“Entrepreneurship=Innovation”

Andrea Walker, CEO of W. Social Marketing enlightened our class on life as an entrepreneur.

Walker spoke of how she never saw herself as an entrepreneur, and has now been the CEO of her very own company for two years.

She started her venture 18-year-old UAB college student from the small town of Gadsden.  Dreaming of being a journalist since age 10, her dreams were beginning to become a reality.  She always knew that she didn’t want a typical job, and wanted to be in the middle of innovation.

After paying her way through college, interning at countless television stations in Birmingham, and holding countless positions, she was making a name for herself as a young woman.

She learned the skills that it took to build up her portfolio, by being an editor, a producer of a #1 rated evening news program, and web production.

In February of 2009, Walker began W. Social Marketing.  She shared that when she started it, she had no idea what all went into having her very own business.

“As a CEO I’m out there and the face of my company at 26,” Walker said.   “Don’t be afraid to ask for help or go to people who know more than you do.”

She said that there is no shame in saying I don’t know what I’m doing, because you can’t do anything by yourself.

She said that she looks at her young age as an advantage in her position as CEO.  The millennial generation, both Walker’s and ours,  is one that will be the generation to change the world. They’re the most innovative and savvy the world’s seen in a while.

Older generations look at this generation with both fear and awe, and Walker said that “we want to leave a legacy.”

Walker left us with the best things she has seen come from her job as a CEO and entrepreneur. She said that first and for most the people she has met, and second would be the innovation of it.

I left Walker’s speech encouraged and excited to see what the next phase of my life will look like.  Andrea never gave up and built her foundation all on her own determination and vigor, and is now the CEO of her own company.

Thanks Andrea for the pep talk; we all needed that!