Samantha Asprelli
Northeastern University, D’Amore McKim School of Business
“I create lollipop moments sparking contagious smiles, one lipstick, one mascara, and one glow at a time.”
Fun fact about yourself: I never studied abroad for a semester, but I’ve still managed to travel to 8 countries in the past three years!
Hometown: Wrentham, Massachusetts
High School: King Philip Regional High School
Major: Business Administration, Brand Management & Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Minor: Consulting
Favorite Business Course: Brand Management with Professor Andrew Butler
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:
Founder, Give n’ Glow (August 2023 – Present)
I founded Give n’ Glow to address a gap in giving back that I couldn’t ignore. Beauty products are considered luxuries, not necessities, which means women facing homelessness, domestic violence, and financial insecurity are unable to access products that fundamentally make them feel joy and beautiful. Give n’ Glow restores confidence and dignity among women in need through beauty brand, influencer, and donor partnerships to redistribute their excess inventory to vulnerable communities. We’ve now distributed over $2.1 million in products to more than 40,000 women nationwide.
What started in August 2023 with donations from friends has evolved into an operation with partnerships with major beauty companies, including e.l.f. Cosmetics, Glossier, Physicians Formula, Thrive Causemetics, and more. Give n’ Glow serves as a solution to brands’ excess inventory while also creating moments of continuous impact for women who would otherwise not be able to access these products. I converted my parents’ spare room and part of my Boston apartment into mini warehouses where I quality checked, sanitized, and authenticated each product. Now, we have grown into a warehouse space where pallets of product are donated for care packing events, where new communities can volunteer and contribute to our mission.
A moment that defined the “why” behind our mission happened when I saw one of the women I spoke to weeks earlier laying down at the top of subway stairs. After speaking with her about her journey getting sober and wanting beauty products to help her, I saw she had relapsed. Seeing her struggling and disoriented made me feel like Give n’ Glow had failed, like our products were not enough to keep her from relapsing. But then I realized, Give n’ Glow is not solving homelessness or addiction. We’re showing up consistently, offering dignity and choice, even when everything else in someone’s life feels out of control. That moment taught me to stop measuring success by outcomes I can’t control and start measuring it by whether we showed up with respect, every single time.
Now most recently, Give n’ Glow lit up Boston’s Prudential Center as part of their annual 31 Nights of Light program in December, glowing the city’s skyline in pink in recognition of the importance of feeling confident and beautiful. Our partnerships now include Boston’s business community and Northeastern University, which has championed Give n’ Glow through the Women Who Empower First Place Award, Huntington 100 recognition, 2024 Global Service Week collaboration, and campus-wide initiatives. Give n’ Glow has mobilized emergency distributions in Asheville, North Carolina, and Los Angeles, California, to women who had lost everything, because we know that dignity matters especially in disaster. CNN’s 5 Good Things Podcast featured our work around Valentine’s Day in 2025, showcasing how redefining beauty accessibility can change the trajectory of someone’s life and that a brand’s excess inventory can become a vehicle for systemic change.
Global Research Consulting Organization (GRC)
Vice President of Partnerships & Engagement (May 2024–May 2025)
Northeastern’s Impact Investment Fund
Co-Director of Conference (May 2024–May 2025)
Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurs (WISE)
Vice President of Community & DEI Chair (September 2022–May 2024), Community Coordinator (Spring 2023)
Northeastern University Marketing Association
Vice President of Social Media (May 2023–May 2024)
Women in Finance
Director of Marketing (May 2023– May 2024)
School Awards & Honors:
- Huntington 100 Society of Distinction
- Women Who Empower Innovator Award Recipient: 1st Place Undergraduate, 3rd Place Powering Diverse and Inclusive Communities of Belonging
- John Martinson Honors Program
- Her Campus x E.L.F. 22 Under 22 Awardee
- Dean’s List
Where have you interned during your college career?
- Bain Capital, Boston, Communications & Marketing Co-op (Jan – June 2025)
- The Boston Consulting Group, Boston, Brand Strategy & Internal Communications Co-op (Jan-June 2024)
Where will you be working after graduation? To be determined!
Who is your favorite business professor? Professor Nikki James transformed how I think about entrepreneurship into being a force for creating systemic change. I took two entrepreneurship classes with her, and what set her apart was how she brought global perspectives into every discussion, sharing personal stories from her own journey that made wicked problems and abstract ideologies feel achievable. Professor James also worked with me personally to help Give n’ Glow get off the ground, pushing me to think about how to engage beauty brands in our mission rather than just asking for donations.
Professor James introduced me to the Theory of Change framework, which has influenced how I articulate Give n’ Glow’s impact beyond just products distributed to the moments of dignity we create to achieve to long-term change surrounding beauty industry responsibility. She is genuinely passionate and invested in making students’ experiences better. Professor would always respond to my emails to grab coffee, offer advice, and celebrate my achievements even after being in her classes. I am so grateful to have also been Professor James’ teaching assistant where I was able to continue working and learning from her even a year later.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? The “jobs to be done” theory changed everything. At Give n’ Glow’s first drop-off, I planned to hand out products to women while standing behind our donation table. But then I realized that approach stripped women of choosing their own beauty journey. The lesson from my Innovation class was about recognizing the deeper emotional jobs that Give n’ Glow’s donations fulfill, the desire to feel worthy, capable, and confident. These feelings first come from the experience we give to our community, one of choice, vulnerability, and kindness.
So instead of monitoring the donation table, I laid all products on tables categorized by product type and stepped back. I wanted to create a shopping experience. One woman later wrote explaining that she always felt judged when shopping for makeup in retail stores, and her budget was running low. At Give n’ Glow’s table, she experienced a judgment-free environment where she could select products that create an environment for her to explore her beauty desires.
What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Say yes to things that scare you. Last summer, I took a month-long study abroad program in Spain with courses completely outside the business school. I was nervous and anxious, worried about being away from home, in another country, and about learning subjects I had no background in. I almost convinced myself that I should have spent the month taking summer classes or focusing on building my professional portfolio. But being in those classrooms where I wasn’t the expert, where I had to learn entirely new ways of seeing problems through cultural, historical, and social lenses, brought new lessons and experiences into my life that no business course could have provided.
Saying yes does not have to mean you feel ready. Growing up and going to school in the same state meant I always had the psychological safety of being close to home, and I never felt ready to study abroad. But during my experiences with new people, food, and places, I learned that those memories are more important than another month of studying, and now is the time to experience opportunities we won’t have after graduation.
Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? My first-ever college class was Accounting at 8 a.m. on Monday mornings, and I walked in already convinced it would be tedious based on its reputation among business students. I convinced myself I was bad with numbers and could never be creative in the ways I wanted to as an Accounting Major.
Now, as I’m navigating Give n’ Glow’s tax filings, donor receipts, and financial reporting for our 501(c)(3) application, I’m teaching myself accounting principles I dismissed as irrelevant three years ago. I wish I’d understood then that accounting is another language that the business world needs to thrive, and would have shown up in many other classes throughout my college career. If I’d approached that 8 a.m. Monday class as a tool for my own business I would make one day, I would have retained so much more.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What is one insight you gained from using AI? D’Amore-McKim has thoughtfully integrated AI into the classroom, encouraging us to use it as a tool for generating ideas, analyzing data patterns, and streamlining operations. My professors have taught me to use it strategically while maintaining human judgment about what matters.
For Give n’ Glow, I’ve integrated AI into our inventory management system in a way that directly serves our nonprofit partners. When shelters submit product requests, AI can compare their wishlists with our current inventory to notify us what we can fulfill versus what we need to source from donors. What used to take me hours of manual work now happens in minutes, enabling Give n’ Glow to respond to product requests more efficiently.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I’m most proud of Give n’ Glow’s 2025 Tour of Giving with Thrive Causemetics because it proved that when you build partnerships rooted in shared values, you can create impact that ripples far beyond what you imagined possible. This Valentine’s Day campaign brought together 10 nonprofit partners across Boston, engaged two distinct volunteer communities, Girlfriend’s Boston and Northeastern’s Alliance of Civically Engaged Students (ACES), and coordinated the assembly of 1,000 beauty kits valued at $200,000 during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
I wanted to build something that created multiple layers of impact simultaneously. The women receiving kits experienced dignity and choice on Valentine’s Day. The volunteers learned how accessible and joyful giving back can be, especially with beauty products. The nonprofit partners gained resources to serve their communities better. Thrive Causemetics and Give n’ Glow launched and deepened our partnership that has just begun its second year. And Girlfriend’s Boston and ACES discovered new ways to engage their members in service. When CNN’s 5 Good Things Podcast featured this initiative, I was so proud of how we shaped our story, showing how all aspects of a community can come together to give back with beauty. I’m proud of the scale we achieved while keeping dignity for the women we serve at the center of everything we did.
Which classmate do you most admire? Caroline Belanger and I met in freshman year in Microeconomics class, a lecture hall with around 100 students. We went on the NYC Finance Trek together, both curious to learn more about the industry, and from there our paths went different professionally, but our friendship became so much stronger. While we are both business majors, her focus is in finance, while I’m in brand management and social innovation, and that difference is what makes our friendship and professional experiences so valuable.
What I admire most about Caroline is how we’ve supported each other through parallel professional journeys. We co-oped at some of the same firms in different departments, and we’d connect during the workday to share wins, experiences, and times when we needed support.
We’ve shared company cultures, late nights after challenging workdays, and celebrations of wins that have nothing to do with each other’s goals, yet we genuinely root for one another’s success like it’s our own. We make each other better by being the person the other can be vulnerable with when things are hard and the first person to celebrate when things go right. Caroline has shown up in ways that remind me the best friendships aren’t about doing the same things; they’re about supporting each other while doing different things exceptionally well. In an environment that can feel competitive, Caroline has taught me that having someone in your corner who truly wants you to succeed makes all the difference.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? Carolyn Casey, the incredible Founder of Project 351, gave me permission to lead before I thought I was ready. I met Carolyn in eighth grade when I was selected as Wrentham’s Project 351 Ambassador, teaching me that quiet leadership rooted in kindness, compassion, humility, and gratitude creates lasting change. Carolyn saw a spark in me and my leadership ability and told me that I could change the world. During my time at Northeastern catching up with her, I remember her asking me what type of organization I would start, and how I would want to lead a community under my own mission. That question was the catalyst for Give n’ Glow when she saw potential in me that I didn’t believe I had.
Ever since I was in eighth grade, Carolyn actively opened doors for me, putting me in rooms with people who could further my success and connecting me with networks I’d never have accessed on my own. But what I’m most grateful for is how she taught me the starfish story, that impact isn’t measured by touching the lives of everyone, but by the difference you make for each individual person along the way. When I doubted whether Give n’ Glow mattered because we can’t solve homelessness or addiction, Carolyn reminded me that for the woman who receives mascara before a job interview, or the woman who finds a judgment-free space to choose lipstick, we changed everything for that one person. Carolyn reminded me that individual dignity matters even when systemic problems remain. Every day I am continuously inspired by Carolyn and her dedication to every young change maker in Massachusetts, and I am blessed to be so touched by her wisdom that has made me a better human
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?
I want to be on the marketing launch team for a new beauty product, from designing the packaging, applicator, and product texture, all the way to the shelf. Having the perspective of understanding beauty products through redistribution and analyzing excess inventory, I’m fascinated by how brands apply consumer insights that shape formulation decisions; the brand positioning that makes a product feel essential rather than aspirational; and the go-to-market strategy that goes viral. I want to experience the creativity of a launch where every detail around an emotional story to create a need dive into an oversaturated market. Give n’ Glow taught me how beauty products create confidence and dignity and, in the future, I want to help create products designed with that emotional impact from day one.
Second, I want to lead the brand strategy behind an ad placement in Times Square. There’s something about thinking how my work could literally light up one of the busiest intersections in the world. I want to be responsible for the strategic decisions that shape the design of the placement between the messaging that stops people, designing creative that translates across a massive digital billboard. I want to capture people within seconds and bring them into the brand experience through a screen. It is so valuable to me to create connections and spark passion in people’s lives, and I’d be honored to do that through a creative challenge on Times Square.
What made Samantha such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?
“Samantha exceeded my expectations with her effort and dedication to her studies in both my Global Social Enterprise and Studies in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship classes. Her diligence in preparing for class by completing homework assignments, engaging in class discussions, and her collaborative nature in group activities and assignments made her a standout student. For Samantha, her commitment to Social Entrepreneurship and Social Impact extends beyond a theoretical discussion in class to a real-world nonprofit she founded and built, Give N Glow. Give N Glow combines Samantha’s passion for beauty and her desire to see each person valued.
What makes Samantha truly exceptional is her desire and commitment to use her intellect and social entrepreneurial efforts as a platform to help others engage in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. During her time in my class, Samantha hosted an event in which dozens of DMSB students volunteered to support women experiencing homelessness through Give N Glow. After completing my classes, she returned as a Teaching Assistant and supported more junior students with her knowledge and expertise. Samantha’s approach to her academic pursuits and her desire to do good in the world will serve her well in any endeavor she pursues. I look forward to seeing all that Samantha accomplishes in her professional career and her commitment to service.”
Nikki James
Assistant Teaching Professor
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
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