Social Responsibility at Smith

Smith Alumni

Successful Smith alumni-owned and operated businesses are proving that social responsibility extends far beyond the classroom. The lessons these entrepreneurs have learned at Smith have worked their way into business models, paving the way for students and future alumni. Businesses like Blumpari and Hook & Ladder Brewing Co. implement different socially aware models to give back to their communities.

Learn more about University of Maryland companies.

Blumpari

Blumpari (pronounced “bloompari”) designs and sells handbags in popular retail areas in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and New York City. Cherry Kwunyeun, a Smith graduate and Fulbright Scholar, has made it her social mission to help disadvantaged women in emerging economies. Kwunyeun, now a part-time MBA student, graduated from Smith in 2000 with bachelors’ degrees in business and art. She went on to work as a consultant for Deloitte and as an interior design/decor for Pierre Deux, a high-end French textile/home furnishing maker.

In 2001, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Kwunyeun reprioritized her life and career and decided to start her own business. “I was inspired by the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity,” she said in a 2007 story. Kwunyeun then applied to become a Fulbright Scholar and completed a design certificate program at Parsons, The New School for Design.

“The goal of my hybrid business is to link companies with microfinanced producers, designers, and educational institutions to support diversity and economic development in different countries,” Kwunyeun says. “Melissa Carrier [associate director of the Dingman Center] and Asher Epstein [managing director of the Dingman Center] truly support my business goal of creating a double-bottom line where my primary objectives are both economic and socially driven.”

Learn more about Blumpari.

Hook & Ladder Brewing Co.

Brothers Matt and Rich Fleischer started Hook & Ladder in March 1999, dedicating part of the company's profitability to benefit local firefighters. Matt, a 2005 Smith MBA graduate, and Rich, a firefighter, used scholarship money from the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship to help expand the business. It now has 43 distributors and is sold in 11 states and Washington, D.C.

Hook & Ladder’s  “A Penny in Every Pint” and “A Quarter in Every Case” initiative illustrates the brothers’ dedication to charitable giving. A portion of sales are donated to help prevent burns and to improve burn survivors’ quality of life. “A Penny in Every Pint” commits a $2 donation for every barrel of beer sold, while “A Quarter in Every Case” gives 12 cents for every case sold. Hook & Ladder’s distributors match every donation. In 2006, the company donated $10,000.

Featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2007, Fleischer said:
“We are a for-profit business, but that doesn't mean that we can't benefit our company as well as develop our community through cause branding and cause marketing.”

Fleischer credits the companies continued success in part to the resources of the Dingman Center and the education he received as a Smith MBA.

Learn more about Hook & Ladder or to make a donation to a local fire station.
Read the Wall Street Journal article.