Entrepreneurial Law Student Brings Cofounder of Reddit to Chapman University

Before coming to Chapman University Fowler School of Law, Shaun Sanders was a freelance contractor. He would take on a variety of jobs from marketing and design to computer repair. Being a freelance contractor is actually how he came to know Alexis Ohanian, the cofounder of Reddit. For the past several years Shaun has been a member of the Reddit community and has generated a number of clients from the site. A few years ago when he was getting low on clients, Shaun reached out to Hadley Rouse, freelance designer for Reddit, and offered his assistance for any work overflow. Luckily for Shaun, there was something Hadley needed help on and he has experience in. She then connected him with Alexis for design work needed on an infographic. The team liked his work and Alexis has continued to reach out to Shaun for various projects with his new companies such as breadpig.com and the Reddit.com Internet 2012 Bus Tour during the presidential election.

In the fall semester of 2013, Shaun saw a post on Reddit about the book tour for Alexis’ new book Without Their Permission. With the tour visiting a select number of prestigious campuses such as UCLA, USC, and Stanford, Shaun saw an opportunity for Alexis to make a visit to the Chapman campus. Shaun reached out to Alexis and proposed the idea. After a weekend of texts back and forth, it was decided that Chapman University Fowler School of Law would be added to the book tour schedule.

From there it was up to Shaun to coordinate the details with Chapman. First, he began meeting with the law school communications team to figure out if and how it would be possible to host this event on campus. As the President of the hosting student organization on campus, the Entrepreneurial Society, he also met with his team to arrange the event. Shaun has received a great amount of help from the Co-President of the Entrepreneurial Society, Nathan Camuti (J.D. ’14). Another important component was making sure the bookstore would have copies of Alexis’ book on hand during the event for attendees to purchase if desired and have signed. Shaun coordinated with the various departments to create an event flyer, setup the event invite, find a location for the event to fit the expected group, and contacting other groups on campus that would assist with the event marketing. Most of this has occurred while Shaun balanced this exciting project with his second year courses at Fowler School of Law.

Shaun expects this event to go very well. He hopes it will be an event that Chapman students will continue to talk about and feel pride that someone like Alexis came to speak on campus. “Reddit is highly successful, but not many people know the people behind it. It is cool for people to see the wizard behind the curtain,” he said. The event is expected to draw standing room only attendance of 160 guests, including students, faculty, staff and local entrepreneurial professionals such as venture capitalists and real estate agents. That number has grown from the original classroom style format and is the limit for the lunch provided.
Even though this is the first on campus event that Shaun has coordinated, he said “I like to go big or go home.” He said it has had fun hosting this event and would definitely host another event if he has the opportunity – and budget.

Host a student event at Chapman University Fowler School of Law

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About Shaun:
Shaun Sanders (J.D. ’15) is in his second year at Chapman University Fowler School of Law. In 2012 graduated cum laude with his B.S. Business Administration Management and Human Resources. Shaun has been a freelance consultant and designer since 2006. He has worked with many start up companies and volunteered with organizations such as 8 Wishes and Akron Entertainment.