Those experiencing SUNY Oswego’s Commencement on Saturday, Dec. 14, might catch something uncommon in a faculty member accompanying a student throughout the ceremony, including on stage to receive their degree. But for the bond Erin Czadzeck and Sarah Bonzo have developed, this kind of collaboration isn’t that unusual.

Czadzeck –- who is visually challenged and earning her master of business administration –- and School of Business faculty member Bonzo have only known each other for a year, but their relationship includes a journey through academics and the world of startups. 

Czadzeck was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at age 4 and continued to lose her sight on her way to adulthood. She has remained active as an employment specialist at a residential facility for youth, as well as an advocate for visually impaired individuals, and this concept came out of her drive and passion.

Czadzeck’s business idea of Insight, helping fellow visually challenged people, earned second place in the software and services category of the New York State Business Plan Competition. She is now in the select Launch NY program that helps people bring their outstanding ideas from concept to reality.

For Czadzeck, who earned her bachelor’s in public justice through Oswego in 2010, asking Bonzo to be her Commencement guide seemed natural. 

“Sarah is overall amazing,” Czadzeck said. “As a person, with her personality, she’s just great.”

For Bonzo, it was an especially big deal.

“When Erin asked me to walk across the stage with her, I just got choked up and jumped into it,” Bonzo recalled.

“Commencement is always a very special time,” Bonzo added. “Seeing students I’ve been working with at the ceremony is always wonderful. Being able to be there with Erin in this way is something I’ve never done. I’ve never walked the stage with a student before, and it’s going to be so amazing.”

‘She gets it’

The fast friendship began with their first virtual meeting in December 2023, as Czadzeck met with professors for the upcoming semester to go over accommodations for courses. 

“I immediately thought, ‘she gets it,’” Czadzeck said. “We chatted again in January, I asked a million questions and she was just tremendous. She thinks outside of the box.”

Bonzo saw an extraordinary student and human being in Czadzeck. In addition to dealing with daily challenges most people will never experience, Czadzeck works full-time and is raising a son, Noah, with her husband Tim.

“Life clearly wasn’t challenging enough working full-time and having a two-and-a-half year old, so I decided I wanted to go back to school full-time while doing those things,” Czadzeck said. It represented an opportunity to learn more about leadership, making a greater impact and to advance her career. Oswego’s flexible online MBA seemed like a perfect fit.

She found her business idea and calling in spring 2024 while taking Bonzo’s “Principles of Agile and Design Thinking” class.

“As part of that class, we had to come up with something in our personal or professional life that we wanted to improve or a problem we wanted solved,” Czadzeck said. “Before the competition even came about, the problem that I determined was that blind and visually impaired people don’t have an accurate and consistent single solution to identifying clothing and having outfits put together.”

Czadzeck laughs when recalling that she was on vacation in Florida when Bonzo reached out on the Friday that applications for the New York State Business Plan Competition were due. “She got it all done,” Bonzo said. “That’s just Erin.”

The idea that did so well in the business competition has evolved beyond that in the Launch NY customer discovery process.

“I’ve had 75 interviews with blind and visually impaired people across the country,” Czadzeck said, part of a requirement to do at least 150 such interviews. “I’ve been taking notes, putting it through data evaluation to look for trends. I’m seeing the need going beyond clothing to other issues, such as how to deal with anxiety and needs for transportation solutions.”

Rising to the challenge

Whatever the product becomes, it will benefit from Czadzeck’s determination and ability to make people buy into her personal story.

The New York State Business Plan Competition starts with around 400 competitors and only a dozen earn awards in the statewide competition, the top two in six categories.

The road to the finals in Albany started with the Central New York Regional Business Plan competition, hosted by SUNY Oswego’s School of Business at the university’s Syracuse Campus. 

SUNY Oswego students competed against entrepreneurs from the likes of Syracuse, Cornell and Colgate universities, but Czadzeck’s concept and enthusiasm rose through the steep competition to win her category to advance. She then made it past the preliminary state round to make it to the finals on April 25 in Albany.

“Going to Albany together, that just showed how great our relationship and partnership is,” Czadzeck said.

“We talked the whole way there, and the whole way home,” Czadzeck said. “It just felt normal, like Sarah’s my hype man. She kept telling me: ‘Be you, be authentic. Whatever happens, I’m here for you, I’ve got your back.’ It felt like being in a team.”

“I was honored to be part of this project,” Bonzo said. “I cannot do justice to how well she did with her presentation. Everybody was on the end of their seats. Everybody was so engrossed in the story, the problem, the opportunity and how she presented it.”

During a break, a whole line of people were waiting to speak with Czadzeck about possible partnerships and other ideas, Bonzo said. That success led to Czadzeck’s acceptance into the competitive Launch NY program, signing a contract in May.

“The program looks at how you can turn this into something that is big and successful, and something Erin can take to the next level,” Bonzo said. “She gets to pitch to investors to see if Launch NY will fund it further.”

The required 150 customer discovery interviews can allow entrepreneurs to really get a feel for the need and market in an empathetic way, on a larger scale than what Czadzeck learned in Bonzo’s class. Czadzeck got to do much of the work in this semester’s MBA capstone class, remembering how excited she was when she learned this was an option.

“I’m pretty heavy in the customer discovery phase right now, reaching out to different people to learn more,” Czadzeck said. “I got to talk with another person who has an app for blind and visually impaired people. I talked to an MIT team to learn more about the technology. It’s really research, customer discovery and asking: Is there a need and will people pay for it?”

As a fellow entrepreneur, the capstone experience and ongoing partnership has been educational to Bonzo as well. “We’re going through it together,” Bonzo said. “We were really having conversations as peers, being in the startup space and going through that together.”

They both gave a lot of credit to Irene Scruton, the assistant dean of the School of Business who directs MBA programs, and MBA staff members Tara Allen Magner and Melissa Arduini.

“There’s a reason we have a top-ranked MBA program,” Bonzo said. “We talk about a concierge model, understanding our students’ individual needs, knowing what their goals are, opportunities to connect, getting to know one another. They are exceptional in what they do. I am so grateful to work with Irene and the team in the MBA office.”

“Accessibility Resources and the MBA office have been amazing,” Czadzeck said. “Everyone has just been on my side and we’ve created a very powerful team to make this happen. Everybody is on board to make this happen in two years.”

‘Just the beginning’

The phrase “commencement” has roots in beginnings, not endings, and that’s how they envision this milestone.

“Erin is well on her way,” Bonzo said. “This is just the beginning for Erin. I look forward to her finishing the MBA so she can do what she’s meant to.”

“After graduating, I can give more attention to business stuff,” Czadzeck said. “Everything’s playing out the way it’s supposed to, and this gives me time to keep working on it, drawing on everything I’ve learned.”

Nonetheless, the impact of the ceremony, and the opportunity to do it together, isn’t lost on them.

“I’m going to be grateful, proud of myself, proud of the team around me,” Czadzeck said. “And Sarah being there. Wow. We figured it out. I’m so excited. We’re bringing our son, he’s almost five. For him to see that and for us to tell him a little bit about it will show him that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

“I am so grateful for Erin,” Bonzo said. “We get to learn and grow together on a daily basis working on her project. I feel like the tables are turned in terms of her constantly inspiring me. And we’re just buddies.”

“It’s just so amazing,” Czadzeck said as the two concluded a Zoom interview for this story, before adding, to Bonzo: “I’m so excited to give you a big hug!”