Students went to the Curry Student Center on February 9 to browse and buy from Northeastern student, staff and alumni small businesses, many of which value sustainability, for the annual Northeastern Valentine's Day Market.
The market was open to customers from 11 am. to 3 p.m., a busy four hours for Northeastern entrepreneurs hoping to expand their customer base on campus. Businesses ranged from eco-friendly home products, to beauty, clothing, food vendors and more.
Hot Date Kitchen's Robbie Madfis, a 2016 graduate of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business from Somerville, hosted a busy table, offering samples of his chocolate-covered stuffed dates. “The goal is to prove that you can have a viable business that does things well and provides a good product.” Madfis said.
Madfis wants to change the narrative about delicious food products, believing that delicious food does not have to be bad for health or the environment.
In his journey to sustainability, Madfis explained that Hot Date Kitchen will go completely plastic-free and compostable packaging this year. In addition to promoting its climate-friendly business practices, he teased the company's next product: a seed butter date mixed with cocoa nibs and covered in dark chocolate and sea salt. His working title for this new product is Double Date, a play on words for the double chocolate aspect of this new date.
Another company that pursues sustainability, LochTreewhich was founded in 2020 Graduate of D'Amore-McKim School of Business Henry Palmer from Newton, has created a consumer market specifically for sustainable products.
“One of the things I'm trying to do at LochTree is … create a positive environmental impact and help people find sustainable alternatives, make easy exchanges and try to leave the world a better place for the next generation,” he said. Palmer.
Palmer strives to make sustainability simple and achievable, hoping customers will make easy trade-offs they can sustain. He emphasized that everyone can make small but meaningful impacts and said that LochTree is intended to provide access to a wealth of sustainable products to make those exchanges.
SamScribbler is a small art venture in memory of Samantha Hemphill, a Northeastern environmental engineering graduate who died of leukemia in August 2022. Hemphill was passionate about the environment and was the Uganda program director with Northeastern's Engineers Without Borders division during during her time at university.
Hemphill's love for the environment is recognizable in her works. After her death, his brother Chris Hemhill digitized her artwork to sell online and raise money for charities and causes that were meaningful to his sister.
“[SamScribbler] it was a means to take action and make something positive out of it all,” Hemphill said. “A way for her to share her talent, share her legacy and contribute money to some things she was obviously passionate about.”
SamScribbler proceeds from the Valentine's Day market will be donated to Northeastern's Engineers Without Borders division to support Samantha's colleagues in their environmental efforts.
Bernice Luong, a fourth-year business administration and planning major and member of the Alumni Relations entrepreneurship team, helped organize the Valentine's Market.
“[The market is] an opportunity to interact with the local community on campus and just gain some exposure,” Luong said.
The market was a pleasant surprise for freshman business administration and communication along with Tabitha Randlett and business administration and computer science combined major Aashka Dave met at Curry, not knowing the Valentine's Market was taking place. After wandering through the market, they stumbled upon them Sweet Piglet Bakery and Cafe, where Dave bought a Thai milk tea which he loved. Randlett agreed that the bakery was cute.
“I'd be back,” Radlett said. “It was really good value.”
The Valentine's Day Market, hosted by Alumni Relations, gives North East entrepreneurs the opportunity to market themselves to the North East student base. The market gave students the opportunity to buy last minute Valentine's Day gifts, many of which were consciously created in a sustainable way.
