On April 26^th, America hosts a day devoted to denim in remembrance of the sexual assault an 18-year-old suffered at the hands of her driving instructor, who asked her to drive to a secluded area and then raped her. For this crime, he went to prison. However, he appealed his sentence because this young woman wore skin-tight jeans, and he could not have removed them without her help. Based on this “jeans” alibi, the judge sided with the perpetrator, and he was set free.

This heinous event happened in 1998 in Italy. June 26^th was named International Denim Day. On this day, women wear denim to work to bring awareness to sexual abuse, especially as April is sexual abuse awareness month. The Women Empowerment Club of Los Angeles Valley College hosted a denim day makeover to bring awareness to sexual abuse but also to demonstrate that denim, the most toxic of all fabrics, can be transformed into an item different, thus extending the life of your old jeans and preventing it from joining the landfill. In doing this, we also remembered National Earth Day, an observation just four days before, marked on April 22^nd. Let me elaborate if the reader is wondering what this has to do with entrepreneurship.

A person with an Entrepreneurial Mindset understands that by using the resources within one’s community, one can solve problems through creation. For example, we all own denim; why not give it a fresh look with a makeover?

The women empowerment Club invited Carolyn Wilbourn of the Wilbourn sisters, a designing powerhouse that creates one-of-a-kind attire for any occasion. She brought a U-Haul filled with her denim designs and generously shared her knowledge, expertise, and time to show students all the ways a pair of denim jeans can be transformed into dresses, jackets, belts, hats, jewelry, and bags.

The club advisor, Fatema Baldiwala, spoke about how one doesn’t need to let one’s attire or skin color limit one’s growth trajectory. When we commit to an education, come to college, take classes, meet diverse people with differing opinions, take quizzes and exams, and finally graduate, we too, like that earlier pair of denim, are transformed into something new – and we did this by finding our purpose and being changed.

Even observing a day dedicated to an event can act as experiential learning. Experiential learning is what entrepreneurial education is all about. By ensuring experiential learning is embedded into the general curriculum and providing every opportunity taken to embed entrepreneurial concepts, we foster an Entrepreneurial Mindset in our students. Therefore, we were not doing a denim makeover; we were connecting to more significant issues and building our own Entrepreneurial Mindsets, the mindset of the future that all humans need to thrive.