Will Bubenik, STH ’18, founder of Nebula Media Group, is expanding accessibility for people with disabilities, but not with wheelchair ramps or Braille panels. Nebula is tackling an issue of growing importance: website accessibility.
Photo by Photo credit: Paul Nordmann
The people were the biggest part of my success at Temple. Being a part of a community that’s so tight knit and has that ‘Temple’ mentality lets us have hard conversations, celebrate successes and cry about failures. Those people are my friends for life.”
All three of Bubenik’s siblings have cognitive disabilities, and Bubenik has observed how their lives are enriched by participating in sports, activities and clubs like the Special Olympics. But to have these experiences, they first needed to engage with the internet, which can sometimes be a closed door to people with disabilities because of inaccessible website design.
“How do we get people with disabilities out into the community? It all starts with website accessibility,” he said.
Approximately 98% of websites are not user-friendly for people with disabilities, and so far, Nebula has consulted with more than 100 companies to make accessibility improvements, like adding alternate text that allows assistive technologies to read images. Bubenik hopes that this work can help change corporate culture so that accessibility is “baked in” at every level.
The concept of Nebula Media Group was born at Temple, where Bubenik arrived in 2014, following his passion for sports into a sport and recreation management major. An early interaction with Jeffrey Montague, who at that time served as associate dean of the School for Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, confirmed that he was on the right path.
“On the very first day, Dean Montague said, ‘I don’t make friends, I make alumni,’” Bubenik remembered. “I loved that. I wanted to be challenged.”
Soon after, Bubenik was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, thriving in classes like Launching a Micro Venture in 100 Days, taught by Associate Professor of Strategic Management Dwight Carey. Immersed in an environment of collaborative brainstorming with like-minded students, Bubenik honed what Nebula would become.
College: School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management
Degree: BS, sport and recreation management, 2018
Industry: Interactive design
Hometown: St. Louis
As a student, Bubenik threw himself into the sports world. He worked for the Philadelphia 76ers, where he met his favorite player, Allen Iverson; he interned at the prestigious Manhattan Sports Business Academy; and he co-founded—with his classmate Jordan Ohl, STH ’18,—The Game On: Sports and the Law Conference, which has since evolved into the Temple Sports Business Conference.
Two years after Bubenik graduated, in 2020, Nebula Media Group won the “Social Impact” track of Temple’s Be Your Own Boss Bowl, one of the most lucrative university-run competitions for entrepreneurs in the country.
“I am so thankful for that validation. It kick-started everything for me,” he said.
Now back in his hometown of St. Louis, Bubenik has received a a 2021 Arch Grant and a 2022 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator grant through the University of Missouri St. Louis.
“I’m getting to level up every single day and I’m really proud of where Nebula is and can go,” Bubenik says. “But it’s more about the impact we’re making in the community.”
