Hailey is a junior Agribusiness major in the Engler Entrepreneurship program. Coufal got an early start to entrepreneurship and began turning her singing passion into the business “Singing by Coufal!” in the 8th grade, long before she had started her journey in the Engler program. With “Singing by Coufal”, Coufal gets booked to sing at special events like weddings, funerals and birthdays.

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“As I got older, as it went on and time just went on that it [singing] became more than a hobby to me. It became more of a business because of how often I was doing it,” Coufal said.

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Hearing nothing but good things about the Engler program from her brother, Coufal knew that she wanted to get involved in the program. However, she was unsure just how long-lasting her business idea would be, or if she could make the complete transition from singing as a hobby to singing for her business.

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“The hardest part of starting my own business was the fear of failure, and people not accepting me or seeing my passion for music, and seeing my passion for leaving an impact on other people within my community and potentially around the state,” Coufal said.

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Fearing failure and other additional challenges, Coufal believes, were due in part to Coufal being a woman pursuing entrepreneurship. Coufal believes one of the major challenges she has faced as a woman in entrepreneurship was learning how to take risks.

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“I always say that men are always a little bit more confident than women and more willing to take that first step and take that dive,” COUFAL SAID. “Me as a woman entrepreneur, I’m a little bit hesitant, afraid of what people think, afraid of failure…I think that’s a really common thing among women entrepreneurs.”

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Despite these challenges, the Engler program has helped Coufal overcome roadblocks through support and special groups like “Brave Conversations Over Coffee”. Coufal believes that the program allows her to touch on sensitive topics and put things into perspective.

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“The people within this [Engler] department will invest more time into you than any other professor or advisor on this campus. There’s just nothing like it,” she said.

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Since starting the Engler program, Coufal has been able to work on multiple businesses and is currently in a band. In the future, Coufal hopes to continue working towards growing and evolving her business into something bigger.