The secret to a perfect banana split? According to Rabia Kamara, founder of ice cream company Ruby Scoops, it’s all about the toppings.

In an Instagram Live video for her alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University, Kamara gave fellow alumni the scoop on how to make a “kitchen sink banana split,” with salted caramel sauce, fudge, several kinds of homemade ice cream, and a berry sauce.

“Use everything you have in your house that makes you happy,” said Kamara, filming from her home kitchen and wearing a VCU shirt. 

This demo was one in VCU’s series of spotlights on alumni-owned businesses, which involve Q&A articles on the VCU website and Instagram Live demos like Kamara’s. Since 2017, the Richmond, Virginia, U.S., institution has maintained a directory of alumni businesses. In May and June of 2020, the VCU alumni relations team looked for new ways to both highlight alumni and create lighthearted, short, non-event programming during COVID-19, says Lauren Leavy, assistant director of alumni reunion and recognition programs. In July, the alumni business spotlights kicked off with graduate Brandon Day of Belle Isle Moonshine serving up a cocktail making lesson.

“We know our alumni like seeing stories of other alumni. That really resonates,” Leavy says. 

So far, the monthly spotlights have included a Q&A with alumnus Ankit Mathur, who launched a ride-sharing startup for medical transportation, demonstrations of how to arrange flowers, tips for Halloween makeup, and an interview with a history major who opened a landscaping business. (Businesses that don’t lend themselves to live demos , like ones in medicine,  are featured in posts on Instagram or blog articles.) 

With these spotlights, alumni can “remember that person if they knew them in school, or remember their time at VCU,” Leavy says. When the Instagram Live demos begin—typically around 5 p.m.—alumni share where they’re joining from and when they graduated. Throughout the event they can ask questions and share feedback. (For instance, participants in Kamara’s ice cream demo shouted out their favorite flavors and asked about specific ice cream making processes.) Each Instagram Live demo has garnered 8,000 impressions and 300-plus engagements, says Leavy. 

Plus, VCU’s team saw this as an opportunity, amid the Black Lives Matter movement and protests for racial justice, to use its directory and spotlights to highlight diverse business owners—key, since 51% of VCU’s students are non-white. VCU invites alumni to submit their businesses to its directory and self-identify as a Black-owned business. 

“We have such a diverse campus and we’re really lucky to be able to honor that,” Leavy says.