My name is Cade Kelly and I am a rising junior in the College of Arts and Sciences double majoring in both Political Science and English. I decided to apply to be part of the 2021 St. Louis Entrepreneurial Fellowship through the Skandalaris Center because I have always had a passion for innovation and collaborating with others on new ideas but never found a direct outlet for this kind of venture in any other programs. As an English and Political Science student, I find a lot of topics discussed and studied in the classroom have provided me the proper groundwork to take part in innovative processes, so I felt that branching out into the world of startups would be a great avenue for exactly this. This summer, I am working with a civic and community-oriented startup called Magnify Your Voice. The company was started by one of my previous professors at WashU, Betsy Sinclair, with the aim to connect users to like-minded people to solve shared civic, political, and environmental projects through an online action network.

When I began the search for an internship with a St. Louis startup, I knew that I wanted to get involved with a company that was making real change in the St. Louis region while also aligning with what I am studying. I reached out to Betsy Sinclair to learn more about the work being done at Magnify because I had used the software for a few class projects when I took her course in public opinion and democracy my first-year. With Magnify’s mission to connect civically-minded individuals with others in their community to enact change, I knew that working with Betsy would perfectly match my desires while still providing me that experience of working with a young startup. This internship has been nothing short of a wonderful experience, filled with many opportunities to develop professional skills while at the same time connecting to the St. Louis community in a more meaningful way.

One of my favorite projects so far with the Magnify team has been getting involved with local St. Louis civic organizations and helping them reach their goals with the help of our platform. Recently, I got to visit the Civitas— a St. Louis-based non-profit organization that promotes active citizenship and world awareness for students, to help them set up a Magnify account and teach them about the software to help meet their goals for the summer. When speaking with the Civitas summer intern team consisting of St. Louis high school students, I taught them about the project feature of their Magnify page and how to create projects centered around their internship goals. It was a really inspiring session, not only because I got to connect with the people of St. Louis, but I got to help the next wake of changemakers step up to make a difference in their community.