BASES Spotlight: Social Impact Co-VPs Marissa Luna and Constanza Hasselmann discuss teamwork, leadership and the importance of social impact

BASES Spotlight April 12, 2020

1. Can you tell me a little bit about where you're from and why you're interested in social impact?

Marissa Luna: I am a senior majoring in Science, Technology, and Society with a concentration in Innovation and Organization. I am also working on my master’s coursework in Sustainability Science and Practice. As for a little bit more about my background, I am originally from Northern Virginia, and I came to Stanford very excited to pursue economics but also human biology. I definitely believe I found that intersection of business and health within the STS major and the Sustainability master’s program. A common thread that extends from my academic curriculum to my professional endeavors and to my extracurricular involvement here is the theme of how to make a positive social impact working toward a more sustainable world. I believe I can best make an impact by empowering communities, specifically women and girls, through education - a theme that I have been able to explore through our Social Impact Team’s programming. 

Constanza Hasselmann: I am a junior majoring in sociology, minoring in human rights. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and grew up in the Washington DC area. I was able to attend public school in Northern Virginia, but would not have been able to [with] the same degree or quality in Brazil. And for my interest initially in education policy, mostly from being so close to DC, when I came to Stanford, I knew that I wanted to focus on people. And that led me to not only care about people based on the values and my beliefs but want to do something to change the status of this crazy world. For me, what I found most interesting [was] the intersection of business— there's this whole entrepreneurship craze on campus— and social impact is more of a challenge. So the inherent idea of a double or triple bottom line is that it's harder to achieve, requiring more thought and more intentionality. 

2. What was it like to organize and run the annual Social Impact Case Competition this past Fall? 

ML: Our case competition is the largest event of the year for the Social Impact Team. The competition involves countless people and components from working with mentors and judges, to deciding on a case, to identifying a venue, to marketing among students, among other responsibilities. In other words, this event requires a significant commitment of time and energy as we start planning the event about five months in advance, but the creativity and innovation that the participants share on the day of the competition make everything so worthwhile.

CH: Yeah, it's a big undertaking. For people who just see it from the outside, and who see it hopefully running smoothly, it's easy to say, ‘oh this is just a couple of things you sort of gather and it comes together.’ But if you look at a lot of the back work that’s necessary, [for] the case that [was] so thoughtfully presented when they walk in, who not only who's going to write that, what's the content going to be, are we going to be about the organization that we choose to pair with a problem that we choose to tackle. And that's without even getting into the actual logistics: organizing the room, working with Stanford, and make sure that we have everything in line, safety wise. Then marketing the event which is something that's usually left last, but we can't forget about because we need people to turn out to it. So, there's a lot of moving pieces, but it's one of those things that when it comes together, you're just appreciative of all the hard work that [went] into it, especially when students have great feedback such as, ‘Oh, this didn't work out so well but overall what I had was really great; man, I learned so much, now I'm exposed to this whole new area that I wasn't before’, so that's really the goal of a lot of the programming we do. It's always really rewarding when that's the feedback we get, so we can improve for future years. 

ML: Exactly, this undertaking is possible because of the commitment and collaboration to make all of the moving pieces (that Constanza was talking about) happen. If I could capture the case competition in one word, I would choose “team” - because the event not only takes the massive investment of time and effort of the Social Impact Team but also of BASES as a whole such as our Co-Presidents and Frosh Battalion. Additionally, beyond the BASES community, there is a large emphasis on team right when you arrive at the Case Competition because you immediately begin working with the team you came in with or the team that you were assigned to in order to craft your pitches in response to the case. We want to continue emphasizing team through every part of the competition. 

CH: And huge shout out to our BASES Social Impact team because the ten of them, who are all directors, all have their own programming, so they're all running their [own things]. That’s how our team functions as opposed to other teams—we feel like that keeps people interested, motivated, passionate about what they're working on, and it means that we have more awesome programming to share with the community. It also means the Case Competition where everyone has to pitch in is an additional requirement. They were super supportive and helped in every single aspect. We could not have done it without them. And as Marissa was saying, [the] idea of team is really integral to the whole case.

3. What is your main priority right now that you guys are planning for the future? 

ML: One of our main priorities is really fostering a team environment among our directors who are all planning their respective events. Something that plays very much hand-in-hand with our team structure and environment is that we aim to encourage each person to take ownership of their event(s). We are, of course, all there to support one another with program logistics and marketing, but we also want to recognize that each person has creative freedom for and initiative over their events.

CH: We're looking at one event that focuses on entrepreneurship and networking skills for students in the FLI community. This is coming up through  a partnership with BEAM, so super exciting. Then, also looking at winter [quarter], we're trying to put together some larger events [and] speakers that look at social impact from different angles. And our biggest priority at the moment is seeing if we can unify the social impact community on campus a little bit, not necessarily as BASES, but as members who care about this space. And such things we're thinking about all, we always have to foster team building like Marissa was saying and keep up with BASES Exec news which is crucial t as well. The VP role is about juggling distinct priorities at once - which is good practice for the real world. It’s fun to see planned programming start coming together. 

4. What is something you would like to share for next year’s social impact VPs? 

ML: I have been on the Social Impact team since the end of my first year, so I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of incredibly brilliant and capable leaders dedicated to social impact. Learning from them has definitely been a pleasure. Although there is not one specific formula to have a wonderful and productive year since each team formation in the past has been different, one piece of advice I would want to offer is keep learning from those around you, exploring your passions, and fostering strong relationships with others. One of my favorite quotes is: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” (Maya Angelou). As a leader, I aim to be intentional with what I do and how I carry out these actions. I would encourage next year’s SI VPs to focus not only on what they are doing but how and with whom they are working.

CH: Echoing some of that, something that's really crucial that we've done well and I'm happy about is communication. On two fronts, one is among the co-VPs, if that's your style of management. It’s important to be on the same page with one another. It's really important that whenever you go into a meeting with the whole team, or even if you go into [a meeting with the Executive team], whenever you are representing the team in any capacity, that you're on the same page, so there's not awkward moments or lapses of like, ‘Oh, I thought we were doing this.’ And that will happen just because you're different people, so  you can read the same thing but have completely different interpretations. Thus it’s crucial to be on the same page about things and have this aligned vision for the team. You can have different priorities, you can have different skill sets, and that’s actually a good thing because it means leaders’ skills are complementary. It works better but as long as you're in alignment with one another.The hope is that that fosters a sense of open communication within the team such that if people are overwhelmed, people want to switch them. That just creates a better team dynamic and environment. [It’s] one thing that we've been really big on, and I hope to see future leaders continue is that honing down. Then, secondly, is letting directors run with their ideas. One of the most powerful things that we've seen is people say, ‘I'm passionate in this, I know a little bit about this, I want to learn a little bit more about this,”and allowing all those things to come together in a way that feels natural. Obviously there needs to be some pushing along to make sure things get done, and our role isn't to force people to do things, it's to allow their ideas to take shape and to take form that in a way that's meaningful to them and will be impactful to the Stanford community. That's where some of our best programming ideas have come from, is by allowing our directors to use their incredible talent and put something together that works well. 

5. Are you interested in going into social impact as a career? How did your experience and BASES inform that decision?

CH: I definitely knew beforehand that I was more interested in things social-impact related back then, not, I think, as I was saying before, that business and social impact or however that you want to categorize that right CSR social entrepreneurship right philanthropic things that are, LLC models that have a little bit more of that risk embedded into it. I think these are new models that are coming up, and that they interest me because they're inherently more challenging. Right. And I think that introducing these kind of nuanced perspectives and forms of social enterprise to the Stanford community is what's made me can continue to be excited about this - because I find out about new forms in the space every day.  Through BASES I had the opportunity to TA ETL (Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders), and that's been really awesome because I'm hearing from these business leaders about how they're including. Corporate Social Responsibility into their business models and how that's something that it's allowed them to not only profit more but be better business community members. And so I think that it's allowed me to learn more, it's allowed me to engage more directly with these leaders, and it's given me a wider perspective that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

ML: I would echo a very similar sentiment because I came  to Stanford passionate about discovering the intersection between business and health. My academic coursework paired with my professional endeavors and my extracurricular involvement have allowed me to navigate my interests in the social impact space. This past summer, I interned with the Women Leaders in Global Health Initiative, which aims to elevate women leaders in global health through the e-learning platform, in-person convenings, among other strategies. With that experience and with other roles such as leading BASES this year or directing a nonprofit called SHE++, I am grateful for the opportunities to explore social impact from a variety of perspectives—from the realms of education, tech, consulting, nonprofits, among others. In all, I have definitely seen the power of empowering communities and elevating voices. With my social impact experience gained inside and outside the classroom, I have learned from other people how to best lead by example and work toward transformative change.