My name is Claudia Jester and I am a University Innovation Fellow at The University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I grew up here and attended

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Oakland Catholic Highschool. I am currently a junior in the College of Business Administration at my university, majoring in marketing and supply chain management, while working towards earning my certificate in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Aside from my academics, I have been involved in a dance club called Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble since freshmen year, choreographing, practicing and performing various types of dance. Dance has always been a passion of mine, along with doing makeup, which is what interested me in the entrepreneurial route. Since middle school I have been doing makeup on my fellow classmates, which eventually turned into a business of mine in high school. Creating a business at a young age was very stressful, but kept my interest unlike most school work. So, when I found out I could incorporate entrepreneurship into my academic career, I felt like I finally had a place at college.

I&E has motivated me throughout my college experience and inspired me to become an activist for it on campus. My UIF team and I have decided to begin implementing a campus wide, interdisciplinary I&E certificate. We’ve noticed a divide between certain schools and a lack of collaboration within our entrepreneurial classes. By creating this certificate, we hope to expand our campus’s knowledge of I&E and inspire other students to become as passionate about it as we are.