Name: Katie Weiler
Bio: I’m a full-time senior at Drake University and a part-time specialist at Apple. I enjoy reading, cooking and spending time working on my potential business starts.
Title: Student and (soon to be) entrepreneur
Thanks to our sponsor
Age: 21
Residence: Des Moines, Iowa
Website: katieweiler.com
Twitter: @katieweiler
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/katieweiler
Intro music: “Live While We’re Young“, by One Direction
Silicon Prairie News: What were your main takeaways from the Big Dream Gathering last week at Drake?
Katie Weiler: I love the connections that are made at Big Dream Gatherings. We had someone who wanted to learn Hebrew who was able to connect with someone who speaks it fluently. There as also a woman who wanted to learn how to work on antique cars, and she was able to connect with someone who does it as a hobby. It amazes me how much people can help each other if they’re just willing to share what they need.
SPN: As someone with a passion for teaching and learning, what are ways — aside from your formal education — that you make both of those part of your daily life?
KW: Outside of school, I’m constantly reading books about self-improvement and subjects I’m not familiar with. But my favorite learning is from traveling and meeting new people. The things that you learn when you’re in an unfamiliar environment and culture do not compare to anything else, and I want to share that with people who aren’t able to do it on their own someday.
SPN: You’ve said you plan to start your own business after graduation. What sort of venture(s) do you have in mind?
KW: I’m working on getting into doing bookkeeping and accounting for small businesses right now. It’s something a lot of people hate, and for some reason I enjoy it, so it’s a win-win. I’m also working with someone to extract an idea from small car dealerships, so no specific things that we’re getting into with that yet, but hopefully it’s not too far down the road.
SPN: Having spent some time studying abroad in Cork, Ireland, what’s take on the entrepreneurial landscape in Ireland?
KW: When I was there, the country had just been bailed out so getting funding was very difficult for anyone to get money. But the economy has improved greatly since then and the entrepreneurial scene is growing. Most of the entrepreneurial activity in Ireland is coming out of Dublin, and with laws that are generally favorable to business it’ll be very interesting to see what happens there the next decade.
SPN: As the founder of the Drake Dance Marathon, can you assess yourself as a dance marathoner? Best move, biggest weakness, go-to song, most memorable marathon moment … let’s get the whole scoop.
KW: Dance Marathon was something that I wanted to be big and was really excited about, but was a total bust. The most important lesson that I learned was that no matter how passionately you care about something and how hard you work to make it happen, some things just don’t catch on and you have to be willing to understand that and move on, which isn’t easy. However, I was really proud of the fact that we raised over $9,000 for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
Credits: Photo by Calvin Johannsen, VisualHouse.
Prairie Portraits: To learn more about this series, see our introduction post, or visit our archives for past Prairie Portraits. To suggest an individual for a future Prairie Portrait, contact editor@siliconprairienews.com.
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