The 2015 first place Impact & Launch winners were Phillip Habib with his Impact project Learn More, Do More and Victoria Biggers, with her Launch project Wee Celebrations.

Learn More, Do More helps recently released prisoners get into college. Habib is currently partnering with JumpStart, where he meets with each of the men in their program to discuss their interests, help them fill out admission and financial aid paperwork if they are interested in going to school, or job applications. In the six months of the program, Habib has worked with 11 different men. Two of them are currently employed and the other nine started college this semester. They will enter the job market in approximately a year.

Biggers’ business, Wee Celebrations, offers unique set up to clean up parties of all themes for all ages. The parties have add-ons that you can include in your package such as invitations, food, goodie bags and so much more. Wee Celebrations has recently started catering to corporate parties. If a company is hosting a party, instead of each attendee having to find and pay a sitter, Wee Celebrations will come to the party and provide entertainment on site for the children. With Wee Celebrations, company parties have greater turnouts and their guests don’t have to worry about rushing home to get their kids.

Habib won $5,000 plus a marketing and branding consultation from the Strategy Collective, New York. Biggers received $5,000 as well. She also won a year of co-work space from the Iron Yard, Spartanburg. About a month after having won their awards, Old Gold and Black checked in with the winners, asking them about their experience at the competition and where they are now with their plans for the future of their projects.

Following their project pitches at the competi- tion, a panel of judges questioned Biggers and Habib thoroughly. The question process lasted about five minutes, and the questions ranged from detailed inquiries about financials, to strategies for success, to proof of impact with benchmarks and numbers.

“I was having a lot of fun while the judges ques- tioned me,” says Biggers. “The most nerve-racking part was getting up and doing the pitch. That was the make it or break it moment. Any who knows me knows I love talking to people, so answering the questions was a time when I was really in my element. The most difficult question they asked me was probably about scalability. This is something that I have trouble envisioning because it is so important to me to keep the quality that we offer, but in order to expand our business and keep up with the demand, scalability is a topic that we are going to have to talk about.”

Habib agrees with Biggers—the hardest part of the pitch was not so much the questions, rather just getting up in front hundreds of people and pitching the project. He says, “I was actually very comfortable with the questions that they asked. The scariest part for me was actually beginning the pitch.”

When asked how things are going after winning the competition, both Biggers and Habib responded the same—“great!”

Habib does admit that immediately following his monetary award, he wondered “how on earth” he was going to spend it.

So far, he says, “The new publicity has really helped me gain credibility. I have also partnered with Spartanburg Community College since the competition. They are going to be a big help now. Partnering with them has taken out my biggest cost for the future.”

Biggers has made big moves since the competition as well. “I plan to use the money for a graphic designer to create a logo and marketing materials so we can easily book more parties as well as pay to get a website designed that families can interactively plan their parties and book them with ease online.”

Both have long-term plans in mind as well as they move forward with their project. Habib plans to continue creating partnerships in the future in order to reach more people to help. Biggers would like to install an application and training process for her employees, and she plans to be hiring in the fall. “If you are interested in joining our team email me—guys and girls! It’s a great way to make a little extra money on the side, or you can turn it into a full time job.”

For people interested in the Impact & Launch programs or the Impact & Launch Competition, Biggers has this advice: “Just do what you love…. If you have an idea, run with it. Don’t stop when you hit a brick wall; normally it means there’s another way that is smarter (and who knows who you will meet in the process!) Do things on your own time. Juggling a project and Wofford can be hard, but if you love what you are doing you will want to work on it as a stress reliever. And never be afraid to ask for help. There is always someone willing to help and these are the people who will help you accomplish your goals—don’t feel like you’re in this alone.”