St. John’s Entrepreneur Night, an event that allows students to gain insight from St. John’s alumni on what steps to take in order to start businesses of their own, occurred on Thursday, April 17.

This year marked the second occasion the event was presented by the Management Society.

“We [the Management Society] saw how inspiring the event was last year, that we decided to hold another one this year,” said junior Jessica Lazo, treasurer of the Management Society.

“We all have a desire to do something and events like this one inspires students to go beyond boarders and enjoy doing what they want for a career,” she added.

One of the attending alumni, Stacie S. Grant, who helped found C&G Enterprises, a company that does event planning and motivational speaking, stressed to students the importance of networking and having faith in your ambitions.

“I came back to speak because of how proud I am to be an alum,” said Grant, a 1994 St. John’s graduate.

Two 2005 graduates, Justin Gerena and Robert Durso, who met in a business law class, founded JB Multimedia Inc., an internet based marketing company, during their junior year.

“We came back because we get such a rush when people are trying to start a business and it felt like a good idea if we could come back and just get people to go and try it,” said Gerena, the president and director of sales for JB Multimedia.

Students were impressed by the guest speakers’ path to success.

Junior Jay Obaze said that “the event was very helpful, and very informative.”

He added, “Their passion and energy really showed.”

Sophomore Jahvon Washington said, “the event was helpful and gave me inspiration to step out the box and accept something new.”