Last year we hired several new faces to the Make48 team and Sandie Chavez is one of those faces. Our Indianapolis ambassador has been working in community outreach for five years and currently works at Creators Camp, on top of being a mom and grandma.
Here’s a few things about our newest ambassador!
Tell me a little about yourself….
I was born and raised in Indianapolis. I have three amazing kids and one awesome granddaughter. In my spare time, I love spending time with them and traveling. I am also a founder of Creators Camp, a non-profit that prepares young, emerging creators and innovators for the future.
How did you get involved with the company?
I came to the Indianapolis City Series event and loved what Make48 was doing! I was referred by San Pathic with Afterschool HQ and met Katie, Tom, and Amy. Katie recruited me and I came on board. I’ve loved the process and what Make48 is all about and what they’re trying to do in reaching local communities and getting behind it.
What are you looking forward to in your new role?
For me, it’s exciting to see the connections and the relationships that are being built within the community here and at Make48. The more exposure and touches I can do within the community, the more I think that the events will grow here.
Are you a Maker?
That's a hard question to answer, because I'm a maker with my non-profit, where we build technologies with our participants. So we do make things, but maybe not from scratch. It’s equipment that’s in pieces, then we build it together.
It's always fun to see the process with the events here, especially the 48 hour event. That's the only one that I can really relate to with the ideation phase, collaboration, and innovation that comes out of it. And to see the diversity that Make48 really tries to make happen within their experiences, I think that's very important, especially with tech and engineering. It is a male dominated field. But when I went, there were more participants that were female, and it was just like, yes, finally, we're getting women and youth to come and really try to explore the opportunities of entrepreneurship and innovation.
What has been your favorite part about the role with M48 so far?
My favorite part about my role with Make48 is being able to share our mission with my community and give opportunities to everyone young and old to pursue what "could" be into a reality. Our unique events give our participants/teams a real world experience when it comes to innovation, creation, and ideation. It gives them an opportunity to not only have fun, but solve a problem or create a new and innovative product they can take to market if they chose!
What have you learned since working with M48?
When I came to the first event in Indianapolis, I immediately saw the diversity in the teams. Being able to see these teams collaborating and building a prototype, sales sheet, and pitch their product in 48 hrs was amazing!
What do you like to do in your free time?
I am super involved with my kids and like to be with family and friends. I love to travel. I love to eat, so I will spend money on food versus going to the mall any day.
I'm also involved heavily in Creators Camp and we are continuing to build experiences with the local youth here in Indianapolis. So when I'm not working with Make48, I’m working with them.
I also started a skincare business with my daughter, called Olaf Sugar. I'm having her take the lead on this because my hands are pretty much tied up with Make48 and Creators Camp. But it’s been an opportunity for my daughter to explore entrepreneurship and be able to manage and control her time. For her, being a young parent at 26, she's a teacher, and she's just come to this realization that she really wants to spend more time with her own child, which I can relate and understand and respect too. You can always get money, but you can't ever get time back.
What’s something you’ve made or a project that you’re proud of being a part of?
I have tons of examples when it comes to Creators Camp with making and building things. One experience that we built wasn't even tech. We had an animation experience and the kids had to do an animation out of clay, essentially stop-motion animation. Watching them in the beginning, not knowing what it was, or how it worked, or how much time it took, just to make a thirty second short video was amazing.
All the kids had to create and write a story. Then they had to film each piece of their creation for stop motion. Seeing them afterwards, the pride, confidence and their creativity was priceless to me. So that experience, I think as far as making something, was the best experience. I was just there to kind of guide, lead and watch the magic happen. And so for me, that was probably the best hands down experience as far as making something that I've had.
What inspires you?
Creativity, innovation, and making an impact with our youth and the underserved. I love helping people find their superpower(s)!
Make48 is currently hiring. Available roles include city ambassadors and event planner. Visit this link to apply https://www.make48.com/join-our-team
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