Fellow:Nariman Gathers

Nadia Gathers is a University Innovation Fellow at Converse College. In doing so, she works with Epicenter leaders at Stanford University and VentureWell to ensure all students graduate with an entrepreneurial mindset. She is a feminist, like everyone should be. When not actively overthrowing the patriarchy, she studied at Converse College, where she designed the institution's first Social Entrepreneurship curriculum.

Nadia has created a nationally recognized action plan to increase gender diversity in executive suites while increasing profit margins alongside the benefit corporation, Womenetics. She's worked with Buffalo, New York tech start-ups to do the not-so-glamorous dirty work of starting a business. She has developed three award winning business concepts, including a sportswear company tailored specifically to Muslim athletes. She helped create the nation's first environmentally responsive, permanent outdoor video installation, The Front Yard. She's been a facilitator at workshops for at-risk high school students, and coached an all-girls basketball team to a co-ed league championship. Most notably, she once taught a second grader how to read. 

Currently, Nadia runs communications for CODE2040, a San Francisco based non-profit that helps Black and Latinx technologists enter and succeed within the innovation economy.

Nadia is passionate about catalyzing social movements on a local level. She has worked closely with numerous organizations, including Z80 Technology Incubator, Girl Develop It, BLK_SHP, Every Person Influences Children, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. 

Related Links

Converse College

Converse College Student Priorities

Business Model Canvas

Converse College Project Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0cd6s6FWAI

University Innovation Fellows

Spring 2016:

Sanuja Goonetiieke

Spring 2015:

Nadia Gathers