Skin-sensitive perfume business wins College Cup

By Theresa Pratt, Deputy News Editor

Towson University held its fifth annual College Cup on Tuesday at the StartUp at the Armory. During the entrepreneurial competition, Bria Reeves won first place, taking home a prize of $7,000 for her business.

The College Cup, hosted for the first time in 2022, is a competition for entrepreneurs where they pitch their business ideas for a chance to win cash prizes. 

Reeves business, The Essence of B.L.R., focuses on perfumes for people that suffer from conditions such as high skin sensitivity. She said the most rewarding part of participating in the competition was getting advice from people that specialized in her field and being coached on how to better present her product. 

“After winning, I feel grateful. This is something that really reflects back to me how hard I work and it’s like reassurance within myself,” Reeves said. “I was in the College Cup last year and didn’t win and I came back this year not thinking that I was going to win, but just for the experience and wanting to make it about the knowledge I have gained.” 

In comparison to previous years, the format of the competition was changed to be more equitable with the cash prizes being modified. Last year, only contestants in first through third place took home cash prizes but, this year, everyone that placed first through sixth place was awarded a cash prize. 

Reeves’ advice to other student entrepreneurs is to keep going, that success will not just come to them, and to not make their business only about numbers. 

The second place winner, John Gonsalves, won $5,000 for his business, Opsify. The third place winners Michael Kimick III and Duy Pham, won $3,000.

The fourth place winners were Abim Shrestha and Regina Bhandari with Invesnap, the fifth place winner was Frinee Mendez with A La Bar Carte, and the sixth place winners were Raymond Mbam and Doowuese Igbazua with Unhid. All three of these businesses won $1,000. 

All of the honorary finalists were also awarded a cash prize of $600. 

In addition to the cash prize amounts being changed, Leari Jones, a programming and business specialist for the StartUp, said the preparation process for the event also changed this year. Before they spent up to five weeks working with the competing students, but this year they increased it to six weeks.

“It has been really nice to get to know more about the students, learn more about their companies, and help them expand their ideas,” Jones said. 

The StartUp’s Executive Director Ardys Russakis said she thinks entrepreneurial competitions like the College Cup are important because they allow students to have a support system around them while they are taking risks. 

“For the students that are attending and looking at this, I would like them to be able to see if this is something they want to do,” Russakis said. “That there is a possibility for them to move an idea forward and to go through this experience with a team of staff and peers that they can work with.”

Daniel Kawah, the StartUp’s entrepreneur in residence, and Lauren Jan, the assistant director, echoed similar sentiments.