Business leaders share experience
April 8, 2008
Leaders from well-known local businesses met with students and members of the business community Friday at Columbia College to shed light on their own experiences as self-made people that started from the bottom.
The Columbia Chamber of Commerce Higher Education Subcommittee presented the symposium, and students from MU, Columbia College and Stephens College were invited to participate in the event.
Samantha White, Columbia College Student Activities and Leadership Director, said the symposium was intended to be an informal event in which participants could communicate with the featured business leaders.
Shakespeare’s Pizza Marketing Director Kurt Mirtsching discussed his beginnings as a delivery driver for the company. He said while the pizza business wasn’t his first choice for a life-long occupation, he enjoys working in the industry.
“There’s a time for work and there’s a time for play,” Mirtsching said. “Do both of them.”
Mirtsching said he agreed to do the symposium, in part, because of a “great big ego trip,” but also because he thinks Columbia has been good to him.
“I did it because you’ve got to give something back,” Mirtsching said.
Richard King, owner of music venues The Blue Note and Mojo’s, said the path to where he is now was paved with small experiences, not an extensive education in business.
“It’s not like there’s school to go to for that,” King said.
Ragtag Cinemacafé co-owner David Wilson and J. Martin Hill, publisher of magazine called The Apple, also shared their experiences.
MU Student Life Leadership Coordinator David Roberts said the event organizers, in choosing speakers for the event, wanted business leaders that were self-made in their success.
White said students and other participants were able to make connections with business leaders, as well as learn from their experience.
“I think if you talk to people who have gone out and done something on their own and have been successful, you can learn a lot,” White said.
The event Friday was the first time the event organizers held such an event and White said the event organizers are tentatively planning on holding the symposium again next year. She said if the event is held again, it will be held on a bigger scale and earlier in the year.
Columbia College senior Nick Carroll said he found the speakers interesting and their viewpoints diverse. He said, as president of Columbia College’s Student Government Association, he also found the speakers interesting because they hold leadership positions.
“I like hearing people talking about life, who took a different path that the traditional ‘go to college, get a job right away’ lifestyle,” Carroll said.
Stephens College sophomore LaParis Phillips said as a fashion major the types of business that the event’s speakers are involved in were not interesting to her, but said she admired their passion for success.
“They didn’t let anything stop them,” Phillips said.
Stephens College senior Sarah Whorton, who said she is a film major, said leaders of business in the entertainment industry drew her to the event. She said the leaders showed her that life doesn’t always follow a set path.
“These people were great examples of just following their passion,” Whorton said. “It’s a great message.”
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