This summer at Soteria I worked on, quite literally, everything. I was involved in every aspect of the company:
- Legally establishing the LLC
- Working hand-in-hand with our partner in China on our sourcing strategy
- Developing and executing our sales strategy
- Reaching out to new and existing customers
- Marketing and advertising our company and product offerings
- Working with our customshouse broker and transportation broker to manage the import and deliveries of our products
- Managing the company finances – invoicing customers, following up on payments, filing state sales tax, reconciling the bank statements, managing the wires and relationship with the bank
- Establishing the suite of tools to organize the company (warehousing software, tax-filing software, etc.)
- Developing the literature that described our company and product offerings
- Working with a graphic designer to envision and create the brand and design

The company’s mission is to deliver high-quality, vetted, directly-sourced PPE to critical workers, focusing on customer service and on time deliveries. By working in all of the above capacities I was effectively and consistently carrying out the mission of Soteria.

It was such a privilege to be afforded a meaningful avenue through which to apply that which I learned in my courses – especially material studied in Accounting and Operations. I put into practice fundamentals that I studied, including how to read a balance sheet and income statement. At Columbia Business School, I am focusing on entrepreneurship and social enterprise. Definitely working on Soteria this summer was a fantastic opportunity to put these areas of focus into practice. Working on a business in its earliest phase I learned to wear all the hats and build the business in all aspects. I really enjoyed this experience and feel far better-equipped now to start another business in the future. Regarding social enterprise – we felt the business itself fulfilled a social mission by delivering critical protective equipment to vulnerable workers, including farm harvest workers and food processing plant workers. However, we wanted to go beyond and also focus on the social mission by committing to donating masks to those who cannot afford them. Our commitment was to donate 100,000 masks to nonprofit organizations. Thinking through the most effective ways to fulfill this mission – both deciding on mask donations and vetting avenues for distribution – was a valuable way to exercise my studies in social enterprise.

Our earliest challenge was determining if we should import medically-certified masks for the medical community or non-certified masks for industrial use. We encountered a great deal of misinformation – or rather, rapidly-changing information – by the CDC and FDA regarding the legal requirements to import masks for medical use. We felt it was so important to support medical workers during this pandemic, but also feared that with all the changing FDA regulations, that our masks might get held up at customs due to factors outside of our control. We decided to make the strategic decision to focus on getting masks to critical workers outside of the medical field – first, these people were vulnerable and at risk, and second, masks were all being diverted to the medical realm and production plants were left without supplies. This proved to be a very good choice because we got our masks imported seamlessly and found that those in food production were desperate for supplies and without options. We felt very good about our decision to equip critical workers that were working to continue our country’s food supply.

I learned so much from this invaluable experience! The opportunity to build a business from day one has added so much to my repertoire of knowledge and experience. I learned that I enjoy being involved in all aspects of the business and that relationships and the drive to provide exceptional customer service is an absolute driving force for me. It was gratifying to leverage my background in international sourcing and importing to contribute to a meaningful cause relating to the pandemic. The business has slowed down considerably in the last month as more supply has entered the country and more players have entered both on the manufacturing side and the importing side. While I do not believe that Soteria is my long-term career, I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn about setting up a social enterprise and engaging in an effective manner in this global pandemic.