providing practical advice, guidance and support for their entrepreneurial journeys. 

The panel created a space for students to step back and refocus on their core motivations.  

“Instead of focusing on your business idea, let’s just go back to the heart of it, back to who you are,” Cone Center Executive Director Elizabeth Gortmaker said. 

This year’s EIRs include NoBaked Cookie Dough co-founder Megan Feeman (music business ‘15), Placemat founder Ryan Reisdorf (health sciences), Olivia Management founder Erin O. Anderson (entrepreneurship, music business ‘06) and KLLWfounder, Drew Lamb (entrepreneurship ‘14).  

The EIRs shared components of their entrepreneurial journeys, motivations for starting their business and what drives them to continue this challenging, yet equally rewarding, work. 

“My ‘why’ for being an entrepreneur is based around wanting to have control over my life,” Feeman shared. “That’s something that I was missing in my corporate jobs. Valuing freedom and having control over my life was my ‘why’ for starting NoBaked and still is my ‘why’ today, through the good and bad things.” 

Along with hearing from the EIRs, students explored their “whys” and set achievable goals. Through the session, students planned actionable steps towards their goals, fostered a sense of agency and purpose in their entrepreneurial journeys and left with a better understanding of their values and motivations.  

Faculty Founder Coffee Talk: Insights from Educators 

Belmont professors offered valuable insights during the Faculty Founders Coffee Talk. Four faculty members who have started businesses spoke to students:  

• Matthew Wilson, founder of Boosey Wilson Group and instructor of entrepreneurship 
• Jeremy Fyke, founder of Two Heads Hot Sauce and associate professor of communication studies and corporate communications 
• Andie Day, founder of Mary Claret Studio and professor of fashion 
• Steve Powell, founder Powell Architecture + Building Studio LLC and adjunct instructor in O’More College of Architecture & Design 

As the moderator for the discussion, Gortmaker highlighted time management as a common concern for student founders. With full plates from classwork to social engagements to transitioning into adulthood, starting a business as a student takes a tremendous amount of time and energy. 

The faculty guests offered wisdom for young entrepreneurs including strategies for time management and balancing multiple roles.   

Instead of fighting a losing battle in the “race against time” mindset that is often adopted during the early entrepreneurial stage, Day encouraged students to view time management and progress from a different angle. 

“I tell myself that your career is a marathon, not a sprint,” she said. “I think that we often have the idea that entrepreneurship is a sprint to success.” 

Day explained that depending on the season, she may have to balance teaching or consulting or personal responsibilities with her business. Since other priorities can prevent her from committing a significant amount of time to her business, it is important to find balance.   

“There are moments when I can commit more time to my business and times when I can’t,” she explained. “In trying to find that balance, I tell myself to just keep doing what you can, even if the pace of growth in my business seems flat.”

Candace Nelson Keynote: An Innovative Trailblazer’s Journey to Sweet Success 

Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles and Pizzana, gave the keynote address for Big Idea Week. 

Sprinkles is the world’s first cupcake bakery and ATM, and Pizzana is a fast-growing chain of award-winning Neo-Neapolitan pizzerias. In addition to being an entrepreneur and best-selling author, Nelson is known for her roles as a Shark in the hit TV show Shark Tank and a judge on Cupcake Wars. 

Attendees listened to a curated “fireside” conversation between Nelson and Gortmaker with time for questions at the end. Nelson’s story emphasizes reclaiming innovation to become a trailblazer. 

“Innovation is about bringing a fresh approach to everyday items that we take for granted,” she said. “I innovated on the cupcake. I’m innovating on pizza. Ultimately, it boils down to the ‘what if’ mindset. I said, ‘What if a cupcake could be aspirational and luxury and different?’” 

Nelson continued, “It’s this idea of just looking at the things we see every day with fresh eyes and applying a new approach.”  

After nearly a decade of conquering confectionery, Nelson sold the majority stake of Sprinkles in 2012. Although she didn’t envision a future in the food industry after selling Sprinkles, “one bite of pizza changed all of that.”  

A serendipitous encounter with her now-business partner Daniele Uditi led to the founding of Pizzana in 2017. Today the company has locations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston. 

Nelson also shared about the importance of embracing failure, developing a personal brand through storytelling and her experience as a guest shark on Shark Tank and Cupcake Wars.  

Attendees also received free copies of Nelson’s most recent book, “Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit.” The book provides a fresh take on what it looks like to start a business as Nelson demystifies entrepreneurship by elaborating on her personal journey.  



Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mindset 

Big Idea Week concluded with a pitch night for students and a celebration at Where the Well Things are and House Of, Belmont’s two student-run stores. 

Big Idea Week showcased the thriving entrepreneurial spirit at Belmont, as evidenced by student founders across disciplines, hundreds of alumni business owners spanning diverse fields of study and numerous faculty and staff entrepreneurs.