Spotlight on International Students Who Served on ‘Talk About’ Event Panel with Innovate@BU

in Global Matters
March 21st, 2023

Last month Global Programs partnered with Innovate@BU to host a Talk About event on teamwork skills. Talk About is a series of events for international students led by Global Programs and features topics chosen by international students. This Talk About event focused on teamwork, communication, and resources offered by Innovate@BU for students who have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Four international students served as panelists during the talk: Qi Xia, COM ’23 (MA, Emerging Media Studies); Diego Segura, QST ’24 (MBA; MS, Digital Technology); Doga Sevgi, CAS ’25 (BA, Psychology); and Wenxuan Li, CAS ’25 (BA, Political Science). Kamelia Turcotte, Global Programs’ Assistant Director of International Student Initiatives, and Nana Younge, Innovate@BU Program Manager also spoke during the event, with Turcotte moderating the students’ panel discussion.

Each student brought valuable perspectives to the discussion and shared insights about how they have approached working in teams, especially as it relates to navigating cultural differences.

“One thing that surprised me here in Boston is how formal things can be,” said Diego Segura. “This is my first time studying in the U.S., and the academic environment is quite different from what I was used to in Latin America, but I find it exciting and inspiring to be exposed to new ideas and perspectives.”

Psychology student Doga Sevgi explained how she has found the group dynamics to be different in her major, compared to business school students. “In Questrom, you sign a team contract and if someone does not hold up their end of the contract you can bring it up to the professor,” said Sevgi. “In psychology, I sometimes didn’t even meet my team members until the day of our presentation. That taught me how important communication is with your team and how everyone should know what they are supposed to do.”

On the topic of communication, Wenxuan Li said some of her groups found it difficult to find times that worked for everyone to meet in-person. Because of this they turned to Zoom meetings, and it helped solve a lot of scheduling issues. Segura added that in his experience, “communication is key, and everyone on the team has a gift and a role to play, no matter how small the contribution.”

Segura has much experience working in teams as a serial entrepreneur. He has launched and managed several businesses in his native Guadalajara, Mexico. “My proudest moment was in 2019 when I was named Entrepreneur of the Year with my startup Blanquident,” he said. “As co-founder and product marketing manager, I invented the first-ever activated charcoal dental whitener in Latin America.”

Today, Segura is working on a new business idea and has leveraged Innovate@BU to help build it. His startup, named Segura, is a platform that aims to help low-income people in Latin America create a business, offering users business plan templates.

“At Segura, we believe that entrepreneurship is a path to economic and social empowerment, and we want to make this path accessible to everyone,” he said. “By providing a low-cost, user-friendly platform, we hope to remove the barriers that prevent many people from realizing their entrepreneurial dreams.”

Nana Younge, Program Manager at Innovate@BU

Recent Emerging Media Studies graduate Qi Xia is also working on a startup. Her business provides platforms and software to help secondhand clothing stores grow their online presence and sell more of their clothing online. While a graduate student at the College of Communication, Xia leveraged many of the BUildLab’s resources as she worked on building her business.

“BUildLab is the place where I learned entrepreneurship and the fundamentals of business, she says. “I attended almost every workshop they offered in 2021 and applied and attended the summer accelerator in 2022. The summer accelerator is the place where I saw my idea gradually grow into a minimally viable product.”

As a recent graduate, Xia is working on her business full-time now and hopes to continue to find success with it.

During the Talk About event, Nana Younge shared information about Innovate@BU and the BUildLab’s many resources for students.