What message will L.A. rapper Nipsey Hussle, real estate developer David Gross, and two marketing professors have for a group of Loyola Marymount University business students?
On Wednesday, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m., Gross and Hussle will engage in a moderated discussion of their partnership in the flagship Vector90 location in L.A.’s Crenshaw District. The social enterprise Vector90, founded by Gross, is a co-working space focused on underserved entrepreneurs and creatives with opportunities for networking and professional development. The session is part of Vector90’s involvement in an experiential learning project at LMU.
Hussle and Gross will speak to students enrolled in a course called “Rethinking the Marketplace,” a foundation to LMU’s A-LIST Pathway – Applied Learning in Societal Transformation. The program’s goal is to get business students thinking about how to achieve the double bottom-line in their future line of work: making money while at the same time doing good.
That’s why a pair of young LMU marketing professors – Mitch Hamilton and Julian Saint Clair, co-creators of the A-LIST Pathway – reached out to Gross, a developer and entrepreneur working to create a pipeline to Silicon Valley for underrepresented students in his hometown of South Los Angeles. The flagship Vector90 location is just the beginning as Gross has plans to partner with other influencers in multiple locations across the country. Together with Hussle, Gross invested in the Vector90 space in the center of the Crenshaw District, a location that other companies might overlook.
At LMU, Hamilton and Saint Clair will engage Hussle and Gross in a discussion of their vision for a diverse entrepreneurship pipeline as well as the story of Vector90’s inception.
This event is the kickoff to a “Shark Tank”-style competition among LMU A-LIST students that will involve Vector90 hosting – and potentially funding – their winning business concepts later in the semester. Vector90 joins the list of previous A-LIST partners, including Jessica Alba’s Honest Company and a vegan soul food restaurant in Inglewood started by Angela Means (from the movie Friday).
