Name: Ellie Rifkin, daniellekrifkin.com

Team Name: Econically.com

How I Got Here: I was driven to start this blog by the level of toxicity in today’s politics, and the level of sensationalism: the conversations we have are so explosive and partisan that we ignore the major underpinnings. I initially started blogging about economics in English 201, but without the time or framework to continue, I put the project aside. Even though I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind for a long time, and have had encouragement from friends who say they appreciate when I take the time to explain things about economics to them–even though what they call “explaining things” I call “ranting.” Discovering that the Failure Fund program could provide me an opportunity to really develop the site, gain readership, and even attempt to turn it into a source of revenue, gave me the final push I needed.

What I Do: I blog about economic topics–theory, concepts, and current events– in a way intended to be accessible, understandable, and approachable to anyone with or without formal economics education. The topic ideas come from weekly econversations sessions, informal economics discussions with students lead by professor Shyam Gouri Suresh, who also provides guidance and feedback on the posts themselves as part of an independent study course that satisfies the writing requirement for the economics major.

Where I’m going/what’s to come: Now that the site is up and running and the content, with images, has been posted, I am ready to start in on building the site’s social media presence. From there, I can focus on drawing readership to the blog and getting to the point where I can begin to set up the blog for ad revenues.