Elvina Beck
PodShare
Los Angeles, CA USA
"There’s an entrepreneur in all of us and it comes in little pieces. Explore that and don’t be afraid to get in trouble."
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Elvina's work combines: Entrepreneurship, Design, and Building Things
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Livingston
Bachelor's Degree
Political Science and Government, General
Pepperdine University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
I was born in Moscow, Russia, and immigrated to the United States with my family when I was five years old.
2.
We settled into a Russian community in Brooklyn, New York—the sense of community was strong and we all accepted each other without any discrimination of class, gender, or race.
3.
I moved to California for college because I wanted to establish myself in either the entertainment or housing industry.
4.
I worked a lot of good production jobs for people like Avril Lavigne, Jeff Dunham, and Miley Cyrus, but it didn’t really make me happy.
5.
After the economic recession, I didn’t have a place to live and wanted to help others in similar situations, so I decided to build a housing pod in Los Angeles and start PodShare.
6.
After opening that first pod, I was quickly at 97% capacity, proving that this was a good idea that the millennial generation really liked!
7.
I used a crowdfunding campaign to help me open my second PodShare location in Downtown Los Angeles' Arts District.
8.
Nine years later, we've grown to eight locations across California and hope to keep growing into other states!
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Parents:
This idea will never work.
How I responded:
Even though my dad helped me build the first pod for PodShare, he still told me it was not a good idea to begin with. He believed the lack of privacy would be a major issue and it just wouldn't work. I went ahead with it anyway and was almost at full capacity in the first pod. My dad admitted that the numbers couldn't be disputed and that maybe this was, in fact, a good idea that the millennial generation really liked!
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
Even though I got into the co-living housing business much earlier, my male counterparts were getting more attention, traction, and funding than I was. Women and minorities just have to work that much harder to succeed.