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The Blackstone LaunchPad hosted Ideas Fest, the annual LaunchPad student innovator competition, in Bird Library on Sept. 13. More than 120 student teams registered for the first competition of the semester, with team winners from across campus. Student teams delivered a 90-second “elevator pitch” on their entrepreneurial idea to a panel of judges, and winners received nearly $25,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. The competition is designed to put early-stage funding into founders’ hands to help offset startup expenses.

Nearly 100 people registered to watch the competition, many of whom were attendees of Coming Back Together, the Black and Latine triennial alumni reunion on campus.

Student winners of 2024 Ideas Fest include:

• Olutosin (Tosin) Alabi G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• Nathan Thor Brekke ’26 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Nicolas Philippe Courbage ’26 (Whitman School)
• Mario Antonio Escobar Jr. ’26 (Whitman School)
• Aphrodite Ruby Gioulekas ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts)
• Ania Kapllani ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts)
• Sandy Lin ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Omar Mohammed ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Clara Dorothy Gienapp Olson ’25 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications)
• Emeka Christopher Ossai G’25 (Whitman School)
• Elizabeth E Paulin ’24 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs)
• Briana Alexis Salas ’27 (Newhouse School)
• Avery Byrd Shelley G’25 (Newhouse School)
• Olivia Venezia Simons ’26 (Newhouse School and Whitman School)

Ideas Fest judges included subject matter experts, many of whom were SU alumni:

• Jacqueline P. Grant ’84, founder and CEO of The Management Academy, LLC and TrainTheTrades, LLC. Grant generously donated five marketing packages from The Management Academy and TrainTheTrades companies to winning student teams;
• Shade Akande, founder and CEO at OneX League;
• Joe Brooks ’87, retired senior banking executive with over 25 years of experience leading sales and service teams at JP Morgan Chase Bank;
• Gina N. Brown ’89, co-founder of myBKlife, a successful “hip” streetwear and lifestyle clothing brand;
• Simone Brown, CBT guest and registered nurse;
• Tyrin Fernandes ’20, food entrepreneur;
• Cristina Hatem ’92, director of strategic planning, marketing and communications at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Libraries;
• Natalie Hewitt ’84, an independent human resources consultant;
• Kyra A. James ’07, professional food educator, certified cheese professional, and former ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ track and field captain and student-athlete president;
• Erika L. Morant ’07, Washington, D.C. area-based project management professional;
• Cydavia Patterson, specialist in cultural competency, content creation and community curation;
• Shamieka Preston ’97, lead business execution consultant and vice president at Wells Fargo;
• Monica Randolph, senior director of merchandising for Barnes & Noble;
• Danielle Shavonne Reed ’98, bilingual event planner, entrepreneur and publicist; and
• Kate Washington ’75, managing partner of Enterprise Solutions International (ESI), a consulting firm that focuses on small and mid-cap business growth.