When we think about entrepreneurs, we tend to picture impassioned people forged professionally by a top-tier business education.
To be fair this scenario is often correct - we need only look to the University of Cincinnati's Linder College of Business and the empowering work being done by the school's Center for Entrepreneurship to confirm this. But it's equally true that driven entrepreneurs with ingenious ideas can emerge from less-obvious corners of a learning institution's campus, producing stories that are as compelling as they are impactful.
This is certainly the case with Emma Biros, founder of Love, Emma, an adaptive clothing line established in Cincinnati. A graduate of the School of Education's Special Education program, Biros developed the idea for her product line inside the walls of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology's (CECH) Teachers-Dyer Complex, leveraging the full university experience to bring her dream into reality.
A New York native, Biros found her way to UC from her family's home in Cleveland, where they moved when she was younger. In-state tuition was an obvious benefit, as was the university's vibrant urban campus. "I was really interested in living in a city again," she says. "Being from New York, I've always been drawn to the city."
She was initially attracted to the College of Allied Science's Health Sciences' Pre-Occupational Therapy program, which her friend recommended and into which she initially enrolled.
Because she wasn't pursuing a traditional education career, Biros was able to fulfill her student teaching requirements in CECH's IDD Education Center. She initially worked in the center's Collaboration for Employment and Education Synergy (CEES) program, a high school transition program that helps students with intellectual and developmental disabilities discover their strengths and prepare for the future. The work really spoke to Biros, who continued to explore roles in the IDD Education Center when they became available to her.
"I wanted to do everything that I could," she says, "because I found something that I really loved, and it was transition - helping people with disabilities live lives that are meaningful outside of school. Transitioning into employment, finding meaningful work, transitioning into independent living - all their programs were centered around just making lives better."
Transition work spoke deeply to Biros. So did the dedication of the IDD Education Center's staff, and she regards Cady Dart, CEES program director and associate director of employment services with the IDD Education Center, as an influential figure in her life.
The feeling, it turns out, is mutual.
"Emma is one of the most remarkable people I know," says Dart. "Her passion for creating meaningful, sustainable pathways to employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is truly contagious."
Dart was so impressed with Biros, in fact, that she introduced her to a local founder-to-be, Bryan Holland, who was seeking someone to run a nonprofit organization he hoped to start for people with disabilities to gain meaningful employment.
"I ended up being the founding director of Genesis at Work," she says. "I created all of those programs, built and scaled the nonprofit. I absolutely loved it." Unfortunately, after close to three years, the Genesis at Work Foundation's funding fell short of meeting operating costs. "My heart was broken when the decision was made to dissolve it. Funding is hard, and having continual funding for a nonprofit, especially when you're just starting off, is hard to maintain. But I was able to take those programs that were built and brought them to another nonprofit where they are still running and driving today."
"She is passionate and driven in her mission to give people with disabilities all the opportunities possible for them to live happy, active and independent lives," says Kathy DeLaura, managing director at Partners in Change LLC and a mentor to Biros since the pair's initial meeting at the IDD Education Center's 2022 Red & Black Blast. "Even after her official role ended, she stayed involved to ensure the clients were taken care of and even worked tirelessly to help the displaced staff members."
It was a tough moment, for sure, but Biros maintains the timing was right. The leadership role had required a lot of time and energy from her, and she'd had to put off work on her entrepreneurial endeavor, an adaptive clothing line for people with disabilities named Love, Emma.
Biros' Love, Emma features adaptive clothing for young women living with disabilities. Photo: provided
The idea for Love, Emma first came to Biros through an experience she had while working her college job - or, more accurately, one of her college jobs. "When I was in school, I had to make rent somehow, so I had a few jobs. If you ask my husband, I had too many," she laughs. She'd always been interested in fashion and the way clothing allowed her to express herself, and in time her friends started asking her to style the way they dress, too. "I thought, maybe I can do this for a job." Biros saw an ad from a clothing company seeking a fashion stylist, applied and was hired to the role.
Featured image at top: Headshot of Emma Biros, founder of Love, Emma. Photo: provided
