By Kelly de la Rocha, founder of poem RENOVATION
Late afternoon on the final day of the Yale Innovation Summit, John Melillo and I were sipping drinks in the courtyard.
We were thrilled to have been chosen to present about poem RENOVATION at the annual summit, which convenes the innovation and entrepreneurship community for two days of workshops, networking and a pitch competition across five tracks of programming.
The whole thing was fantastic – informative and inspiring. But by the end of the second day, we were mentally drained. Confident our dinky startup wouldn’t win any prizes, we decided to skip the awards ceremony and spend that time networking. We were conversing with a Cornell University professor when John, poem RENOVATION’s strategic business operations leader, glanced at a screen broadcasting the awards ceremony.
“Kelly, I think I just heard them say ‘poem RENOVATION,’” he said, eyes wide.
“No they didn’t,” I replied.
“I just heard it again! I think we won something!” he insisted.
So off we rushed, flustered, in search of the ceremony. We snuck in the packed auditorium’s back door and I crept down a side aisle toward an official-looking man with a clipboard. I whispered that I thought poem RENOVATION might be a winner and made an awkward joke about the “better late than never” category.
Sure enough, we had won the e-poster competition for the arts division. After awards were handed out to all of the people who got to the ceremony on time, John and I were invited up on stage to have our picture taken with a big styrofoam check. It was embarrassing, exhilarating and affirming, all at the same time.
I think back on that moment whenever I find myself doubting my path. Then I take a step in the direction of the next awards ceremony: forward.
