Sands Fellow: Jamie Glover

After 10 years working in marketing, first at the advertising agency Fallon and then at 3M, Jamie Glover decided to pursue her MBA to broaden her understanding of business and learn how to best utilize her skills and passions.

“The range of academic experiences at the Carlson School have exposed me to a vast array of new perspectives on how to approach business problems,” she says. “I’ve also had the opportunity to join a start-up business and try out the world of entrepreneurship—something I never would have done on my own.”

The start-up, Asiya, is already making waves. Asiya, founded by Glover and partner Fatimah Hussein, is a line of culturally appropriate active wear and sports uniforms for Muslim girls and women to enable physical activity without compromising cultural and religious beliefs. Earning headlines in Newsweek and SLAM magazine and on MTV News, Asiya also made it to the finalist round in the 2016 MN Cup, the largest statewide entrepreneurial competition.

So far, Asiya is showing every sign of being a successful venture. Some of that success, Glover will attest, can be attributed to the Sands Fellowship. The Sands Family Social Venture Fellowship is awarded annually to MBA students to allow them to pursue social ventures with a tangible impact on the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Each fellow receives $5,000.

University of Minnesota alumni Bill (’60 BSB) and Susan (’69 BA) Sands established the fellowship in hopes of inspiring future generations of Carlson MBA students to apply their business expertise to make a major impact on their community. Over the past three years, 12 Sands Fellows have either partnered with existing organizations or launched new ventures, like Asiya, that address social issues in the Twin Cities.

The Sands Fellowship helped Glover move Asiya forward over the summer, with the funding needed to help with both product development and initial marketing efforts. “We have researched and sourced great fabric that is lightweight and breathable—perfect for our first line of sport hijabs, or headscarves,” she says. “We also worked with a group of Muslim girls to test and revise the designs, based on how they felt during basketball practices and games. We are now set to launch with a Kickstarter campaign.”