FounderFiles – Cora Poon by Jordy Beale and Reide Pastor-Baranek

Although they come from different educational backgrounds, Cora is currently a fourth year entrepreneurship student at Ryerson while Iris is a first year Early Childhood Education student, they both have a passion for what they do.  In their first summer of operations (2011), they were able to land a total of eight bookings.  In the summer of 2012 however, they plan to double that number to at least sixteen bookings. They have also done a variety of commercial projects such as Footlocker’s in-store advertisement campaigns in winter 2011 and spring 2012, as well as Simon Carter’s launch of his collection at TipTop Tailers.  iris+cora has been able to see a profit since its formation, investing only personal resources into the company including all tools, equipments and supplies.

 

“Balancing my education and venture has been somewhat of a challenge as you are constantly weighing your options as to what should be your priority”, states Cora.  She finds organization is key to ensuring that both her personal, educational and business responsibilities are tended to and are in balance as much as possible.  Nonetheless she does find it helpful still being in school as she explains, “I am able to apply and integrate tacit and explicit knowledge to my business operations, which makes for effective applied learning”.  She also acknowledges that being an entrepreneurship student has provided her with the knowledge and confidence to start a venture on her own.  She has learned over her four years to “think critically of new ideas, always stay informed and be well-rounded in all aspects of business, since all decision-making and control rests solely on the founder.”