Project Resound “A Cool Opportunity” to do Something Great, Pro Bono

For Esther Jeong, Project Resound’s trip to Rio de Janeiro was a unique opportunity at the right time for the right reasons.  

“For me, I think at the time I was about to graduate and I felt like it was just a really cool opportunity and I thought it was really cool to do something pro bono with skills culminated between undergrad and grad,” Esther said. 

She also had an itch to travel and after the trip to Rio de Janeiro with Project Resound she traveled to Colombia to visit friends.

The project allowed Esther to see the effectiveness of design thinking, its overall impact and different areas it can affect. She also was happy to apply design thinking to a startup setting. 

Esther worked on the team assisting Charme Favela, an Afro-Brazilian fashion apparel collection and online retail business that is designed, produced, and operated by talented Batan residents, with a goal is to inspire community togetherness and pride in the history and beauty of black culture.

Esther loved that the team was able to help someone build momentum in a business and apply newly-learned expertise to business practices. She also enjoyed being able to support a business through knowledge and design skills rather than monetarily.

“Personally, everyone can use design thinking for their problem-solving capabilities, designing for a need instead of just putting stuff out there. Knowing who your customer is leads you to the answer of how to solve your problem,” Esther said.

Esther said Project Resound offers “an opportunity for students to make a difference, to meet other students and teachers they haven’t met before,” to travel and meet people from all over the world and to use “design skills for something more.”

She said she remains friends and stays up to date with Project Resound participants on Facebook. 

One of the most important things she got out of the trip, Esther said, was being able to share culture and experiences that otherwise you never would be able to. “It was priceless, to experience that first-hand.”