Page 38 - BusinessWest May 1, 2023

Aimee Dalenta
Program Chair, Early Childhood Education, Springfield Technical Community College: Age 39
Aimee Dalenta has dedicated her life’s work to enriching people through education.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College and a master’s from Western New England University, Dalenta taught fifth grade in Longmeadow. After marriage and having her first two children close together, she left the workforce for a short time. Her first re-entry was running a small childcare center in East Longmeadow. Shortly after that, Springfield College offered Dalenta an instructor’s position in its Education Department.
“So I went from working with little kids to big kids,” she said.
In her current role at Springfield Technical Community College, Dalenta’s students range from those just out of high school to older adults seeking a career change. “Students in the course can be
in their 50s and 60s, and they will collaborate
with a 21-year old,” she noted. “They learn from each other, and I’m learning from them. It’s a cool environment.”
Dalenta ranks her proudest professional moments as earning her doctorate and how well she has navigated through the starts and stops along the way.
“I will never regret leaving the workforce to become a mom, but it was one of the scariest decisions I’ve ever made,” she said. “Then, re-entering and navigating my way after not working for five years was terrifying.”
While she enjoyed her time at Springfield College as an instructor, she knew she would need a doctorate to remain in higher education. She enrolled at American International College for its doctoral program even though her youngest child was a toddler.
“It was four grueling years to earn the doctorate, but it was a labor of love,” she said, adding that she is grateful for all the support her family gave her.
She also found inspiration from Pat Summit, the late, legendary women’s basketball coach for the University of Tennessee, who coached her players: “left foot, right foot, breathe,
repeat.”
“It’s a simple mantra that helped
me get through my doctoral work,” Dalenta said. “I only need to do
the thing in front of me. I still use it to center myself when things get difficult.”
While proud of her role as program chair and professor, Dalenta still considers herself a teacher. “I’m inspired by my students as they persevere through life’s challenges. Teaching has always been there to ground me and help me to grow as a professional and as a person.”
—Mark Morris
When Brianna Drohen’s career path brought her back to Western Mass. in 2013, she met Jack Dunphy, owner of the Orange Innovation Center, and her pas- sion for the region was rekindled.
After learning about Dunphy’s vision, Drohen got to work helping him develop resources, training, and support for entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. In the next two years, she brought the building to 90% occupancy and hosted classes and workshops to educate the tenant businesses in
specific areas. She also secured grants for a new parking lot and a water-filtration
system.
“It’s incredibly gratifying,” said Drohen,
who grew up in Wendell and earned degrees at Greenfield Community
College and UMass Amherst. “This is a very community-centered place; I grew up with that backbone. When I moved back here, I fell into this work,
and I love it.”
But Drohen’s role would soon
expand in intriguing ways. In 2016, Dunphy was looking to bring a vacant
portion of the building back to life. When Drohen toured a facility in
Columbus, Ohio that had similar characteristics as the Orange
Innovation Center, she had a ‘eureka!’ moment
when she saw businesses, a maker space, and artisans
thriving together, revitalizing the neighborhood. So, in 2017, she and Alec MacLeod co-founded
LaunchSpace, a nonprofit organization providing opportunities to upskill, collaborate, and develop new businesses in the local Orange economy. Drohen took over as CEO in 2021.
LaunchSpace also acquired the 24,000-square-foot Pleasant Street School in Athol, intending to drive the local economy by repurposing the kitchen into a working, shared- use commercial kitchen and the classrooms into business- incubation suites and retail outlets, as well as a childcare facility.
LaunchSpace plans to host and support on-site agriculture, value-added food businesses, training and incubation,
and community wellness at the former school, providing opportunities to support food sustainability in the region, as well as continuing to develop talent and create jobs for the local economy.
In 2021, Drohen also led a partnership with Greenfield Community College to launch an entrepreneur program to support creative businesses. In 2022, LaunchSpace, GCC, and Greenspace CoWork received funding to pilot a six-month acceleration program focused on the underserved residents of Greater Franklin County.
“I’m driven,” she said. “Some people call me aggressive, but I’m definitely driven by this idea that we can not only reuse old buildings, but we can create micro-economies that support these Western Mass. communities. I would love to have the LaunchSpace model replicated in other communities as well.”
—Joseph Bednar
A18 2023
BusinessWest
Brianna Drohen
CEO, LaunchSpace Inc.: Age 39