Many students within the Miami University Farmer School of Business have the opportunity to work with real data and companies during their education, and students in Gillian Oakenfull’s marketing capstone are no different. Through a semester-long project, the students got to apply the skills they have learned while working with Spectrum of Sweets.
Spectrum of Sweets
Spectrum of Sweets is a bakery dedicated to supporting autistic talent by being dedicated to hiring people who are autistic or neurodivergent. The owner, Andrea Watros, Miami alum (Finance and Accountancy, ‘91) expressed that she founded this business when her son was diagnosed with autism, and she started to realize how few opportunities there were for autistics to find a job.
Throughout the semester, the students have worked to come up with marketing strategies to grow B2B and B2C business (business to business and business to consumer). The students worked in groups to research, formulate a plan, and ultimately present the plan.
Neurodivergency in the Workplace
Samantha Kelly, Miami alum (Marketing, ’17) returned to Miami during the semester to lead a workshop for students to learn more about neurodivergency with a focus on neurodivergency in the workplace.
“I was so excited for the opportunity to come back to the campus that I love and speak about neurodiversity. It’s estimated that 1 in 4 of the world’s population is neurodivergent (with that number expected to be higher within Gen Z), so this concept is one that I expect most graduates to encounter in their professional careers in some capacity,” Samantha said. “Whether it’s a coworker who needs additional support, a manager who processes information differently, or they find that they’re neurodivergent themselves—it’s important that our upcoming graduates understand neurodiversity and how to include others who think or process the world differently.”
Samantha added on her experience working with the students during her workshop: “the students had great questions during our workshop, and brought about even better insights during the final presentations. I really appreciated the perspectives, the research, and the spirit of inclusion that they brought forward. As someone who is actively working to encourage neuro-inclusion in today’s organizations, I left feeling encouraged by the teams in Dr. Oakenfull’s course.”
A capstone group working on their project in class
The Project
Samantha Gregovits, a senior Marketing major, talked about how she learned “it’s not always a direct answer or solution. You have to try other routes to find the best one in the end.” Ella Devine, senior marketing major echoed Samantha’s thoughts by saying that the hardest part was “having ideas that were challenged and needed to be changed halfway through our research process. Sometimes you realize ideas don’t often work out when going through data. That means you have to slow down and think about what needs to be altered and changed. That at points can be challenging.”
This project allowed the students to dive deeper into what they have learned throughout their time at Miami, as well as learn even more. Lauren Keller, senior marketing major, said “through this capstone class and working directly with Spectrum of Sweets, I learned that marketing isn’t just about thinking of an idea and going with it, but rather a deeper more intentional process that involves understanding a brand, people, and purpose to create a meaningful strategy to reach a target audience.”
The final presentation for “The Whisk Takers”
Working in a team always has its ups and downs, but Ella said “My favorite part of this capstone was working with and getting to know my team members throughout the whole semester. It allowed me to get to know people with different perspectives and work hard together to complete this capstone.”
Finishing the Project
Andrea reflected on the experience by saying how much she enjoyed working with the students and Dr. Oakenfull. “They were incredible to work with. You could see their wheels turning, connecting ideas, and building things in real time. It was inspiring to be part of, and I genuinely enjoyed being part of their capstone project.”
Samantha said that the hardest part was “figuring out which solution would be best to fine tune into our final pitch.” The process was hard, and there was a lot that the team had to work through and a lot of changing around, but if she had the chance, Samantha would tell herself or anyone about to take this capstone that “It’s going to be stressful and frustrating but it’s going to be okay and rewarding at the end.”
Lauren summed up the experience well by saying “collectively we were able to place the topics we have learned over the last 3.5 years into a real world setting that would make an impact and have a purpose.”
