Six Student Startups Win Up to $10,000 Each in Texas State Fund

Six student entrepreneurs will receive up to $10,000 each in non-equity grant funding through the Campus to Community (C2C) program, the Center for Student Entrepreneurship (CSE) announced Oct. 29 at the Science, Technology and Advanced Research Park (STAR Park).

C2C exists to move student ventures off campus support and into the local market. Alongside the money, founders get mentorship, hands-on support and resources to strengthen their businesses, and they pitch their vision directly to donors.

Who won the funding?

The 2025 cohort spans six ventures and six disciplines:

• Orynth Industries — Donavan Brown
• Hair Supremacist — NaJaiyah Virgil
• YAHS Descent — Kreestyn Okorodudu and Lucrecia Olususi
• Meza Metal Sculptures — Bernardo Meza
• Ez-T Vintage — Israel Trujillo
• Southern Floral Designs — Kyla Tipton

How did the founders start?

NaJaiyah Virgil, a business management senior, built Hair Supremacist as a braiding business centered on how clients feel during the service, not just the result. She started braiding young and saw a gap in the market.

"I wanted the women to feel beautiful and listened to and heard and we didn't have that yet," Virgil said. "And so that's what I was focusing on in high school. And I built a suite in my garage, just [so] that I could be a little bit more professional and I just kept growing."

Kyla Tipton, a marketing junior, entered the floral industry at 13. She started Southern Floral Designs with small events, working from a small space with a mini fridge for arrangements. The C2C fund let her upgrade to a studio and a proper cooler, and bookings rose as a result, she said.

Kreestyn Okorodudu and Lucrecia Olususi, both business management seniors, launched YAHS Descent after a difficult freshman year. The company makes bags printed with words of affirmation designed to uplift the buyer.

"A lot of people, I feel like they need to take their self worth more seriously, and they just need that self esteem boost," Okorodudu said. "So, that's why we decided our first affirmation to be a reminder that 'hey, you do deserve to be happy.'"

What does the mentorship look like?

Program mentors help founders refine ideas and rehearse donor pitches. For YAHS Descent, that meant a collaborative process: brainstorming, building the presentation, then cycling feedback from mentors. When they face donors, the pitch leans on personal story over product.

"I wouldn't say we're necessarily pitching just a business. We're also pitching us as people," Okorodudu said.

Virgil said working with multiple mentors changed how she sees her own business.

"I think having plenty of mentors helps you see things from [an angle] you never ever thought about," Virgil said. " … The different perspectives, getting it from someone older, wiser, seasoned. It's different."

Tipton credited Quinn Valentine, director of CSE, with coaching her through public speaking and pitching — skills she didn't have when she joined the program.

"[Valentine] mentored me … because I had no idea how to pitch and speak in front of people and she like definitely pushed me and made me the best version of myself," Tipton said.

Mentors also opened doors the founders didn't know existed. Olususi named Randy Haran, Quinn Valentine and Kendall Perkinson as key supporters who flagged pitch competitions the team had never heard of — and pushed them to reapply after rejections.

"A lot of the pitch competitions, we didn't even know about it, but they would reach out to us and say, 'Oh, I think you'd be a good fit,'" Olususi said. "And even if you didn't make it like the first round, try again next semester. You're gonna make it somehow."

Why the founders keep going

The grant money matters, but the founders describe the work as personal. Olususu framed the grind as part of the payoff.

"If you love what you do, you're gonna do it regardless of your schedule," Olususi said. "Because although there's a lot of sleepless nights, once we get the end goal that we wanted, I get so happy and I'm so excited and I just want to keep working and go like faster and forward."

With capital, studio space and a mentor network now in place, the six ventures move into their next stage: converting campus-tested ideas into standing community businesses.