Happy 1st Birthday InVenture!

04/15/2011

Indeed, it was a very happy birthday for all of us here at InVenture as we celebrated our one-year on April 15th at the William Turner Gallery/Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA. We reached out to our local community and invited fellow Angelenos to come out not only to celebrate with us but to also preview the reimagination of our new website. With over 100 supporters coming out to partake, we couldn’t have asked for more successes to celebrate on our first birthday:

In-country partnerships in India, Mali and Mexico with The Association for Sustainable Community Development (ASSCOD), Project Muso, and Ámbito Productivo (APROS), respectively.

3 successful pilot programs: we funded 35 entrepreneurs who in turn have repaid their micro-investments in full, hired a total of 22 new employees for their business, and benefitted 124 individuals though community reinvestments in vocational training, women’s health and women’s education.

Winning title honors of 2011 Unreasonable Institute Fellow, 2011 Echoing Green Fellow, 2011 StartUp Chile, 2010 GEW 50 Most Promising Startups Finalist, 2010 TechCrunch LA DemoPit Winner

Semifinalist honors for 2011 Global Social Venture Competition, 2011 William James Foundation Socially Responsibility Business Plan Competition, 2010 Fast Pitch for Silicon Valley Startup Labs, 2010 PopTech!, 2010 CFED

We want to give a huge THANK YOU to our sponsors for making our event possible:
BJ’S Bistro
Big Sugar Bakeshop
Cake Bake Shop
California Pizza Kitchen
Derby Wine Estates
Don Antonio’s
Foody Field Trips
Jersey Mike’s
Klean Kanteen
Native Foods
Platine Bakery
Project 7
PRP Wines
The Sensitive Baker
Uprinting.com
Venice Beach Wines
William Turner Gallery at Bergamot Station
479 Popcorn

Event Coordination by LiAnn Ishizuka and Kristeen Singh

Public Relations by Courtney Mendivil, Founder of Piece by Peace Media

Photography by Raman Gulati

Tunes spun by DJ Sukh: That’s right, the artist formerly known as DJ Prince is back. After rocking parties for over a decade, DJ Sukh has decided that he hasn’t had enough, and apparently neither has Los Angeles! These days,whether it’s rocking house parties or the latest club scene, DJ Sukh is back in full effect.

With an amazing live acoustic performance by Shaheen Sheik: International recording artist, songwriter and producer Shaheen stumbled upon a decade-long music career. From her humble beginnings as a solo singer/songwriter pounding the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles to her steady rise to becoming a chillout/lounge artist featured on Buddha Bar, Shaheen has firmly established herself on the scene as an ever-evolving musician. Shaheen released her first album in 2008, REVOLUTION, and is planning on releasing a collection of work in late 2011.

And a BIG WARM THANK YOU to all of our amazing event volunteers:
Adnan Hussain, Ashish Vaswani, Bhavna Devani, Evan Walden, Jacqueline Nguyen, Jasmin Jenkins, John Mundy, Liz Mijares, Lorian Delman, Nioka Rodriguez, Snow White Bui, Sonali Fiske

-Jen :)