InnovatorsBox | Impact report 2017

InnovatorsBox®
IMPACT REPORT
2017
“RETHINKING CREATIVITY”
IN N O V A TO R SB O X.C OM

Letter from the Founder
Mission and Values
Mission
We Believe
Why We Do What We Do
Our Highlights and Achievements
I. 2017 in a Year
Showing Up for the Community
Gamifying Creativity - SPARK
Expanding Outreach Through Digital
II. Lessons Learned
Communication
Capacity
III. Awards and Recognition
Empowering Individuals and Transforming Organizations
The Year Ahead
Thank You
Contact Us
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CONTENTS

Sincerely,
Monica H. Kang
Founder & CEO
January 2018
InnovatorsBox®
was founded in 2016 with
the belief that fostering everyone’s innate
creative mindset is the key to a better
and more innovative future.
A creative mindset helps one live a limitless
future, become a better problem solver, and turn
problems into opportunities regardless of the job
title or industry. When I found no other company
focusing on the empowerment of the creative
mindset, I went on a quest to redefine society’s
understanding of innovation and creativity to
show the different ways we are all creative.
Gallup reported in 2016 that over 87% of today’s
workforce is feeling stuck and lack a creative
outlet. What if more professionals felt otherwise?
I knew how much of a difference it made in my
personal career when I built a creative mindset.
I wanted to help others learn how to thrive too.
So, what began as a dream to help one more
person from getting stuck at work became a
journey of empowering over 3,300 leaders in 19
cities from 12 industries in just two years.
Through games like SPARK and programs like
Creative Jump and Mindful Play, for example,
I am proud to say we made creative thinking
more accessible, affordable, and easily under-
standable.
Starting anything new is hard, even more so
when you are bootstrapping it, working in
education, and taking on a career transition.
I always knew there would be obstacles, but
never knew how far I would go until I made it
to the other side. We’ve still got a long way to
go, but it has been inspiring to see the positive
changes our participants go through and
the impact they experience as a result of the
programs and products that we created.
This first Impact Report is our celebration of
the two-year milestone at InnovatorsBox®
, a
reflection of our journey, and a look toward our
future. It is also my opportunity to express deep
gratitude for what you have done as a community
to help us get here.
We cannot wait to see the future we create with
you. A world where we ask more questions,
find more answers, solve more problems, and
celebrate creativity for all because we are all
creative.
L E TTE R FROM THE FOUNDER
R ETHINKING CREAT I VI T Y

INNOVATORSBOX LLC © 2018. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.4
MISSION AND VALUES
OUR MISSION
To unlock creativity for all.
WE BELIEVE
Everyone is creative in different ways.
Creativity as a skill is best fostered through
curiosity, imagination, and questioning.
Quality over quantity is key to
long-term transformation.
90% of participants expressed that our programs gave them renewed
confidence and insights to be more creative and found a significant
change in their professional and personal lives.

93% of executives indicate innovation will drive the greater proportion of their
revenue and growth (PWC). But if 87% of professionals worldwide feel stuck and
disengaged at work (Gallup 2016), how are companies and organizations able
to grow?
87%
of professionals
worldwide
feel stuck at work
(Gallup, 2016)
of all American
professionals
feel stressed due to work
(APA, 2015)
65%
of all American
professionals
Feel limited at work
(Gallup, 2016)
75%
InnovatorsBox®
works to bridge this gap.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
We catalyze sustainable change at the level
where it matters the most: your mindset.
We believe that everyone is innately creative
and that creativity has the power to solve every
organization’s challenges, no matter the industry.
Whether you are addressing company culture,
professional development, or any other organi-
zational challenges, our customizable approach
targets your specific pain point through creativity.
Our educational programs and products help
develop and grow professionals’ creative mind-
sets to catalyze both personal and organizational
change. Through interactive exercises and facili-
tated discussions, professionals reflect, recharge,
and learn how to integrate creativity into their
daily lives.
As a result, individuals are more open-minded,
engaged, collaborative, and better leaders.
They become more than their job titles as they
innovate new solutions to disrupt the status quo.
Organizations are more innovative, productive
and efficient. Society becomes more inclusive
as we accept every individual and their unique
creative potential. And the world starts to
transform through the limitless possibilities
of creativity.

OUR HIGHLIGHTS & ACHIEVEMENTS
2017 was a year of impactful growth. This year,
we shared our work in creativity and innovation
with over 2,700 individuals across 12 industries
in 12 cities, including Hyderabad, India. We have
also spoken, facilitated, and led over 65 events
to make creative learning accessible for our
community and clients.
Overall, our engagement in 2017 grew over
450% compared to our first year in 2016.
We also created a new SPARK deck (SPARK2)
and we plan to create 2 more products in the
beginning of 2018 to make creative learning
affordable and implementable beyond the
workshops and services we provide for
corporations and community.
Our work in 2017 validated the need of creative
thinking across different industries and genera-
tions. Participants ranged from senior executive
leaders and managers to new employees and
students.
We also worked across different industries
in Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and
higher education, including both highly creative
companies and companies with 50+ years of
legacy that are struggling to build a creative
culture. We are proud of the diversity of
industries and participants in this year’s work.
2017 in a Year
Washington, DC/DMV
Arlington, VA
Chicago, IL
Indianapolis, IN
Detroit, MI
Austin, TX New Orleans, LA
San Francisco, CA Las Vegas, NV
Buﬀalo, NY
New York, NY
2700+ INDIVIDUALS
12 INDUSTRIES
U.S. cities we engaged in 2017.

People from different industries and com-
munities have been reaching out to us more
than ever, and we made more effort this year to
be involved in different conferences, workshops,
and events where we were invited to speak,
facilitate, or moderate. We also made more effort
to be intentional, proactive, and available as a
thought leader in creativity by travelling to speak
at conferences and meeting our clients in their
home cities.
For instance, we traveled to Indianapolis,
Chicago, Charlotte, and New York for client
workshops and speaking engagements. We
spoke and hosted workshops about creativity at
events celebrating female leadership, innovation,
business growth, nonprofit, and public good like
the WBENC National Conference, Annual Power
Conference, Gensler’s DC Culture Salon, Annual
Public Good App Festival, Day of Innovation, and
Johns Hopkins University Women’s Leadership
Conference for Alumni.
At some events, we were invited to speak as
the keynote speaker. We spoke about the role
creativity and innovation plays in the future
of workplace, generation gap, diversity and
inclusion, and culture development. Being
proactively sought out by other businesses
is a testament to the value and impact of our
work. We will continue to use these platforms
for greater visibility and new community
engagements so that we, as a society, can
actively embrace a creative culture.
Showing up for the
community

In a world where the belief that people are either creative or not,
Monica Kang and InnovatorsBox®
help to provide a framework through which
anyone can connect with creativity. Monica presented at our 2017 Women’s
Leadership Conference and the feedback was tremendous. [InnovatorsBox®
] inspired
many participants, who were originally creatively tentative, to experiment and see
problem solving as an opportunity to embrace creativity.
—Vicky Schneider
Associate Director, Affinity Programs,
Johns Hopkins University
Our community shares their experience

There is a sort of “myth of creativity” that prevents some people from engaging
in activities that they view as creative. [InnovatorsBox®
] provided specific tools and
strategies that teach people to be creative in diverse settings….taking the focus
away from perfection and redirecting it toward problem solving. [Monica’s]
personal story and professional experiences are compelling and provide a great
frame through which creativity is accessible to all people in all disciplines.
The hands-on practice and exercise were wonderful.
—Participant at the Women’s Leadership Conference,
Remarkable Women: The Art of Invention, Johns Hopkins University
InnovatorsBox®
was instrumental in helping develop the inaugural WBENC NextGen
Program. This inaugural program for NextGen women entrepreneurs was
launched at the 2017 WBENC National Conference and Business Fair. Monica,
the founder of InnovatorsBox®
, worked closely with our team in the months
leading up to the event to help us identify an energized and interactive session
for our inaugural meeting and onsite her InnovatorsBox®
workshop delivered the
collaboration, engagement and foundation to help us build
a strong NextGen community at WBENC.
—Andrew Gaeckle, Director Strategic Planning and
Jill Sasso, Senior Director Human Resources,
Women’s Business Enterprises National Council (WBENC)
I had the pleasure of working with InnovatorsBox®
earlier this year. InnovatorsBox®
led a half-day workshop for one of our corporate partners and also led a breakout
session at our Day of Innovation conference. Participants in both sessions
were extremely pleased, rating each 5/5 in post-event surveys.
Creativity is an important element of any innovation initiative and culture.
InnovatorsBox did a great job championing and teaching this to our attendees.
—Jason Williams, Executive Director, Centrict,
Indiana’s Innovation Network

Our SPARK cards have been such a big hit we
created SPARK 2. As Pulitzer Prize novelist
Thomas Berger says, “the art and science
of asking questions is the source of all
knowledge.” We were excited to help our
customers understand that one simple open-
ended question with curiosity is a start of
strengthening one’s creative mindset.
Across SPARK1 and SPARK2, we compiled over a
100 thoughtful questions on curiosity, reflection,
and creativity so that users can build meaningful
conversations anywhere they go. In 2017, we
were able to see how users have been utilizing
SPARK cards to lead community workshops,
team meetings, and international conference
networking to open up a deeper level of
engagement. Over 200 users have already used
SPARK 1 and SPARK 2 and we are excited to hear
about how different leaders use SPARK in various
ways as we build new products.
Gamifying Creativity with SPARK
“SPARK served as a great ice breaker at our Women Leading Innovation event. We brought
together professionals from various industries and scattered the cards at cocktail tables to
help guests connect and build relationships. I highly recommend SPARK for your next event.”
— Joanne Zhang | A SPARK User and Fan

We understand that we cannot always meet
everyone in person. So we started to use
more online tools to engage with our broader
community in order to be intentional about
our outreach.
With webinars and Facebook Live interview
series such as Creative Minds and Online
Summit, information and resources were
made more accessible to those not located in
the Washington, DC area and who could not
afford to have our programs in their cities.
Expanding Outreach Through Digital
For more information about available resources, visit
our official website at www.InnovatorsBox or refer to
our press page on www.Innovatorsbox.com/press.

We are aware that there is always room for growth and improvement. As we strive to provide the
best, we learn from feedback and reflection about the things we can do better. These insights directly
contributed to our later successes in 2017 and on how we prioritize our work in 2018. Sharing our
lessons learned is our way of holding ourselves accountable for the journey we are taking with you.
This is our commitment to become a better version of InnovatorsBox®
.
Lessons Learned
Our customers enjoy quality content over
quantity, with clear messaging, more accessibility,
and regular updates. This meant that we had
to spend more time improving our messaging,
social media presence, website, and online
events. Participating in online events, webinars,
and Facebook Live permitted us to reach the
customers who wanted budget-friendly access
to creativity without regional restrictions.
Knowing that our customers enjoyed regular
updates, we started to spend more time putting
together a thoughtful bi-monthly newsletter
with insightful informative content, helpful
resources, information on upcoming events, and
announcements.
Communication
Live events require more operations and
marketing support than our current small team
can manage. Therefore, we shifted our focus to
co-host events with partners and provide online
programs. We also focused from quantity to
quality by reducing the number of events we
hosted. Through this experience, we learned that
we have to be more strategic and thoughtful if
we want to scale our community programs at a
national and international level. We decided to
reevaluate our community programs and study
how we can do it better and make it easier to
scale.
Capacity
We are grateful for all the feedback, recommendations, and comments we have
received in the past two years and looking forward to keeping them in mind as
we strive to thrive.

Let us take a moment to celebrate!
We were deeply humbled by the
various national awards we received
for the work we have done. Each
award was a reminder of how far
we have come together as a community and how
much further we want to go.
Many of the awards gave us critical opportunities
to connect with new communities, resources,
mentorship, customers, and fans with whom we
wanted to connect.
We look forward to continue living up to creating
the value our customers seek and going further
than they expect.
Awards and Recognitions
Young Innovators Award, 2017
Awarded by WeWork Creator Magazine in recognition of the work done in
the space of Creativity and Innovation.
Women Empowerment Expo Awards, 2017
One award given to one female entrepreneur who is going far and beyond
to build a company and positive impact.
WBENC NextGen Choice Award, 2017
Given to two NextGen female entrepreneurs in the WBENC network who
have demonstrated both growth and community development for other
Next Generation fellows.
50 on Fire Award, 2017 (Education) by DC Inno
Given to the top 50 DC Tech leaders and companies that are transforming
their industries.

We were also excited to have the opportunity to represent our community of innovators
by attending national and international events as a selected representative. It gave us an
opportunity to celebrate the importance of creativity with a greater audience, and gain
wisdom on how we can do more. For instance, in 2017, we were honored to be:
WeDC Ambassador at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2017 held in Austin, Texas in
March. We attended as DC’s selected city brand ambassador to represent the city’s
inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship.
Alumni Delegate at the 2017 American Express Leadership Academy Global Alumni
Summit (AmExLeads) held in New York City in April. We participated in a two day global
leadership training as one of the 50 Fellows and learned how we can become a better
global leader.
From left to right: Speaking at WBENC Conference in Las Vegas; the team celebrating 50 on Fire Award in
Washington DC; attending the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India; and hosting creative
workshop at the Creative Problem Solving Institute in Buffalo, New York.
Member of the U.S. Delegation to the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES)
held in Hyderabad, India in December. Out of the 1,500 attendees, we met with over 50
leaders from 20 countries to spread our message of empowered mindsets that can trans-
form society at large.

EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS AND
TRANSFORMING ORGANIZATIONS
Our core belief is that creativity and innovation
empowers individuals and transforms organiza-
tions and society at large. Throughout our work,
we have been very conscious and mindful about
ensuring that we engage with a diverse range of
people, from Millennials to Baby Boomers, em-
ployees to managers, especially senior leadership
for corporations, and many more. This is why
we are always thrilled to hear from our program
participants how the programs have helped them
gain more confidence about creative thinking,
start new projects that they have been meaning
to, get new jobs, get more work done, and be
happier at work and with their life in general.
“..the exercises got the group to bond together quickly, to come up with dozens of new ideas, and
helped us re-examine what we could be capable of if we deliberately made creativity a part of our
daily routine. The world is in desperate need of what their team has to offer!”
—Adam L. Hesch, Associate Shift Manager, Global Security Operations Center, Facebook
“..a valuable, results-focused, and enjoyable experience. I left the day with concrete ideas on how
to enhance my team’s day-to-day creative process to get results.”
—Skyler Showell, Showell Ventures & Consulting PLLC
“The workshop was a reminder as well as a practice of how we as individuals and as a team can
be imaginative and innovative in many different aspects of life. Needless to say, we all felt like
better employees and better people after the workshop ended.”
—Amanda Gossman, Consultant, IBM
“InnovatorsBox is an amazing space to open your mind. It gives you the opportunity to reflect
on personal aspects of your life and engage with them on a deeper level. The structure of the
exercises helps you think through and see things from a different perspective.”
—Chelsea Moubarak, Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State
“Monica does not cut corners or function as some bureaucratic training requirement on
creativity and innovation. I only recommend Monica and InnovatorsBox to those who are serious
about nurturing and growing these values in their everyday personal and professional lives.”
—Jeremy Pesner, Technology and Policy Analyst,
Baltimore City Department of Social Services Fellow, Baltimore Corps

THE YEAR AHEAD
In 2017, our priorities were to raise awareness
and understanding about the importance
of creativity and innovation across different
generations and industries.
In doing so, we delivered, participated and
engaged in over 65 events and established our
brand and presence—particularly in Washington,
DC, New York and San Francisco.
While the majority of our work was delivered
through speaking engagements, workshops,
and facilitations, we have also reached new
customers and communities through our
product, SPARK, and online engagement, such as
Creative Minds and InnovStory interview series.
We will continue to engage with diverse
communities and build long term relationships
with all for a lasting change at a societal level.
Our 2018 goal is sustainable growth. We will
focus on being bolder and going further to
reach more professionals through providing
consistent quality products and transformational
experiences.
From speaking at diverse conferences to creating
new products that professionals can use to
make creative thinking more routine, we will be
spending more time strategizing how we can
reach more professionals who need creative
leadership.
We also envision working with corporation
change management in creative culture and team
building by working on larger client projects.
To continue building our community impact,
we will be looking for new ways to embed our
community impact engagements to help our
customers better understand how working
with us is also helping other communities gain
creative confidence.
2018 will be a critical year for InnovatorsBox®
; join us in making the impact possible.

THANK YOU
It is an absolute honor to spend every hour
thinking of new ways to empower new
communities with creativity. It means that we
are helping another person live with more
creative confidence, gain better understanding
about diversity in creativity, and learn how to
collaborate better. We have the joy of working
with top leaders who understand the importance
of investing in teams and in their mindsets to see
lasting collaboration and growth. We also get to
meet with many other amazing innovators who
are taking every step to debunk what it means to
be a creative in law, government, nonprofit, and
entertainment sectors.
We cannot wait to continue walking the path
of creating a world of creativity for all.
And we thank you very much for taking the time,
support, and love to help us build this powerful
movement to make creativity accessible for all.
In particular, we want to express our gratitude to
our team members, advisors, mentors, interns,
and super supporters who provided critical
support throughout our journey. We do not know
where we would be without their passion and
support and we want to give them another big
thank you for being who they are.
A special shoutout to our team Monica Kang,
Monica Escobar, Aakriti Pandey, Aysia Woods,
Koby Arthur; our advisors, Skyler Showell, Jessica
Collison, Lindsay Young; our mentors, Kristina
Francis, Alex Alvarez, Karen Williams, Paige
Adams; our super interns Catherine Pham, Kaitlin
Mackie, Mithila Samak; and our power supporters
Jane Kim Coloseus, Jonathan Diaz, Lola Han,
Benjamin Mena, Michelle McGuire, Craig Zelizer,
Eric Roy, Liz Whitehead and Julia Westfall.
We also want to thank our community partners
for their contribution and support. Thank you
WeWork, Funnybone Toys, Impact Hub DC, Made
in DC, A Childhood List, Coach Diversity Institute,
A Taste of Heaven, Social Tables and a Grant on a
Mission for your support!
Together, we will thrive and create a more
beautiful future.
Here is to another transformative year together.

CONTACT US
Company/InnovatorsBox
InnovatorBox
InnovatorsBox
InnovatorsBox
info@innovatorsbox.com
NAICS: 611430, 611710 DUNS: 080160558
P.O. Box 73231
Washington DC
20056-3231
INNOVATORSBOX.COM

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