For almost 15 years, Sierra Pollard has made innovation her passion in life. She was one of the first people to graduate from the nation’s first Innovation Academy at the University of Florida. After earning a B.S. in Digital Marketing and Innovation, Sierra started her career in Digital Marketing at an international corporation managing a social marketing team. In 2017, Sierra founded her first venture, a digital marketing firm: Ginger Media Marketing. She focused on creating innovative social media and marketing strategies for small businesses to create brand awareness to attract new customers. Following a few years later, Sierra was invited to study at the European Innovation Academy in Turin, Italy, and earned a Master Certification in Innovation, Human Center Design, and Design Thinking. While in this program, Sierra was awarded the prestigious IP Sparks Scholarship for most creative IP designs. Sierra also studied Technology Innovation at Harvard University.  Sierra continued on to earn a Masters in Product Innovation in 2020 at Virginia Commonwealth University. She later became the youngest professor to teach at VCU.   

 

in 2020, Sierra was awarded the first person to study Innovation at the undergraduate and graduate levels. From here she found inspiration in connecting business owners with innovation and helping female founders and entrepreneurs to start their businesses! Sierra founded her second venture, the Winnovation Agency®.

 

The Winnovation Agency® encourages innovation and develops marketing consultations to advise new business owners. They provide inspiration for female founders and startups through the Annual Women's Summit of the Lowcountry. Their workshops, service packages, and networking events create community over competition and support for small to large businesses. The Winnovation Agency has also expanded to include custom print and t-shirt designs.

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In 2021, Sierra was invited to be a Curriculum Developer for the Product Management and Product Innovation Courses at Fullstack Academy. She has developed a number of innovation and design thinking workshops to assist the next generation of business engineers.

 

Sierra is also a professional keynote speaker. She continues to speak at large conferences around the world. She takes pride in being a Professor of Innovation and Design Thinking at the University of Florida. 

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In 2022, Sierra lead the Product Design courses for the Innovation Abroad collaboration between the University of Florida and Maynooth University in Maynooth, Ireland. 

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Today, Sierra is excited to bring the 4th Annual Women's Summit of the Lowcountry to Bluffton, SC, in 2024.