Veronika Scott

Veronika Scott is an American social entrepreneur and CEO and founder of The Empowerment Plan, a Detroit-based humanitarian organization.

Personal Life and Education

Scott was born on June 27 in Orange, California, but was raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan. She has 2 younger siblings.[1] She attended Clarkston High School and continued her academic studies at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit where she studied industrial design. Scott lived with her grandparents while she was at school.[2] She graduated from CCS in December 2011 with a degree in Product Design.[3]

Career

During college, Veronika worked as a design intern for The Little Tikes Company (2009-2010) and for ECCO design (2010). In the fall of 2010, in response to a class assignment sponsored by Project H to design something to fill a social need,[4] Scott reached out to the homeless community in Detroit and after five months of working with individuals at a local homeless shelter, she had made a heat-trapping jacket that can transform into a self-heated and waterproof sleeping bag. At the end of the semester, Scott continued to work with the homeless population to create other prototypes and to improve the quality and design of the jacket. Scott went on to hire and train homeless mothers to make the coats.[5]

Scott's idea for her class project quickly evolved into a non-profit organization known as The Empowerment Plan. The mission according to their website is:

Our goal is to help build a better life for those that have become trapped in the cycle of homelessness. We mostly hire homeless parents from local shelters to become full time seamstresses so that they can earn a stable income, find secure housing, and gain back their independence for themselves and for their families.

Awards and Recognition

- In 2011, Scott was recognized by the Industrial Design Society of America and was awarded the IDSA: IDEA Gold Award[6]

- In 2012, Scott became the youngest person ever to receive the JFK New Frontier Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation [7]

- In 2013, Scott was named one of Crain’s Detroit Business “Twenty in their 20’s” [8]

- In 2013, Scott was awarded the Impact Award from the Detroit Pistons [9]

- In 2014, Scott was awarded the DVF People's Voice Award from the Diller von Furstenberg Family Foundation[10]

- In 2015, Scott was named a CNN Hero [11]

- In 2015, Scott was a panelist at the Martha Steward American Made Summit [12]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Discontent, The Great. "Veronika Scott on The Great Discontent". The Great Discontent. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  2. ↑ Discontent, The Great. "Veronika Scott on The Great Discontent". The Great Discontent. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  3. ↑ "CCS Product Design alumna featured in video on CNN". www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  4. ↑ Conlin, Jennifer (2012-02-29). "Young Designers Focus Efforts on Homeless Population in Detroit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  5. ↑ Discontent, The Great. "Veronika Scott on The Great Discontent". The Great Discontent. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  6. ↑ "The Empowerment Plan". Industrial Designers Society of America - IDSA. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  7. ↑ "Veronika Scott 2012".
  8. ↑ Muñoz, Michelle. "Crain's Twenty in their 20s".
  9. ↑ "Detroit Pistons and The Come Together Foundation Announce Game Changer Of The Year And Impact Award Winners".
  10. ↑ "DVF AWARDS: 2014 HONOREE VERONIKA SCOTT".
  11. ↑ "CNN Hero Veronika Scott".
  12. ↑ "American Made 2015 Speakers".
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