UConn Entrepreneur Promotes Mindful Productivity for Women

In a recent pink-tinted Instagram post, over the swinging vocals of a Taylor Swift track, Maleekha Fong '28 (CLAS) reminds her followers that it's alright if they're not feeling like themselves today.

Or if they didn't answer every message, or don't have the words to explain their feelings. Of if they didn't feel particularly confident that day.

They're still worthy, she writes, and still enough. They're not behind. They're right on time, allowed to be both soft and strong, and to give themselves some grace.

In another post, Fong says she's "romanticizing her to-do list, because why not?" A trip to the store, doing a design project, working on some writing, having dinner with family - productivity doesn't have to be intense to be meaningful, she shares.

Be kind to your mind.

Choose progress, not perfection.

The presence that Fong is building through her online venture - called the Cozy Mind Club - is riddled with affirmations and self-care tips, all aimed at young adults like herself. In addition to her pastel-hued Instagram account, she's posting digital resources and check-ins on a Ko-fi platform, curating a cozy Pinterest board, inviting chats on Discord, and sharing a space for slowing down through a gaming-focused YouTube channel.

Her multi-platform approach leans into this concept of cozy, focusing on slow and mindful mental health that serves Fong's goal of creating a digital community built around consistency, connection, and care, she explains.

"I think I've always struggled with finding my own mental health community," says Fong, who is from Massachusetts and is studying psychology in UConn's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with plans to attend medical school in the future. "I felt like I've gone through a lot of things alone, and throughout the summer, I was thinking that this is probably how other young adults have been feeling, too. So, I just wanted to create a space that I felt like I was missing."

Fong launched the Cozy Mind Club this summer as part of the most recent cohort of First-Year Women Werth Innovators.

First launched in 2020 by UConn's Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the program was designed to engage diverse and multidisciplinary cohorts of first-year undergraduate women to provide them with mentorship, networking, and resources to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Once accepted into a cohort, participants in the program begin meeting in January to work on things like ideation and mindset as they prepare for a summer internship project, where many launch their own ventures.

But the entire program, according to Katie Britt, the Werth Institute's director of leadership development who coordinates the program, starts with students who are curious.

"We have found that greater student outcomes begin with students noticing and embracing their curiosity," says Britt. "When a student approaches new experiences with a positive mindset, they open themselves up to exploration, iteration, and growth. The Werth Innovators program isn't about rushing to an end result - it's about creating space for students to lean into the process, experiment with ideas, and discover how curiosity fuels creativity."

For Fong, who learned about the First-Year Women program from UConn's Daily Digest, the program sounded like a fun opportunity. Both of her parents are therapists, and she says she's always been an observant person.

"I love to know about why people act the way they act - it's kind of inherited," she says.

But she admits that her experience as a Werth Innovator so far has changed the way she originally thought about entrepreneurship.

"I'd had little small businesses that I'd done over the years, but I didn't really have a solid definition of what entrepreneurship was until this opportunity," Fong says. "It's more than just having a business and selling something. It's about having an intention about what you want to sell, and who you want to talk to, and what kind of space you want to create."

For Fong, the space she wants to create is centered around tools and perspectives for students and young adults focused on being mindful and productive.

For other participants in her seven-member cohort, what they want to create is centered around sustainability. Or animal welfare. Or empowered fitness for women.

One of the strengths of the program, according to Britt, is the diversity of majors, interests, and life experiences that each cohort member brings to the table. In May, cohort members spent an extra week on campus at UConn Storrs together after spring move-out, giving them time to better get to know each other.

During their paid remote summer internship as a part of the program, the Werth Innovators have been meeting virtually to develop their ideas through structured programming and alumni mentorship. Although they embark upon their entrepreneurial journeys individually, they collaborate, share ideas, and support each other relentlessly while developing résumé-building skills.

"Though they begin this experience as individuals," Britt says, "students develop into a close-knit community - friends who challenge and champion each other's boldest ideas."

The cohort members were also paired with a near-to-peer mentor for the spring - a like-minded past participant from the previous year's cohort, which was a new aspect to the program this year.

"The Werth Innovators Women Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Program was created in direct response to what our students told us they needed," Britt explains. "One year later, sophomores of the program were eager to give back, while new participants wanted guidance from those who had walked the path before them. Pairing students early in the process provided a space for honest conversations, shared perspective, and the confidence to explore ideas more boldly. It was a natural step to strengthen both ideation and community."

The addition of a peer mentor has been a really positive experience for Fong.

"My mentor - we're like the exact same person," she says. "We have the exact same values - we love entrepreneurship, we love mental health. I was so grateful, and so lucky, to be paired with someone who was like we were the exact same person. We're going to continue working together, even after this internship."

Though it's not a requirement for participants in the program to continue with their summer venture after their internship ends, Fong plans to keep building on the Cozy Mind Club as she approaches her sophomore year at UConn.

"I'm a person who loves sharing my own kind of journey," she says, "so I can see myself keeping up with the blog advice, posting how I deal with things, especially going into the school year - for freshmen, dealing with academics, clubs, all that stuff that I had to navigate. I think it's good to share that journey just so that people know they have someone who can relate to them, who has gone through the same things as them and can inspire them."

She says she would recommend the program to any incoming first-year student with either an interest in entrepreneurship or just in trying something new.

"Take every opportunity you're given and just make sure that you're loving what you're doing, that you want to be here, that you want to learn - that's 100% what you need to carry with you."

The Werth Institute is currently accepting applications