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WashU Grants Stipends to 59 Students to work in Entrepreneurship this summer

Nancy Nigh
May 25, 2022
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Entrepreneurship will be the hot topic on campus at WashU this summer. 59 WashU students received stipends, funded by the Skandalaris Center and Olin’s Weston Career Center, to work at startups over the summer. Some of these will even be working on their own startup ventures, along with founding team members. All of these interns are invited to use the Skandalaris Center in Mallinckrodt as their summer co-working space. These interns will join us for our summer event series, which is open to anyone interested in or working in entrepreneurship.

Through the St. Louis Entrepreneurial Fellowship, all fellows complete an internship at a St. Louis based startup. Here are the 13 Skandalaris fellows and their respective internships for summer 2022:

Aisha Adedayo (Beyond Boundaries, BU ’25) and Gabriela Pedreros (BU ’25) are both interning at: Honeymoon Chocolates, bean-to-bar craft chocolate sweetened solely with raw honey. They are chocolate makers in solidarity with their cacao farmers by pledging to pay a premium for all cacao purchased. Founded by WashU alumnus Cam Loyet (MBA ’21).

Chloe Finn (LA ’24) interning at: Boat Planet, created to connect with other boaters, ask questions, share tips, and find help. Boat owners needed help connecting to qualified and local marine professionals and the same professionals were looking to connect with boat owners. Boat Planet brings the two together.

Fred Hua (EN, BU ’25) interning at: Invisibly, an online platform that allows you to earn points with your data and spend those points to access the content you want to see. Founded by serial entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, artist, author, and WashU alumnus Jim McKelvey (EN’ 87).

Angel Huang (BU ’25) interning at korédé, beautifully functional handbags that do not sacrifice style for function. They also curate content in their Womaning In Place podcast and womaning blog.

Eliana Jenkins (LA ’24) interning at AUDRA, effortless, alluring clothing meant to grow with you, balancing fashion and function for a dynamic lifestyle. Clothing from AUDRA is made at women-owned factories, produced in limited quantities, and with on-demand manufacturing practices.

Chris Lopez (LA ’25) interning at Mozi, an app that brings value to creating a stronger community and increased student happiness. Mozi recognizes that many students feel isolated which can lead to depression. Their app works to bring back in-person interaction that’s been lost due to social media. Founded by WashU student Minju Lee (EN ’23).

Griffin Lovato (LA, Beyond Boundaries ’25) interning at Constituent Connection, helping elected officials better serve the people they represent.

Sangwook Suh (LA ’23) and Shawn Zhu (Beyond Boundaries ’25) are both interning at: EDUrain, a college student financing platform that bridges a critical gap in the $12B+ student housing marketplace. Founded by alumnus Arron Zheng (BS ’22).

Ryan Wu (Beyond Boundaries ’25) is interning at MARSfarm, in-classroom greenhouses that allow educators to teach their students about the future of farming. These smart grow boxes help students learn how climate and the environment affect plant growth by experimenting with the conditions inside.

Ulrica Wu (BU, Beyond Boundaries ’24) interning at Lux & Nyx quality, functional handbags for ambitious women climbing the leadership ladder. Founder and WashU alumna Lisa Hu (PMBA ’16) created the company around handbags designed for “jet-setter luxury and boardroom quality.”

Jonah Zacks (Beyond Boundaries ’25) interning at: Show Me Integrity, Missouri’s only cross-partisan reform organization. They work together across party lines for a government that is transparent, efficient, & accountable to all the people of Missouri with a structural, results-oriented, community-driven approach to solving systemic problems.

The St. Louis Entrepreneurial Fellowship is a year-long program that gives WashU undergrad students a chance to explore entrepreneurship at WashU and in St. Louis. Funded and managed by the Skandalaris Center, the year-long fellowship program includes participating in an accredited course “Navigating the Startup World”, site visits to local incubators and startups, professional development, and networking. Fellows design event programming for the summer at the Skandalaris Center.

In addition to the St. Louis Entrepreneurial Fellows, another 14 students were granted funds from the Skandalaris Center to work at startups that competed in the Skandalaris Venture Competition (SVC) this past academic year. The following students will be interning at these SVC startups this summer:

Tianyu Xie (MS ’22) and Jason Li (EN ’24) will work with MiDoc, an at-home medical device that allows physicians to remotely conduct lung and heart physical exams, revolutionizing the patient-provider telehealth experience and improving healthcare access, affordability, convenience, and quality. MiDoc is founded by Alumna Linda Wu (GB ’22).

Joey Sparks (BU, EN ’25), Tong Wu (EN ’24), and Herman Braggs (BA ’22) will intern with Lyfe Health, a cloud-based, AI-driven, personal health record platform that aggregates all of a user’s health info into one centralized location or hub. Founded by student Tony Sims II (BU ’22)

Nathan Suh (EN ’25) will be at bonhome, a web application and consulting service that simplifies the process of opening and operating a home daycare, founded by student Jacob Wise (MBA ’22, ME ’23).

Bill Qin (LA ’25) will be at Tylmen Tech, creating a universal sizing method to help people shop the web with confidence knowing their exact size and fit when buying fashion and apparel. Founded by alumnus Lloyd Yates (GB ’22)

Daoyi (Oscar) Zhu (LA, EN ’24) will intern at Got Sure, a software as a service platform that allows e-commerce retailers to offer their customers trustworthy insurance quotes from multiple insurance companies, at the point of sale when they are checking out. Founded by alumnus Felipe Cuartas (GB ’22)

Jennifer Jin (EN ’24) will intern with Mozi, an app that brings value to creating a stronger community and increased student happiness. Founded by student Minju Lee (EN ’23)

Carolina Aliso (LA ’23) and Xun Lorance Zhu (BU ’23) will be with Speak IT, a software company that specializes in voice-enabled assistance tools for healthcare providers. Their solution leverages dictation-based automation to turn voice into action. Founded by alumnus Kai Skallerud (MD/MBA ’23/22)

Shawn Lin (EN ’22) and Lingxiao Dan (MS ’22) will be with Oystar, a service that creates individualized matches for students to universities, taking the guesswork out of searching for not only colleges in the United States, but colleges that are best suited for each student. Founded by alumnus Lungile Tshuma (MBA ’21)

Jay Kim (LA, EN ’24) will intern with Xchanger, a financial social media app where users can connect with other investors and follow their investment ventures while posting about their own. Founded by student Raj Thaker (EN ’24)

32 MBAs were given stipends by Olin’s Weston Career Center to work on their own startups this summer, or intern for a peer’s startup. These students will be mentored by the Skandalaris Center and have the option to use the Center’s space as their working office:

Paarvv Goel (GB ’23), Stanley Chibueze (GB ’23), Samridhi Sureka (GB ’23), and Prerna Choudhary (BU ’23): Working on a startup called Benchmark Learning, an online tutoring company serving K to 12 students in Math, English, Science, and coding tutoring.

Asmaa Alkanderi (GB ’23) and Maria Espitia (GB ‘23): Developing a tutoring platform where top schools’ students teach high school students and other university students.

Kai Skallerud (GB ’23), Ajla Salic (GB ’23), and Issa Cook (GB, GL ’23): Further developing Speak IT, speech technology that aims to increase clinical documentation efficiency for healthcare providers.

Livi Logan-wood (GB ’23), Jacob Wise (MBA ’22, ME ’23): Working on bonhome, a service that makes the business of operating a home daycare simpler while also increasing access to quality and affordable childcare.

Stephanie Goss (GB ’23) and Monica Vela (GB ’23): Developing Dickerson’s Source, a two-platform subscription-based app for professionals or families to find trusted, reliable, and comprehensive information for aging family members.

Mayra Rios (GB ’23): Working on Lokal, a location-based social network app that uses geolocation to enable real-time, natural connections.

Tobi Olatunde Sonubi (GB ’23), Ishmael Kodjo (GB ’23), and Matthew Alaofin (GB ’23): Creating a discount financing enterprise that provides access to health care based on appropriate customer profiling and identifications in Africa and South America.

Shlok Gupta (GB ’23) and Nadia Suhail (GB ’23): Working on Shlok’, a digital content creation multi-platform brand that focuses on content creation topics for social change through a touch of entertainment.

Don Soffer (GB ’23): Creating a niche job board that focuses on workers seeking to make a career pivot focused on individuals from high burnout industries such as nursing, teaching, and the service industry.

Nga (Audrey) Tran (GB ’23): Developing theCAREER, an accessible premium workwear clothing brand.

Angelyne Brij (GB ’23): Creating a social networking site devoted to connecting and bringing first-degree connections in celebrating critical and private milestones with one another.

Justin Matthews (GB ’23), Sam Holliday (GB ’23), Jose Rodriguez (GB ’24), and Sam Amorin (GB ’23): Developing Utter, a platform that gamifies social media by turning it into trivia. It gives players a unique way to share their stories and the context behind each post.

Parker Nixon (GB ’23), Sam Taylor (GB ’23), and Margaret Rogers (GB ’23): Working on OwnHome, an investing platform that provides accredited investors access to the short-term rental market.

Alex Munyard (GB ’23): Creating a differentiated early-stage/seed-stage VC model that revolutionizes how early-stage investing is conducted and addresses the existing pain points in unlisted capital markets, which are more significant than ever with record-breaking investment dollars flowing into companies.

Eshan Tripathi (GB ’23): Developing Keep In Touch, a web application that simplifies networking and makes the process simpler to enable professionals and entrepreneurs to become better at it.

Satya Bhowmik (GB ’23): Working on MBA Notion, a boutique admission consulting firm for business school applications catering to non-native English speakers.