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WE Global Studios has partnered with the The UCI Paul Merage School of Business to award 20 UCI female student entrepreneurs new membership scholarships for the 2022 school year.

UCI Partnership with WE Global Studios to Grant 20 New Scholarships For Women Entrepreneurs

By The UCI Paul Merage School of Business

Irvine, CA - (June 06, 2022) -

Thanks to a strategic partnership with the Dean’s Office at The UCI Paul Merage School of Business, WE Global Studios will be awarding 20 UCI female student entrepreneurs new membership scholarships for the 2022 school year.

The new partnership offers students membership into a leading edge Founderverse™ ecosystem for women comprised of peers, senior domain expert advisors, corporate partners, service providers and beta customers, all focused on driving revenue. WE Global Studios is an AI Founderverse Platform and Life Cycle Innovation Studio whose mission is to power the successful startup life cycle of female founded companies from ideation to exit/IPO. Run by and for women entrepreneurs, WE Global Studios focuses on architecting a business foundation that de-risks the founder journey as they launch, scale and grow their startup.

The partnership’s scholarships program represents a significant new investment in the next generation of women leaders. “These scholarships are made available to any female undergraduate or graduate students at UCI who are actively engaged in developing a company, alone or with co-founders,” said Dean Ian O. Williamson of The UCI Paul Merage School of Business. “Any industry or market sector is eligible to apply, and while tech-enabled products and services are highly-encouraged, this is not a requirement.”

The new scholarship opportunity was announced by Fernanda Carapinha, founder and CEO of WE Global Studios at an event for UCI undergraduates and MBA candidates on May 27. “We are a media influenced tech company passionate about building the next generation Studio that produces companies not movies and develops founders not actors. Our roots straddle Hollywood and Tech so we understand the value and power of media and role of content in launching companies and developing thought leaders as well as the importance of crafting AI driven systems and processes that demystify and democratize —for the current and next generation of founders — the startup building roadmap and best practices.” said Carapinha. “The Future Is Ours—that’s our movie.”

Inspiring the next generation of business leaders

At the May 27 event, titled “Developing Your Founder DNA™,” Carapinha and Eve Psalti, a member of the WE Global studios management team, encouraged an audience including undergraduates and graduate students to build their psychological foundation for success. They led students through an exercise to craft personal power statements by asking them to complete the deceptively simple sentence, “I am . . . “

“This is your elevator pitch to that person next to you, to yourself, to the world,” Carapinha said. “In order to be successful, you need fully commit to and live that future identity now, and your life will catch up.”

By focusing on professional identity, students refined their understanding of the value they offer and the mission they serve. To help them visualize their future, Carapinha asked them to imagine the movie about their careers: What would the movie’s title be? What story would it tell?

“No one goes to a movie because the character is perfect. We go to watch someone overcome an obstacle and grow into their future self,” Carapinha said.

How someone overcomes those obstacles can be instrumental to their success. Carapinha drew parallels with riding a motorcycle. “If you focus on the obstacle in the road, your handlebars will steer towards it and potentially cause you to crash. What are you steering towards?”

Hitting bumps in the road is a normal part of growth. “We should be proud of our failures because it often means we were brave and went for something great. Now we have something to learn from as we go at it again.” Carapinha said.

About The UCI Paul Merage School of Business

The UCI Paul Merage School of Business offers three dynamic MBA programs – plus PhD, specialty masters and undergraduate business degrees – that prepare business leaders for our digitally driven world. Through our programs, students acquire the exceptional ability to grow their organizations through strategic innovation, analytical decision-making, digital information technology and collaborative execution. While the Merage School is relatively young, it has quickly grown to rank consistently among the top five percent of all business programs worldwide through exceptional student recruitment, world-class faculty, a strong alumni network and close relationships with both individual business executives and global corporations. Additional information is available at merage.uci.edu.

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