The day Kimball Crockett was rejected from University Impact was quite the surprise.
He’d seemed like a promising candidate. He was an economics major who had already been successfully involved in the Ballard Center’s Social Venture Academy. In the academy, Crockett had been a navigator, someone who helps consult student-run startups working to make positive social impact and had helped a team of students get its business idea through all the stages of testing and development. The result was a company called Kente, which imports products from Ghana and sells them in the United States. A portion of proceeds is returned to Ghana to fund nonprofits. Although the finished product was exciting, Crockett was equally grateful for the people he’d met and the connections he’d made as a navigator. He had grown committed to social impact, and he was ready to do more.
So how could he have been rejected?
Here’s where many students would have shrugged their shoulders and given up. Others might have sighed and said, “There’s always next year.” But that wasn’t Crocket’s style. A tribute to his tenacity, Crockett refused to take “no” for an answer. He quickly identified the interview process as the most challenging part of his application and went about to polish his interview skills.
After talking with some of University Impact’s student associates about the questions he had struggled with, he felt ready to approach Dan Blake, the managing director of the University Impact firm. During his meeting with Blake, Crockett volunteered to work at University Impact for free. No doubt impressed with Crockett’s gutsy proposition, Blake agreed to bring Crockett on as a volunteer. And after a few days, the quality of Crockett’s work earned him a position as an intern at the firm.
Luckily for University Impact, Crockett was unfazed by initial rejection. His efforts at the firm—ranging from putting together business analyses, presenting to the investment committee, working on funds strategy, and raising money—have been critical in building relationships between University Impact and socially minded businesses around the world.
To date, Crockett has worked with Impact Capital Africa, Kukula Seed, Impanga, Upaya and several other companies. One of the companies Crockett worked with, Vindhya, is dedicated to employing people with disabilities. Based in India’s tech hub of Bengaluru, the business currently provides jobs for 1,800 “differently abled” people.
Another company Crockett has worked with has given small loans to more than ten million Indian women. These loans are crucial to these women, empowering them to become contributors and breadwinners in their homes. Remarkably, as their income levels rise, the women notice that their husbands treat them with increased respect. “Seeing this helped me to understand that companies can make a lot of money and create social good at the same time,” says Crockett, who didn’t stop in India. His projects at University Impact regularly take him around the world, from Switzerland to France to Africa.
These days, the world truly is Crockett’s campus. But what if he had accepted “no” as the final answer when University Impact turned him down? He would have missed out on some remarkable experiences, and University Impact would be short one talented intern. For students who aspire to break into the world of social impact, Crockett advises, “Put yourself out there. Give things a shot!”
Sometimes you may face rejection, but you can learn to use it as a building block. Crockett notes that the world of social change requires people of varied talents and interests, and that everyone can—and should—get involved.
If you’re afraid to join that club, apply for that internship, or take that hard class, decide to take a chance. You might fail, and that’s okay. Learn from the experience and try again. However, you may have an experience like Crockett and find out that the sky is the limit for those who are willing to take a leap of faith. Here’s to your next big adventure!
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Writer: Zelle Harris
