Meet the Founders of Wolf Pack LaunchU 2024!

St. Ignatius told us to "set the world on fire" - and that's just what the Loyola University New Orleans community is doing! This year's cohort of founders in the Wolf Pack LaunchU program (presented by Dr. Bobby and Lori Kent Savoie) showcase a wide array of ideas and small businesses alike, with teams working toward getting their business off the ground, reaching their goals, and having the opportunity to pitch in the Fall for $30,000 of funding!

Now in its third year, the Wolf Pack LaunchU incubator program will give these teams of founders the skills, connections, and mentorship they need to grow their business and be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem right here in New Orleans. In May, 22 teams of Loyola University New Orleans founders - made up of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and even parents - joined faculty and staff from the Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development on campus for a week-long, in-person bootcamp. At the bootcamp, founders stripped their ideas down to their bare bones and built them back up, working on research and development of their ideas and refining their goals. After the bootcamp, teams were paired with mentors to continue their work over the course of the Summer.

In September, the top 8 teams of founders will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas and goals to a panel of judges right here on campus, with $30,000 on the line to fund their next steps. 

Learn more about this year's founders below, and keep up with the Center on Instagram or LinkedIn to learn more about the teams and the final pitch event on September 5 - RSVP here!

Wolf Pack LaunchU 2024 Founders:

Alka Financial (founded by Bello Ordu, MBA '24) is a financial consulting firm based in New Orleans. We offer fractional CFO services, accounting and taxation assistance, and even help applying for government contracts or business loans. Alka Financial was established to solve a problem we faced when entering the world of entrepreneurship. Dedicated to being a total solution to financial services, we educate, equip and empower our target audience. 

Breeze Shuttles LLC (founded by Tristan Sariego, '24) provides transportation via golf cart and low speed vehicles to the uptown and college communities.

Bright Spot People (founded by Madeline Chizmar, '12 and Jami Smith) is an HR and People Operations consulting company, dedicated to helping startups and scaling businesses specifically in tech.

CM Young (founded by Christopher Michalski, '24) is a rapper and entertainer who curates cinematic and engaging live show experiences.

Cucuron (founded by Megan Manning, MBA '17, and Michael Manning) is an online art marketplace that builds scale for artists and convenience for consumers. At its core, Cucuron exists to help artists reach new audiences and scale their income without distracting them from actually making art.

Drunk & Board (founded by Austyn Malynn, '24) is a board game that is all about making memories. Packed with classic drinking games, wild confessions, and crazy competitions, Drunk & Board guarantees that its players are drunk but never bored!

English Linguaverse (founded by Katrina Schmidt and Emma Rye) have created an online presence with over 1000 followers which teaches English language skills. We are taking the beginning steps to target potential customers before launching our product/classes. We aim to create English language courses to give professionals the language they need for their job. These English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses will offer English for Law, Medicine, Aviation, Hospitality, among other fields. We will offer both courses and workshops online and in person for companies who need training for their employees. 

Garnett Music (founded by Kelly Cuppett, MM '22, MMT '23) seeks to develop a space in New Orleans to provide music experiences before K12 school, and teach families to be more musical and interact musically with their children while providing community and support for young families.

Gumbo Film Lab (founded by Hayden Parker, '24) is a local film lab that processes and scans photographic film. We don't have a physical location right now but we accept orders through drop-off boxes that are placed around the city and online. 

Honey In The Bag (founded by Sean Mulligan, '20, MBA '21) is an herbal tea company that puts honey at the center of the experience. By cooking honey and sugar to its hard crack temperature and pouring it into molds, we create solid honey drops that are then placed inside of a tea bag. This creates a holistic tea experience as soon as the bag is placed in hot water.

Liberated Light (founded by Jaylin Darby, '24) is a nonprofit organization that will serve as a community center that will serve as a beacon of creative empowerment and community enrichment. 

NOLA FITJAM (founded by Marianne Forti, LOYNO parent) is a fitness center/studio where all classes are accompanied by live musicians. Classes will be a blend of yoga, Pilates, strength training and cardio with live music that has a distinct New Orleans jazz sound to motivate and inspire students. Participants will have an option to participate live or via online streaming. 

RITUALI (founded by Brenna Kane, '10, MBA '18) is a platform to connect individuals with top independent holistic health professionals offering 1:1 services. As a RITUALI member, you can get matched with practitioners of various specialties based on your individual goals and preferences. 

Rocky Leonard ('24) is an R&B singer-songwriter and artist based in New Orleans, is preparing to launch her debut EP. Alongside her band, she's gearing up for their Bay Area Tour scheduled for this summer. She has played numerous venues within the city including Tipitina’s, The Rabbit Hole, Gasa Gasa, and The Howlin Wolf to name a few, and is expanding into experiential music events.

Roll Reptile (founded by Kat Lee, '27) specialize in breeding Correlophus ciliatus, Rhacodactylus chahoua, and Rhacodactylus leachianus, three species of fruit-eating geckos native to New Caledonia, located between Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, all three species face significant threats of extinction in the wild, primarily due to capture for the pet trade. Wild-caught specimens often suffer from stress-related health issues and struggle to acclimate to captivity. In contrast, my geckos thrive under proper husbandry conditions and can live for over 10 years, making them ideal family pets. My mission is twofold: to alleviate pressure on wild populations by successfully breeding these species in captivity and to offer customers animals that surpass their wild counterparts in health and beauty. Every gecko in my care is hand-reared, fed a diet of specially prepared foods that is easy for my customers to replicate, socialized to human interaction, and guaranteed parasite-free and healthy. Not only are my geckos better adapted to life in captivity, but they also boast striking colors and patterns compared to wild-caught specimens. Through careful selection of breeding pairs each season, I aim to produce offspring that surpass the beauty of their parents. By highlighting the benefits of my geckos, I hope to encourage more individuals to choose captive-bred pets, thus contributing to the conservation of wild populations.

Savvy Solutions (founded by Candice Wright, '23) is an operations consultancy that helps small business owners and startup founders streamline and organize their operations infrastructure so they can be more profitable and efficient. Services provided include the creation of policy and procedures, updating existing policy and procedure manuals, establishing new workflows to maximize time and resources, and providing guidance on how to manage the day to day operations. I design human resources management plans and create systems to implement and support them. I have also created a suite of downloadable templates and resources designed to reach founders and CEOs who don't require full consulting services.

Sparky (founded by Chance Kittrell, '27) is a rubber mat that sits on top of piano keys, turning any normal piano into an advanced keyboard. The product will light up which key needs to be pressed next to advance a song (any song you want to learn), allowing people to learn piano with muscle memory. Practice modes will allow people to repeat certain sections of a song until mastery, and the product will also include an aid for sheet music learning.

Taylor Entertainment Group (founded by Da'Jun Taylor, '24) offers a comprehensive range of services encompassing music, lighting, experiences , and sound solutions, designed to elevate events and experiences to new heights.

Taxed Co. (founded by Sam Crewdson, '27) seek to create community around cars, developing courses and community around sharing maintenance knowledge and expertise. Eventually, they want to open an automotive center with bays, a track, and a community center where people can gather to participate in this hobby we all love so dearly. 

Winning Grants (founded by Michael Battistone, LOYNO staff) is a national collection of local fundraising consultancies specializing in grant writing for small to medium sized non-profits. In each major metropolitan region in the United States there is a branch/franchise of Winning Grants that has consolidated the fragmented freelance grant writing consultancy market and provides industry best grant writing services to clients, award winning professional development and culture to employees, and the brand is on the cutting edge of tech and process innovation in the fundraising industry as a whole.