Leading Boldly: Michigan Ross Featured in BBC StoryWorks and AACSB Video Collaboration

BBC StoryWorks, the content studio of BBC Global News, partnered with AACSB, a global business education accreditation network, to create a video project intended to showcase the power of business schools as incubators of global innovation and entrepreneurship.

Michigan Ross was selected as one of two business schools that would be filmed and featured in the video titled, Let’s Lead Boldly. The video team behind the project arrived in Ann Arbor in October 2023 to capture the story of a Michigan Ross Impact Studio alum, Jarrad Henderson.

Henderson spent just under a year at the University of Michigan as a Knight-Wallace Fellow. During his fellowship, Henderson wanted to accomplish his dream of creating a documentary film studio that would provide skill-building workshops for aspiring documentarians from underrepresented populations. There was just one barrier standing in the way of bringing this organization to life — he didn’t have any business experience.

Henderson came to Michigan Ross for help and was accepted to participate in the +Impact Studio Founders Program, a unique social venture start-up incubator created by the Michigan Ross Business+Impact initiative. He was paired with Applebaum Impact Design Fellow and Ross student Alex Perez-Garcia, MBA/MPP ’24, to help bring his project to life, and collaborated with other Michigan Ross alumni throughout the project as well, including +Impact Studio Managing Director Catherine Johnson, MBA/MSW '08, who also appears in the video.

“I came in wide-eyed, not knowing anything business-related — and then now, leaving with a business venture that I’m exceptionally proud of,” Henderson said.

With the help of the +Impact Studio, Henderson brought his idea to life as Pop Up Docs, which is now active and working with community-based organizations, community colleges, and universities to introduce students to documentary filmmaking techniques.

“What the +Impact studio did for me was it helped me find the parallels between what I was doing as a visual journalist and what I wanted to do as an entrepreneur,” Henderson said. “I think most people think business schools are places where people come to learn about making money. For somebody like me, the social impact is the currency that I find most valuable for myself. That changed my perspective on what business schools could be.”

To learn more about Henderson’s story and experience with the Michigan Ross +Impact Studio, watch the full video on BBC StoryWorks or AACSB.