Volunteer Spotlight

Anthony Navarro ’99 Lends Creative Vision to Alumni and Students

Innovation, discovery, creativity, and passion. Those words perfectly describe the pillars of the Loyal Hearts Business Forum and the Incubator Program that Anthony Navarro ’99 has been proud to be a part of this year.

This past October, Navarro joined two other Saint Viator alumni for a panel about how they pivoted their businesses during the pandemic. As creative director and co-owner of event planning and production company, Liven It Up Events, he compares his industry’s support to his experience at his alma mater.

“Especially the events industry, but everywhere, people are coming together not just on a local level, but nationally and internationally. Having those strong relationships is something that is unique.”

The Loyal Hearts Business Forum strives to incorporate relationship building through networking, mentoring, and career development opportunities with and for alumni and the greater Saint Viator community. Following the Business Forum, Navarro immediately jumped in to help the Intro to Entrepreneurship: Incubator Program as a volunteer mentor. “I try to offer suggestions and thoughts that give the students an insight into how it would work in the real world.”

The Incubator class allows students to develop their entrepreneurship skills, forming and developing a new business idea they will eventually pitch to the ‘Sharks’ later this spring.

“These students have real business ideas that can become a reality. By taking this class, the students are opening their minds to what they can do in the world. These days, we are seeing a greater movement towards freelance and entrepreneurship practices, and these students are doing just that. They are passionate about what they are creating. That’s exciting!”

“Saint Viator put me in a great position walking into college and this class further extends that preparation to the senior students.” Even as a first-year mentor, Navarro is already reaping the benefits of giving back. “Being a mentor is such an interesting experience. I get just as much out of it working with them as they do learning different skills. My team pushes me to “It is a great way to keep everyone connected around a troubleshoot the knowledge I have as a business owner and specific topic or industry. Having a commonality and a shared apply it to what they are working on. It is very rewarding experience of Saint Viator makes networking a little bit easier and the lessons are reciprocal. Saint Viator put me in a great when it comes to referring business.” position walking into college and this class further extends that preparation to the senior students.” n