News from My Own Business Institute

Welcome to the newest edition of MOBI’s Newsletter. With each issue we reach out to our students, alumni, partners, and readers to share important highlights from the My Own Business Institute at the Leavey School of Business, Â鶹ŮÀÉ. We hope you will enjoy these updates and continue your relationship with MOBI on your path toward entrepreneurship!

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Thank you from MOBI!

New MOBI Leadership

Please join us in welcoming the institute’s new Co-Interim Executive Directors Emily Wilcox and Chris Norris! For each of them, the new MOBI leadership role complements, leverages, and expands extensive experience championing business education, business development, and community engagement. We are honored to welcome their incredible talents, expertise, perspectives, and leadership as we embark on our next chapter. 

In addition to her new MOBI role, Emily serves as the Senior Assistant Dean of External Relations for Â鶹ŮÀÉ's Leavey School of Business. Chris also adds to his current role leading the entrepreneurship initiatives at the University as the Executive Director of the Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Institute. 

Emily and Chris assume leadership for MOBI following the departure of former Executive Director Drew Starbird, Ph.D., who retired at the end of December 2025 after 38 years with Â鶹ŮÀÉ. 

New Curriculum: Building Your Business, Not Just Running It

Ready to turn stability into growth? Learn how to identify and apply practical growth strategies to your small business. Topics include expanding your customer base, enhancing your product or service, leveraging partnerships and collaboration, strengthening customer retention, optimizing operations, and focusing on digital marketing and online presence. Building Your Business, Not Just Running It is the first session in MOBI’s free online Growing Your Business course. Visit the new session now or .

Success Stories

We are so proud of the accomplishments of our MOBI students around the world. Each newsletter we aim to share the story of one MOBI entrepreneur. This edition features three incredible stories: Scorpion Boots, founded by Jaqueline González, Dream Chasers, founded by Jasmine Martin, and Crescent Moon Reiki NYC, founded by Amy Hochman.

Texas resident Jasmine Martin had a dream of starting a group home for victims of domestic violence. She understood that many women and single moms leaving dangerous living situations may feel like their world is coming to an end, and it can be difficult to know what to do or where to go. She realized victims need a safe, affordable, and supportive home for themselves and their families while they begin to rebuild their lives. She became inspired to help domestic abuse survivors by sharing her home, and she realized this could be a new business opportunity as well. With this idea, Jasmine and her partner could pursue her dream of entrepreneurship while helping single moms and women create new dreams for themselves, too. With this inspiration and entrepreneurship education provided by MOBI Dream Chasers was born! Jasmine has expanded her business to offer in-home preschool as well. Read the Dream Chasers Success Story here.

Broadcast television editor Amy Hochman discovered the wellness practice of Reiki when her career took an unexpected turn. She advanced in her own Reiki practice and pursued training to become a Certified Reiki Master Practitioner (CRMP), not envisioning that her passion would one day become her business opportunity. It wasn’t until she took the MOBI Starting a Business course upon the recommendation of the , a MOBI partner, that Amy felt a spark of possibility. She founded Crescent Moon Reiki NYC in September of 2025 and continues to add to her services portfolio. Read the Crescent Moon Reiki NYC Success Story here.

Would you like to share your entrepreneurship story with MOBI and our readers? Whether you’ve already started a business, are in the planning stages, or just want to share your experience with the MOBI courses, we want to hear from you! Click the button below to submit your story!

New Blog Post: How to Improve Your Listening Skills to Boost Your Business

Do you consider yourself a good listener? While listening may seem natural, active listening requires focus, intention, and practice. For entrepreneurs, active listening is one of the most important communication tools because it helps you truly understand customers, investors, employees, and mentors. Active listening is cited as one of the top leadership skills that builds trust and engagement. For entrepreneurs navigating uncertain business paths, practicing active listening can uncover insights, strengthen relationships, and drive better decisions.

Read MOBI’s new blog post to learn five ways to sharpen your active listening skills and use them to grow your business.

Partner Spotlight - Purdue Extension

MOBI Partners are an important part of the MOBI program! By forming partnerships with diverse communities of students around the world, MOBI can inspire entrepreneurship in ways that best meet the specific opportunities of each group, and always for free. In this newsletter, we feature Purdue University Extension.

Description: is the community-facing arm of Purdue University, Indiana's land-grant university. The nationwide Extension system serves all 50 states. Purdue Extension connects all 92 Indiana counties with Purdue education and research, meeting learners and communities where they are and fostering education for all with sensitivity and responsiveness toward current needs and opportunities. 

Purdue Extension utilizes MOBI’s free entrepreneurship curriculum as part of its Community Childcare Initiative, a program designed to bridge the gap between licensed and unlicensed providers. Purdue Extension recognizes that strong childcare systems strengthen local economies, yet finding affordable childcare is difficult for many families. Moreover, providers often work in isolation and need support. MOBI thanks Brianne Wrede, EdD, Director of Community Childcare, Purdue Extension, for sharing the content below.

Why did you choose MOBI? Purdue Extension’s Community Childcare Initiative provides a 16-week Business Essentials mentoring program, bi-monthly professional development in each county, regional summits, and individualized support and resource connections. We chose MOBI to provide a structured business foundation, professional expertise, and a proven 24x7 accessible learning management platform so our team could focus on relationship building and other programming. 

How is MOBI making a difference for your participants? Our program targets both licensed and unlicensed providers, small businesses, centers, and ministries, many of which may lack access to professional networks and resources and who often have financial and time constraints. Learning business fundamentals through MOBI’s curriculum helps our participants build their business knowledge, gain confidence as learners, and see themselves as business owners. We feel this leads to higher-quality childcare, stronger economic stability, more stable workforce participation, increased access and pathways to professions, and expanded opportunities in rural or underserved communities.

MOBI extends our deepest gratitude to Brianne and her colleague Jennifer Roth for visiting us at Â鶹ŮÀÉ and presenting their inspiring work at our MOBI Spring Advisory Board Meeting. (Pictured from left to right: Annasofia Zuleta, MOBI Operations and Communications Manager; Tanya Monsef, MOBI Advisory Board Member; Emily Wilcox, MOBI Co-Interim Executive Director; Marilyn Utz, MOBI Manager of Programs and Learning Technology; Brianne Wrede, EdD, Purdue Extension Director of Community Childcare; Jennifer Roth, Purdue Extension Assistant Director of Community Childcare; Chris Norris, MOBI Co-Interim Executive Director; Trish Kalbas-Schmidt, MOBI Sr. Director, Institute Relations and Program Development; Jill Martin, MOBI Director, Operations and Communications; Karen Langston, SCU Sr. Executive Director, Development; Drew Starbird, PhD, MOBI Advisory Board Member; and Naren Agrawal, PhD, Dean, SCU Leavey School of Business.)

For more information about MOBI Partners visit our Partnerships Page. Interested in becoming a MOBI partner? Submit a Partnership Request.

MOBI Special Events:

Here are some recent events.

Thank you for reading!

We wish you all the best in business success! 

The MOBI Team