Profile

Alison Gilbert
Show my name on the attendees list for events I am attending: Yes
"Make misteaks"
I should explain: I do not condone typos, but I do love wordplay. And thinking out of the box. And steak. I grew up in Baltimore, studied history and consumer psychology at Penn, and worked in advertising in New York, acting as a project manager, client relationship builder, timeline master, and unofficial technical proofreader (never a ® out of line). Then I veered off the path to work in the social sector—specifically, youth empowerment and public health in South Africa. There, I developed marketing and communications for a nonprofit that uses peer role models to inspire healthy behavioral change. The innovative approach? Soccer as a means to engage youth to prevent the spread of HIV. The idea of using creative and unexpected approaches to serve a higher social need got me hooked.
Design quotient
Research
0pt
Idea
0pt
Evaluation
4pt
Collaboration
35pt
Total
39pt
Alison commented on Full Circle Cafe
This is a really cool idea, and one that I think could have a very powerful impact on the unemployed youth who become involved--as well as many cafe patrons who become inspired by the program when they get their morning coffee! I like how the youth employees would gain exposure to a wide variety of aspects of the business, opening their eyes to areas of potential professional interests.
In order to make that exposure truly meaningful, I think it would be important to have a committed staff of people with solid real-world business experience as well as the passion to mentor. Having a strong infrastructure to the business itself would enable the youth get meaningful education in those areas, and it would ensure that the business elements of the cafe would be sustainable and effective.
Alison commented on Raise Your Flag