Learn more about Propel

Kate Fawcett
Medill ’24

Spring Cohort

Leva is a holistic networking platform for women to meet connections through shared interests and hobbies.

Eden Hirschfield
Medill ’22

Winter Cohort

Indigo Social Club will curate pop-up nightlife events at Evanston venues with the goal of creating fun experiences for Northwestern students and supporting local businesses.

  • “[The best part of Propel was] my mentor, Judy Lubin! She provided me with incredible guidance, advice and support throughout the quarter.”
  • “My mentor has been incredibly helpful in providing me with support, resources and connections to help grow my business. I also loved being part of a cohort of entrepreneurial women who were always willing to provide feedback on my ideas and give me honest advice.”

Haley Hooper
SESP ’23

Winter Cohort

Clupspot is a space dedicated to connecting and informing students about the events, clubs, and organizations on their campus.

Catherine Lamb
Kellogg ’22

Spring Cohort

Liquid Confidence is the only hard kombucha on the market made with premium spirits that lets you party without compromise.

  • “Propel was incredible. I am so grateful for this experience. I wanted to become a part of Propel to connect and surround myself with a network of similarly driven women that want to succeed in a given area of business like myself. I adored everyone in my cohort and I cannot wait to see where everyone takes their projects post-Propel!”
  • “The most important part of Propel has been twofold. One: my amazing mentor, who took time to look over our pitch deck, give advice on being a woman in the startup space, and offered to introduce us to potential VC partners. Second: the weekly Propel meetings, which kept me accountable and also inspired by the other amazing entrepreneurs I spoke with every week.”

Stephanie Oguine
Kellogg ’21

Winter Cohort

Stephanie Oguine | Music Artist Project is an inspirational video series on YouTube based on the music and journey of artist, Stephanie Oguine.

  • “Propel provided an incredibly supportive space to try things in my creative work and journey that I have always wanted to try. My idea went through multiple pivots, including the creation of an inspirational video series that followed through the original music I released over the course of 2020. The series ultimately brought me right back to the simplicity of singing, with my final videos in the quarter helping me cross the first YouTube subscriber threshold, a milestone that enabled me to claim my own personalized YouTube url. The entire journey was a rich learning experience filled with remarkable levels of support every step of the way. I am so grateful for the Propel program and it is truly one of the highlights of my experience at Northwestern.”

Shanna Traphoner-Liu
Kellogg + McCormick ’22

Fall Cohort

bekome is the Hinge dating app for finding therapists – we aim to remove the emotional exhaustion from the process of finding mental healthcare and connect clients with their best fit therapists by focusing on personality fit and cultural competence.

  • “I have found the community of strong, inspiring entrepreneurial womxn to be most important for my Propel experience. It has been wonderful to learn from these female founders from all backgrounds, experiences, and programs, and despite working on a variety of very different ideas, being able to come together to grow together as founders, share resources, and hold each other accountable. [It] has been an amazing experience.”

Lila Wells
Weinberg ’23

Winter Cohort

The Unite Passion Project is an international guest speaker platform which aims to expose high-achieving-yet-impoverished Tanzanian A-Level scholars to a wide array of career options, activities, and perspectives and showcase ways that various ideas and talents can be translated into meaningful, impactful and rewarding work.

Molly Van Gorp
Weinberg ’24

Fall Cohort

Get Cultured is a lifestyle, interview-based podcast that explores trends in fashion, beauty, and design.

  • “The weekly meetings with the Winter Propel cohort were absolutely crucial to my venture’s progression. Often, and I believe especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to maintain one’s motivation, drive, and ambition in a venture while working alone. Our cohort was completely virtual, but the weekly check-ins with a group of talented, hardworking, and inspired female founders compelled me to work harder and more consistently at my own project. They provided me both a formal and informal support system through which I could ask and answer questions, and outline concrete and actionable goals for myself and my team over the course of the quarter.”
  • “The community and mentorship that Propel provided has been the most important aspect of the program. I had the chance to meet fellow entrepreneurs who supported me throughout my project. Propel’s supportive network extended far beyond these one-on-one relationships. I attended several guest speaker events hosted via the program. Hearing female entrepreneurial success stories was so inspiring to me. Propel really “propelled” me to explore entrepreneurship further. In fact, I am now interning for Palette — a makeup bar startup business in The Garage.”

Sherry Xue
Weinberg ’23

Fall Cohort

Explorate strives to make international volunteering feel more at home through connecting travelers around the world and sharing transparent information and resources about ethical volunteering programs.

  • “Propel provided a sanctuary for female entrepreneurs to grow with ample support from mentors and each other. I feel motivated and inspired every week and became more confident as an entrepreneur to work on my passion.”

Previous Showcases

2020 pROPEL SHOWCASE