Beyond the Bubble
Women that Rock: Angela K. Antony '08
By Kelly Peeler
Summer 2009
Each month, we profile a female Harvard alum who totally, completely, and utterly rocks! Found out how she got where she is today, so that you can follow in her footsteps!
Name: Angela K. Antony
Harvard College Year of Graduation: 2008
Current job (title and company): CEO, Beanstockd Media Inc.
Concentration at Harvard: Psychology
House at Harvard: Lowell
Extracurricular activities at Harvard: HUWIB. Leadership Insitute/Harvard Presidents Forum. Venture Magazine. JV Sailing, JV Soccer.
Describe your job now: I serve as the head of Beanstockd Media, an MTV-affiliated environmental media and gaming company based in New York City. The premise of Beanstockd is using entertainment as a vehicle to deliver environmental information to people who would not otherwise be exposed to it. Beanstockd News (www.beanstockd.com) does this by infusing breaking mainstream news with environmental information related to the topic of every article. The Beanstockd Game, is an online alternate-reality game that rewards real-life environmental actions in a competitive context. The Beanstockd Game is currently being beta tested at the United Nations' International School. Beanstockd also produces humorous video shorts with our hosts from America's Next Top Model and MTV's The Real World, and later this year we will begin shooting our first feature-length film: a mainstream comedy with an overall environmental message.
How you got there: I started Beanstockd with one of my Harvard blockmates (Sandra Ekong '08, COO of Beanstockd) during our junior year at Harvard. Our goal was to develop a way to involve today's young adults in the environmental movement by harnessing things they are already interested in - such as entertainment, competition, and social interaction. Officially, Beanstockd was born in the basement of Lowell House.
Advice for women who are looking to go into your field: Being a full-time entrepreneur can be both exciting and scary. Although I often get asked in interviews how difficult it was starting Beanstockd while at Harvard, I believe starting a business in college is a fantastic idea. If you can forego the sleep, having the buffer of school mitigates so much of the risk of starting your own company. In Beanstockd's case, we were even able to raise our first round of funding during our senior year, thus allowing us to really hit the ground running after graduation. During my senior year I was also accepted to Harvard Business School and deferred enrollment for 2 years. For me, having a concrete long-term plan also made the decision to pursue an entrepreneurial career after college much easier and more exciting.
Something you know now that you wish you had known in college: This is something I did learn in college that turned out to be incredibly important. Someone once told me that we spend most of our adult lives at "work," so isn't life too short to do be doing something you don't love? Use your freshman and sophomore summers to figure out what you love. Create opportunities and expose yourself to things that sound fun but you would never think to do professionally. These experiences can teach you things about yourself that can open up new worlds to you.
Favorite college memory: My senior year in Lowell I lived in our common room single - every memory in that room was hilarious and wonderful.
Thing you miss most about college: Having all my best friends within earshot.
Anything else you'd like to share: Check out www.beanstockd.com. We're always looking for witty writers and interesting people with big ideas. Feel free to reach out!
