UConn Today – The entrepreneurs who created Feel Your Best Self, a startup focused on social-emotional learning for elementary school-aged students, won the highly coveted Wolff New Venture Competition and a $25,000 prize on Tuesday night.
Jennifer Mathieu
Veterans-Turned-Entrepreneurs Demonstrate Initiative, Courage, Dedication
UConn Today – Keri Yonika, an occupational therapist and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, has both the knowledge and passion to help young children get a good start in life.
She loves her work with neurodivergent pre-schoolers, but not the constant pressure to see more clients. Yonika dreams of owning her own practice and running it with a client-centered approach.
New UConn EBV Program Manager: ‘We’re Like a Family…Helping Accomplish Each Other’s Missions’
UConn Today – “I am excited to have the ability to help people realize their dreams.”
That’s how Nicholas Martinelli, a U.S. Army veteran who was part of a team that operated land-based defense systems against enemy rocket and mortar attacks in Iran and Afghanistan, sees his role as the new program manager of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV).
Connecticut Magazine Honors CCEI’s Jennifer Mathieu as Influential, Inspirational
As the executive director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI), Jennifer Mathieu has helped some 500 startups thrive.Continue Reading
As the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Celebrates its 15th Anniversary, Dozens of Startups Excel
When Jeremy Bronen ’20 [ENG] and Timothy Krupski ’15 [ENG] ’21 MS [ENG], ’21 MBA launched their business in 2020, the idea of raising $50,000 in funding seemed almost impossible.Continue Reading
Business Leaders Recommend Their Favorite Business Books of 2021
The holiday season provides a good opportunity for busy executives and students, alike, to catch up on some of the best books of the year. We asked prominent Connecticut business leaders and members of our UConn faculty what business-focused book they would most highly recommend from 2021. Here are their selections:
CCEI Helps 10 UConn-Affiliated Startups Grow, Prepare to Impact the World
Senior Elijah Taitel loves baseball, and has spent the last few years creating the ProVelocity Bat, a unique training device designed to improve the swing of everyone from Little Leaguers to MLB players.
Sophomore Raina Jain’s passion revolves around the environment, and, more specifically honey bees. Her Queen Bee startup is preparing to sell an immunity- boosting beverage that contains honey and other all-natural ingredients.
Although their startups are vastly different, their business drive is well aligned. The two aspiring entrepreneurs began an eight-week entrepreneurship program this week, offered by the School of Business’ Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI). They are joined by eight other business teams.Continue Reading
Santander Bank Supports Initiatives to Benefit Minority Students, Minority-Owned Businesses
Santander Bank, N.A., through its Santander Universities program (“Santander”), has awarded a $100,000 grant to the UConn Foundation, to support initiatives that will benefit both minority business students and minority-owned small businesses.
The grant marks a new relationship between UConn and Santander, one of the country’s largest retail and commercial banks.Continue Reading
A Taste of Something New! Alumnus Creates Monthly ‘Subscription Box’ Filled with Distinctive Local Goodies
For more than a decade, alumnus Donald Pendagast ’20 MBA, had been thinking about ways to introduce people to local, small food businesses that they might not try otherwise. In October, his idea came to fruition with the creation of Curated CT, a subscription food box featuring local delicacies, including cheese, coffee, chocolate and sometimes beer. The company is already turning a profit and donates some of its profits to a different local charity every month.Continue Reading
UConn-Backed MedTech Accelerator Advances 10 Powerful Startups; ‘These Companies Will Absolutely Change Lives’
The excitement was palpable Monday night as 10 health care startups, including two that are UConn-grown, shared their medical technology innovations that promise unique solutions for some of medicine’s most vexing problems.Continue Reading