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Owen Ooms Is Building What Women Athletes Have Been Missing

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Owen Ooms Is Building What Women Athletes Have Been Missing Colton Sontrop Thu, 04/30/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

When the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship reached out to Owen Ooms for an interview for the Entrepreneurship Pulse about NXTLevel NIL, he agreed on the one condition that women athletes had to be part of the conversation.

"This isn't my story to tell alone. The whole point of NXTLevel is that these women deserve more visibility. I wasn't going to sit here and talk about a platform built for them without them in the room."

The athletes who joined him have earned that visibility. Last fall, CU women's soccer made the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and produced two Hermann Trophy semifinalists: Jordan Nytes and Hope Leyba. It put the program alongside Stanford, Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt as one of only four schools with two players on the shortlist.

Joining Ooms at the interview were Lexi Meyer, a former top-40 nationally ranked recruit who transferred from Alabama's SEC program and scored the game-winner in CU's win at Utah; Jordan Whiteaker, a full-time starter who played all 24 games and logged over 1,800 minutes during the Sweet Sixteen run; and Jamie Campbell, a former U.S. Youth National Team invitee and top-10 nationally ranked goalkeeper.

But all three still work side jobs in order to meet their needs.

"Football and basketball get a ton of money, a ton of it. And sometimes we feel that we live the same hard life - we have to wake up, go to practice, go to lifts, go to school," said Meyer. "They get a lot of money on top of that. Whereas for us, we do the same things they do and we don't really get a lot of that income."

Meyer isn't exaggerating. The NIL landscape nationally favors revenue sports. Football and men's basketball capture the majority of the estimated $2 billion plus NIL market. Women's sports overall receive less than 10% of total NIL dollars, according to Opendorse's 2024 annual report, with soccer falling near the bottom of that range. CU, like every major program in the country, reflects that market reality. This structural gap isn't going to close from the top down anytime soon.

A New Revenue Channel

That's where NXTLevel NIL comes in. Founded by CU Leeds School of Business student Owen Ooms, the platform connects local families with verified collegiate women athletes for youth training sessions and mentorship. It's creating an entirely new income stream from a source that doesn't currently flow to these athletes at all - that being the local youth sports market.

"Women athletes have such a powerful local draw. They might not be getting the national acclaim or viewership, but at a local level per capita, they're drawing in so much interest. You go to a CU women's soccer game and there are four-year-olds at Prentup Field who know every player by name. There's clear local demand there that’s not being capitalized on for these players.

The model is based on parents booking sessions through the platform, and athletes setting their own schedules. NXTLevel handles SafeSport compliance, payment processing, and provides athletes with tools to stay NIL compliant.

A single mentoring session can earn an athlete what might take an entire shift at a conventional job. Ooms is also working on using the athletes' local visibility to connect them with businesses for sponsorships and partnerships, all designed to convert the immense local demand these athletes already have into meaningful income.

The Real Cost of the Mentor Gap

There's a deeper problem underneath the NIL disparity, and it starts long before college. Girls drop out of youth sports at twice the rate of boys by age 14, with female attrition reaching 51% between eighth and twelfth grade compared to 31% for boys.

Research from the Women's Sports Foundation and the Aspen Institute's Project Play points to a consistent underlying cause. Girls are leaving sports because they don't have enough women in visible coaching and mentorship roles, and too few role models who look like them.

NXTLevel addresses this directly. When a twelve-year-old girl trains with a Division 1 athlete, it's proof that the path exists. The research is clear that how girls feel about their coaches is a determining factor in whether they continue to play organized sports. NXTLevel puts collegiate women athletes in that mentorship role by design.

"It really bothered me that a lot of these girls growing up now don't have connections to someone who's been there, done that. If you're a girl in a sport, you're lacking great female mentors. It's a lot harder to find success and be encouraged to pursue your goals in that sport."

What It Means on the Ground

For the 14 athletes already on the platform, NXTLevel has the potential to make a real difference in their everyday lives. Whiteaker and Campbell, both on the CU women's soccer team, each work three-hour shifts most days of the week just to supplement their income. It's not optional, it's necessary.

"I can't speak for Jamie, but I have to have a job in order to do everything I want to do," said Whiteaker. "It would just be so much easier if our NIL supported that instead."

The physical toll compounds. Spending hours at work after a full day of practice and class, not to mention homework, can take its toll. It also takes away from the kind of focused preparation that allows athletes to perform at the highest possible level. NXTLevel can begin to alleviate this problem.

"It would take a huge weight off my shoulders," said Whiteaker. "I could focus more on my school and my soccer."

From the Sidelines to the Deming Center

Ooms has spent the better part of a year training and helping out with the CU women's soccer team and witnessed firsthand what these athletes put into their sport day after day. What struck him was the disconnect between that level of commitment and the income opportunities available to them.

The idea took shape in BUSO 2200, a sports entrepreneurship class at Leeds taught by George Douaire, where Ooms began building the platform in earnest. One of his TAs, Camden Dempsey, pointed him toward the Deming Center, where Program Manager CJ Riggins became one of his closest mentors. The two have spoken nearly every day since, and Ooms is direct about what that relationship has meant. Without her, he says, none of this would have been possible.

Ooms took full advantage of the available resources and mentorship, and NXTLevel NIL went on to win the class accelerator competition, received the maximum allowable grant from Get Seed Funding at CU, and has already secured commitments from over a dozen CU athletes across multiple sports.

"I've been a Leeds student for three years and I wasn't really aware that the Deming Center existed. The past four months that I've been there has been the biggest support level, and I am so incredibly thankful.

Why It Matters Beyond CU

NIL has fundamentally changed college athletics, in more good ways than bad. But the benefits have flowed primarily to the sports that generate the most broadcast and sponsorship revenue. That's not something any single athletic department can fix, because it's driven by national media economics.

What NXTLevel does is sidestep that constraint entirely by tapping a different market. Through the families who show up to every home game, who already know these players, and want to support them, NXTLevel can enhance that invaluable connection even further.

“There's such a huge community that wants to work with us," said Meyer. "Having someone to help me direct and guide that would take so much time and pressure away from us”

NXTLevel NIL launched with the CU women's soccer team, but Ooms has already expanded to athletes across multiple sports on campus and is actively working to bring more on board. The platform is built to scale, and the problem it addresses is not unique to Boulder.

For any collegiate woman athlete trying to balance practice, school, and the financial reality of being a student, NXTLevel NIL can help them realize the value their hard work and talent deserves. For the young athletes with a dream, who better to learn from than the inspiring athletes who are living it.

Owen Ooms noticed something that most people walked right past. A CU women's soccer team that reached the Elite Eight, produced two Hermann Trophy semifinalists, and inspired hundreds of young athletes in Boulder - earning just 0.003% of CU's NIL collective. With NXTLevel NIL, he's looking to solve what's often an overlooked national problem, starting at CU.

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Entrepreneurship in Australia Through Kaitlyn Mckee’s Lens

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Entrepreneurship in Australia Through Kaitlyn Mckee’s Lens Colton Sontrop Thu, 04/23/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

Over 2026 spring break, Kaitlyn Mckee along with 27 other first year students explored entrepreneurship in Australia. Through Aboriginal entrepreneurship, volunteer opportunities, and plenty of fun, this First Year Global Experience (FGX) proved to be life changing for some of CU’s brightest students.

Mckee arrived at Leeds in the fall already hitting the ground running. She went on Career Treks, began knocking out her business core modules ahead of schedule, and joined Dean's Leadership Fellows and Business Engineering Women in Technology (BEWIT).

Entrepreneurship, however, was never really on her radar. It took a week on the other side of the world to change that.

"When I was thinking about entering the business world, I have not been like, wow, I want to start my own business. But I'm now more excited about it afterwards."

A Week That Changed Everything

The FGX cohort spent time with Yarpa, an Australian consulting group that works with entrepreneurs on business functions like operations, marketing, and strategy. For Mckee, sitting in on those sessions revealed a perspective of entrepreneurship she hadn't seen. She didn't need to be a founder to participate in the ecosystem. She could be someone who helps founders get there.

Outside of the formal sessions, the group volunteered at Our Big Kitchen, a community food service organization. The cohort received ingredients and competed to make the best meal. Mckee's team won with what they called the Mediterranean Mountain Medley.

"The meals that we made were then given out later that day. It wasn't something where it felt like it was gonna sit in a fridge for a while. It was actively going out to the community."

Her cohort also worked directly with Nat, an Aboriginal entrepreneur who runs a disability services business. Nat works with the Australian government to secure service packages for community members and then helps those individuals understand what the packages actually mean for their lives.

"She's bridging that gap. Seeing how she cares for her community was really cool."

Additionally, her cohort researched and presented on Aboriginal history and culture as a class project, which deepened her appreciation for what she witnessed firsthand. The way Aboriginal Australians spoke about their ancestors and their community left an impression. There was a depth of intentionality there that she hadn't expected.

A Different Kind of Ambition

Some of Mckee’s greatest takeaways were beyond entrepreneurship itself. The pace in which Australians lived their lives gave her perspective on expectations back in the US.

She noticed that the city's buses filled up closer to 3 p.m. than 5, and that people left work with time left in the day. While that may not seem significant, it correlated to the workers’ attitudes. They weren't disengaged. They were passionate. They just also made room for life outside of it.

"I could tell that they, as a business district, were passionate about what they were doing. They were gonna do it well, and then they were also gonna enjoy life."

By recognizing their hard work and passionate lifestyles, it gives them more opportunities to enjoy their surroundings. Their value of life gave Mckee permission to appreciate everything she had already accomplished.

Back in Boulder, with finals on the horizon, she felt herself slip back into the familiar gear of doing more, faster. But Australia gave her a reference point. She's a freshman living in the dorms, in what she called a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and she doesn't want to run through it without looking up.

It’s something that she can carry with herself through the remainder of college, and her career. No doubt, she has the FGX program to thank for that.

More Than a Line on a Resume

For Mckee, Dean's Leadership Fellows wasn't just another line on a resume, although there’s no doubt it’s going to help. But more importantly, it’s the program that handed her a plane ticket to Australia and introduced her to the entrepreneurship world she hadn't known she was looking for.

But the Fellows program was just one piece of a remarkably full first year. Before the spring semester was even underway, Mckee had already gone on Career Treks, meeting with professionals across industries to get a feel for where a business degree could take her.

She's also a member of BEWIT, Business Engineering Women in Technology, a club that sits at the intersection of two of ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��'s strongest programs. For Mckee, who is drawn to both the marketing and data sides of business, the overlap felt natural.

It's a lot for a freshman. Mckee credits her years as a competitive dancer for building the habits that make it manageable. In high school, her days ran from 8 a.m. classes straight into evening practice, with homework waiting at home after that. The schedule trained her to be selective and intentional about where she puts her energy.

"I’ve been leaning into saying yes to what I think will add value, and not just saying yes to things because they always pop up."

Her Own Definition, On Her Own Terms

Mckee is leaning toward a marketing concentration, with an eye toward the data side of the field. She's already completed accounting, finance, operations management, and organizational behavior as part of her core, with information systems and more coming next semester. BUSA is on the docket after that.

When asked to define entrepreneurship in her own words, she didn't hesitate.

"Entrepreneurship is filling a gap in a new way. Filling a gap in a market that you see and doing it in your own creative way."

She may not be planning to start her own company. But after Australia, she understands the people who do. That understanding, she said, is something she intends to carry forward.

For Kaitlyn McKee, a week in Australia did what four years of school rarely can. As one of 28 Dean's Leadership Fellows who went on the First-Year Global Experience for entrepreneurship in Australia, she returned with a sharper sense of what entrepreneurship means and a new appreciation for what it means to live well while pursuing it.

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Brian Seckel's Full-Spectrum View on Entrepreneurship

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Brian Seckel's Full-Spectrum View on Entrepreneurship Colton Sontrop Thu, 04/16/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

Brian Seckel has been building things since before most people had heard of startup accelerators.

A serial entrepreneur who co-founded his first company as a college sophomore in 2011, Seckel arrived in Boulder a decade ago for a startup accelerator and never really left. Now finishing his MBA at Leeds, he's closing out one chapter and stepping into another without skipping a beat.

What makes Seckel's story compelling is the pattern underneath his journey. Every venture, every pivot, every new industry traces back to the same instinct to find the problem first, then figure out how to solve it.

It carried him from a collegiate marketplace in Ohio to a cannabis accessory company that went viral, through a stint in cybersecurity, and now to the investor side of the table as managing director of the Deming Center Venture Fund. He's also currently serving as interim CEO of a deep tech startup connected to him through CU's Venture Partners office.

Even with all of this, he’s finishing the MBA program he chose, at least in part, because Boulder already felt like home.

Smoke and Mirrors

Seckel's founding story begins where a lot of good ones do, with a small, niche frustration. Around early-mid 2010s, he was packing his final bowl of cannabis, and spilled it. So, in true entrepreneurial fashion, he started brainstorming how to prevent it from happening again. That problem became Simple Accessories, a cannabis accessory company built around an innovative grinder-dispenser. The plan was to develop patented and trademarked products and establish a strong brand presence ahead of broader legalization.

Getting there was anything but smooth. Because they couldn't market the product specifically for what it was, the team got creative. They filmed it dispensing and crushing up herbs and passed it off as a high-end kitchen gadget. The video went viral, reaching 30 million views, and on one particular day the company did over $100,000 in revenue.

"I think that's when I was like, okay, we've got something here. I'm gonna be able to pay my bills for at least the next few months."

But the feeling, as Seckel describes it, didn't last long. The goalpost always moved. Get into an accelerator, and then you need a prototype. Get the prototype, and then you need pre-orders. Ship the pre-orders, and there's already something else to chase.

Simple Accessories never got a clean ending. They manufactured products in Wuhan, China in 2019 and 2020. Enough said, and when the factory shut down and supply chains fell apart, they made the call to wind things down and salvage what they could.

What he walked away with, however, was over a decade of hard-won startup experience, and a clear sense of what he wanted to do next, something no exit could have given him

All In on the Ecosystem

When Seckel decided to pursue an MBA, he narrowed his search to two schools: Ohio State, where he's from, and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, where he already was. The choice came down to the networking aspect. He wanted to expand it beyond his hometown, and build his roots in the Front Range. CU's entrepreneurship offerings made the decision easy. The Deming Center Venture Fund (DCVF), the High Growth Venture Fellowship (HGV) and the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) team were all programs he had identified before even applying, and all three delivered.

"That's experience you just really can't get anywhere else. Hands-on investor experience, talking to founders, getting into their data rooms, going through the whole diligence process. You just don't get that kind of opportunity elsewhere."

He joined DCVF as an associate and eventually became managing director alongside partner Mackenzie Friedman, with the clear goal of leaving the fund better than they found it. The role shift was subtle in some ways, but the sense of ownership that came with it was anything but.

On the VCIC side, the team competes as mock venture capitalists, receiving three companies, selecting one to invest in and defending a full term sheet and diligence package in front of judges. This past year, CU's team traveled to Austin and beat out Michigan, American, Georgetown and Rice to win their regional. That result carried extra satisfaction for the Columbus native who had lost to Michigan the year before. Now, they’re on to the global competition at UNC Chapel Hill.

The HGV Fellowship, meanwhile, gave Seckel a sense of community he didn’t know he needed. The fellowship's pre-retreat meant he already knew a handful of classmates before orientation even started.

"They're all just amazing and doing such incredible things. Having that caliber of people to bounce ideas off of has been great."

Seckel's career has touched collegiate marketplaces, pickup sports apps, cannabis accessories, cybersecurity and now venture capital and deep tech. The range might seem scattered until you trace the logic underneath it. It has always been problem-first. The first company addressed the sketchiness of Craigslist by requiring .edu email verification. The sports app addressed the gap for people who couldn't commit to a structured league. Simple Accessories initially addressed a spilled grinder.

Now, Seckel is serving as interim CEO of a radiative cooling company he connected with through CU's Venture Partners office. He walked in with no deep tech background and was upfront about it. But he has done this before. At Simple Accessories, he was the business side while a mechanical engineering co-founder handled the technical work. The structure was familiar even if the technology was entirely new.

Progress Worth Appreciating

If there is one thing Seckel would want other founders to take from his experience, it's something he had to learn the hard way. Burning out after eight years and walking away from Simple Accessories left a mark, not just financially but personally. The trap, he says, is always moving the goalposts and not appreciating progress.

"When things don't go well and you have to shut your company down, and you just spent eight years on something and are walking away with not very much, you kind of get down on yourself."

He understands that the first idea won't always work. Things will pivot. What separates the people who make it is the willingness to keep going through the pivots long enough to find the version that does.

Deep down, Seckel believes that Boulder's entrepreneurial community punches well above its weight in terms of accessibility and willingness to help. The people will always be there for him, and he can reach out to a deep tech VC through his HGV or DCVF network, someone who has been doing this for years, and have a call within a week. No gatekeeping, no friction.

"The networks and how great the people are is always something to mention."

He graduates in a matter of weeks. Whatever comes after the interim CEO role, the foundation is already in place.

From a cannabis company derived from a single problem to now an interim CEO of a deep tech startup company, Brian Seckel has touched on all the angles of entrepreneurship. Now as an MBA student, he's expanding his network through the High Growth Venture Fellowship, the Venture Capital Investment Competition team, and the Deming Center Venture Fund!

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The Defining and Continuing Legacy of Brad Bernthal

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

The Defining and Continuing Legacy of Brad Bernthal Colton Sontrop Thu, 04/09/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

Recently retired Colorado Law Professor Emeritus Brad Bernthal has made more than just an impact at CU. The entrepreneurial programs he created and fostered shifted I&E as a whole in Boulder. Today, the close friend of Erick Mueller and the Deming Center still exercises his entrepreneurial mindset in a very different setting: the tennis court.

During his 21 year CU tenure, Bernthal inspired learning, within and outside of the classroom. Perhaps most notable is his unlikely path to becoming part of Boulder's entrepreneurship community. In collaboration with others at CU, Bernthal helped permanently shift the way that the campus and startup community interact.

Although his time at CU may be over, Bernthal still works with the next generation. Now it's on the tennis court, where he's currently a mental performance coach, working under his brand Brain Cramp Camp. Bernthal works primarily with high school and college tennis players. He is also finishing a book and doing graduate work in applied sports psychology.

The Power of Listening

Bernthal is best known, among those in the I&E space, for his contributions at Silicon Flatirons. His work on campus included collaborations with campus leaders – including Leeds' Erick Mueller, David Brown, and former Dean Sharon Matusik – as well as standout student leaders like Fletcher Richman (Computer Science), Julie Penner (JD/MBA, 2010), Lindsay (Brust) Sutula (MBA, 2009), Brandon Moynihan (MBA, 2020), and Jaclyn Freeman Hester (JD/MBA, 2014).

Bernthal's path to entrepreneurship was accidental. "I was not an entrepreneur, nor had I worked with startups,” said Bernthal. “So I thought, 'I should probably get out and meet some of these people.'"

Founded in 1999 by Phil Weiser, now Colorado's Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate, Bernthal joined Silicon Flatirons as a fellow in Fall 2005 through an entrepreneurial law clinic. One of his first key insights came from a skill as simple as listening. When local entrepreneurs felt disconnected from CU, he took their frustration as an opportunity rather than getting defensive, and worked to bridge the university and the startup community.

This became the angle he and Silicon Flatirons attacked. With support from the Deming Center and the Venture Partners Office, they slowly changed that dynamic. Twenty years later, Silicon Flatirons stands as one of the most important entrepreneurial programs at CU and in Boulder, helping shape the vibrant startup community it is today.

Facilitating Entrepreneurial Growth

Some of Bernthal's most prominent work within Silicon Flatirons was with the infamous Startup Summer program, which is undoubtedly a hit among the Deming Center and other I&E programs.

What sets Startup Summer apart is its deliberate inversion of the traditional classroom model. Rather than a professor dictating content, students arrive with their own problem, and the program bends entirely to serve their vision. Bernthal's two decades of relationship-building in Boulder meant he could also bring in top entrepreneurs and technologists from across the Front Range as mentors, giving students access to one of the country's most celebrated startup communities.

"We build everything in the service of the problem and the topic that they have selected. And it's just incredibly energizing and motivating for participants - that's the secret sauce."

Bernthal understood that not every company coming out of Startup Summer makes it, but the program's impact is best measured in the people it shapes. Fletcher Richman saw his initial company fail before going on to co-found HALP, which earned a highly successful exit. Eddy Connors, founder of Goodie Bag, is another standout, as Bernthal describes having leveraged every resource available and continuing to grow his company to this day.

For Bernthal, Startup Summer is a reflection of what makes Boulder's entrepreneurial ecosystem tick. Once students get what he calls the "entrepreneurial hook" in them, almost all carry it forward in some form.

Giving Back Through Character Development

Beyond his work at Silicon Flatirons, one of Bernthal's most meaningful involvements has been with Breakthrough Colorado. The program uses entrepreneurship for personal development and business skill-building among incarcerated individuals. Participants develop a solution to a problem of their choosing and pitch it to business volunteers who come directly into the prisons.

Bernthal got involved around 2018 through his colleague and longtime Venture Capital co-teacher Jason Mendelson, who along with his wife Jen became early champions of the model. For Bernthal, it connected directly to that core purpose of helping people flourish, and he's since inspired graduate students to volunteer and get involved as well.

Leeds students have become leaders in promoting Breakthrough. Leeds MBA student James Anderson has taken Bernthal's involvement with Breakthrough a step further, leading a team of other MBA students in a partnership with Breakthrough Alliance to help build a stronger corporate volunteer network for their 32-week reentry program.

What makes Breakthrough particularly powerful is what happens after release. Re-entry is a challenge most people don't fully appreciate due to the significant barriers. Breakthrough has built a meaningful support network to help graduates navigate that transition, addressing the systemic obstacles that often lead people back into the system.

"I don't think most people appreciate how challenging it is after release from prison. When many people won't hire someone with a felony on their record, it can be a real challenge to get a driver's license, to find a place to live, to have any money to buy basic necessities."

The results speak for themselves. While Colorado's general recidivism rate hovers around 60%, Breakthrough Colorado graduates have shown a recidivism rate of nearly zero, pointing to the intervention's remarkable efficacy regardless.

Helping Others Flourish

The impact Brad Bernthal made in the Boulder entrepreneurial community cannot be stated in a single article. Startup Summer was just a small part of his impact at Silicon Flatirons, and Silicon Flatirons was just a small part of his impact at CU.

What's perhaps most striking is that Bernthal is only just beginning his next chapter. Trading the classroom for the tennis court as a mental performance coach, he's approaching this new venture with the same entrepreneurial mindset he spent 21 years teaching.

His main ideal to help people flourish, paired with his understanding that entrepreneurship is never a solo endeavor, has left a lasting mark on ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� and the broader Boulder community. In many ways, his entire career has been a lived version of his own definition, finding the intersection of a need in the world, and working to build something meaningful at that crossing point.

For 21 years, Brad Bernthal helped build one of the most vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems in the country. From reshaping the way CU connects with Boulder's startup community to mentoring incarcerated entrepreneurs, his impact stretches far beyond the classroom. Now retired from CU Law, Bernthal is proof that the entrepreneurial journey never really ends.

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How Burnout Inspired Veteran Courtney Bullard to Build a Brand Around Rest

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

How Burnout Inspired Veteran Courtney Bullard to Build a Brand Around Rest Colton Sontrop Thu, 04/02/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

When Courtney Bullard was at her lowest, she did something that felt almost radical: she rested. She slept. She ate well. She got massages and acupuncture. And slowly, she healed. What she didn't expect was that healing would become her life's work.

It sounds simple, but for Bullard, rest had never come easily. She had spent years giving everything to everyone around her, and she had watched other women do the same. As a Marine veteran, cybersecurity vice president, and single mother, she had spent years performing at the highest levels.

And like so many high-achieving women, she had done it all while quietly running on empty.

Built to Endure

From the beginning, Bullard has never taken the easy path. At 17 years old, she enlisted in the Marine Corps. She’s always known she would have to take care of herself, and wanted to be a part of the best. Serving 4 years, she endured experiences that would shape her entire life, but that doesn’t mean they were easy.

"Being a female Marine is not all that you would think it would be cracked up to be. It's a lot of pressure."

Post service, she earned a degree in project management from the University of Phoenix, and built a career that eventually led her to the world of cybersecurity, where she now works as a business information security officer.

On paper, she is exactly the kind of woman the world holds up as a success story. But behind the credentials and the discipline was someone who, like so many veterans, was quietly carrying more than most people knew. Bullard has been open about living with PTSD, and about how her military experience shaped not just her strength, but her complicated relationship with rest and recovery. For a long time, stopping simply wasn't something she knew how to do.

It was when it began to affect her relationships that she realized things finally needed to change.

A Change Long Overdue

The toll eventually caught up with her, and it wasn’t from one single moment. It was several, arriving all at once.

Bullard was navigating a divorce when she started experiencing profound loss among friends. Women she loved who were dealing with serious illness or who passed away. Women who had spent their entire lives showing up for everyone but themselves. They were the ones who never said no, never took a sick day, never put themselves first. And one by one, they were gone.

The grief became impossible to separate from the wake-up call. She was watching a pattern play out in real time, and she recognized herself in every single one of them.

The toll eventually caught up with her. She found herself in the middle of her own mental and physical health crisis, forced to step away from work for an extended period of time. For someone who had trained as a Marine and spent years performing at the highest levels, stopping felt like failure. But it turned out to be the most important thing she ever did.

Slowly and intentionally, she started to heal through rest. It was something she had been convincing herself for a lifetime she didn’t need. And somewhere in that quiet, something unexpected took shape.

The Solution to The Pattern

That something became Stay In Society. Bullard recognized that rest had saved her, and understood that so many women around her were starving for the same thing.

Stay In Society is a luxury sleepwear brand built on the foundation that rest is not a reward but rather a right. Its model is a quarterly subscription service that delivers a curated sleep box directly to its customers. Inside, women find all the restful resources they need, including cooling luxury pajamas along with other accessories in order to completely unwind.

The cooling fabric is intentional. Bullard designed the pajamas specifically with women in mind, particularly those navigating perimenopause and the physical changes that come with it. But the product, she is quick to point out, is almost beside the point.

"I don't ever want to be known for selling pajamas. I'm selling the idea that you matter and you deserve to rest without guilt."

The name carries meaning too. Stay In Society doubles as an acronym - SIS - a nod to the sisterhood Bullard hopes to build around the brand. A community of women who collectively decide that showing up for themselves is just as important as showing up for everyone else.

A Supporting Community

Bullard didn't build Stay In Society alone. When her idea was still just a concept, she found her way to the Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, where she connected with Erick Mueller, Executive Director of the Deming Center, who teaches in it every year. It’s an intensive business program through Oklahoma State University that gives aspiring veteran entrepreneurs the tools and skills they need to kickstart their idea.

"I felt like I just got a four-year degree in a week. You're taking 27 classes, and you have so many resources. It was just amazing."

Beyond the curriculum itself, the program gave her confidence in her business skills she couldn’t have previously fathomed. Before VEP, Bullard described feeling she was out on a limb. She was passionate about her idea, but uncertain how the world may receive it.

For someone who describes herself as a self-proclaimed introvert who has always struggled with networking, finding that kind of genuine community was everything. And it is exactly the kind of connection that she hopes Stay In Society will one day offer to the women it reaches.

The Power of Believing in Yourself

Bullard is officially launching Stay In Society this month, and the road ahead is one she is stepping into with both eyes open.

She understands the challenges ahead, with business logistics and the effort it takes to be an entrepreneur itself, but she’s navigated harder terrain than this. At the end of the day, what drives her forward is the women that’s already lost, and the ones she still has a chance to reach. Entrepreneurship is giving her that opportunity.

"Entrepreneurship is the greatest belief in yourself. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and everything in between."

It is a definition that could just as easily describe her life. From the front lines of the Marine Corps to the boardrooms of corporate America, Courtney Bullard has always bet on herself. Now, with Stay In Society, she is asking other women to do the same, starting with a good night of rest.

After experiencing burnout and fighting her own battle with rest as a Marine veteran, Courtney Bullard turned her hardest season into a mission. Now, backed by the Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, her luxury sleepwear brand Stay In Society is on a quest to convince high-achieving women that rest isn't a reward, it's a right.

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How Zoe Unsell is Flexing her Entrepreneurship Muscle

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:30:00 +0000

How Zoe Unsell is Flexing her Entrepreneurship Muscle Colton Sontrop Thu, 03/26/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

Zoe Unsell's passion for marketing and business is common among Leeds students, but for her, this love was born across borders. Growing up across three countries - Germany, the United States, and France - laid the foundation for an adaptive mindset and a career that was never going to look like everyone else's.

Still, what makes Unsell's story truly compelling isn't just where she's been. It's how she thinks. As an aspiring founder and experienced pitch evaluator with Get Seed Funding, she understands the ins and outs of a startup like few others.

That dual perspective was earned through years of adapting to new ways of seeing the world. It’s clear that Unsell didn’t just find entrepreneurship in a classroom, rather, she found it watching other people’s parents run the world from a Paris cafeteria, surrounded by classmates whose parents ran multinational companies and government offices across the globe. Already, before CU, Unsell was watching how the world worked.

No Fixed Address

For as long as she can remember, Unsell has always been on the move. Growing up in three different countries shaped the way she perceives experiences and life as a whole.

“Because I'm used to moving around so much, I like having a rhythm of staying in a place for max four or five years, and then moving, or else I get bored.”

Because her mom is half-French and half-German, Unsell was able to pick up new languages better than imagined. Sure, there were some learning curves, but her mom always acted as a supporting vessel, ensuring Unsell would get the most out of her time abroad.

Unsell lived in Germany from first through third grade, returned to the US for fourth, and by ninth grade was off to Paris. Adaptability became her greatest asset, but that's not to say the journey was without its difficult moments. When she returned to the US after Germany, she tested into an ESL class, a testament to just how fully immersed in German life she had become. For most kids, that would have been a setback. For Unsell, it was just another adjustment.

A Global Spark

When she relocated to Paris for ninth grade, the experience abroad felt entirely different. Older and more cognitively developed, she was able to absorb her surroundings in a way she simply couldn't as a first grader in Germany.

She entered high school at an international school, surrounded by classmates who casually talked about multinational companies and global careers. She felt like an outsider, an average American kid among world-traveling families, but something about that environment lit a spark. For the first time, she started thinking seriously about business.

“All of these kids were talking about, 'I want to go work for this large company,' or 'my dad works for this large company.' It just got my wheels spinning - okay, there's another avenue I could go down."

That curiosity followed her back to Colorado Springs for her senior year, where she joined DECA and took a marketing class that turned a passing interest into a genuine direction.

When CU offered great in-state tuition and curriculum, she was sold. By the time she arrived at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, the decision to study marketing at Leeds felt less like a choice and more like the natural conclusion to everything she had already lived.

Building the Muscle

By fall of 2025, Unsell had already absorbed plenty of knowledge to succeed in the business world. Thus, she decided to apply her entrepreneurial instincts to her start-up, CoTea.

The startup is a canned beverage that combines coffee and tea. The idea came from a personal problem of her co-founder and boyfriend, Matthew Jackson. Jackson loves the taste of coffee but is highly sensitive to caffeine. So rather than accepting that as a dead end, the two started researching, eventually discovering that combining coffee and tea is a practice common across parts of Asia and Africa. The result is a creamy, oat milk-based drink that uses decaf espresso and high-caffeine tea, engineered to deliver smooth, sustained energy without the jitters.

Getting there, though, was anything but smooth. Early formulation rounds fell flat, and the flavor profile they had envisioned proved too complex to execute. So they regrouped, and flew out to California to work directly with a formulator.

The trip really became a learning experience for them on a broader scale rather than about the drink itself. For Unsell, the process became more about what it demanded of her, and building CoTea forced her to tap into her entrepreneurial mindset. In other words, it was exactly the kind of experience that turns a business student into an entrepreneur.

While Jackson and Unsell aren’t sure how or if CoTea will continue, it’s given them many lessons they hope to apply to future ventures.

The Other Side of the Table

Unsell's entrepreneurial education didn't stop at building her own company. As a pitch evaluator with Get Seed Funding, CU's student-run seed funding program (part of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative), she found herself on the other side of the table entirely.

The role gave her a perspective that most student founders never get. Having experienced the vulnerability of pitching an idea firsthand, she now understands exactly what separates a compelling pitch from a forgettable one.

"I used to think entrepreneurship was so unapproachable - like you had to have all this money and be the smartest person in the room. No, you don't. You just have to have grit and want to push through challenges."

After evaluating countless pitches, patterns started to emerge. She’s learned that students at CU are generally very strong pitchers. However, she’s picked up some common mistakes, like a lack of customer discovery. She finds many founders walk in without any quantifiable evidence that people actually want what they're building. Beyond that, she points to a failure to break down how the money would actually be used, and a lack of confidence that undermines an otherwise solid idea. It’s lessons she can apply to her future entrepreneurial career.

Overall, the role continues to sharpen her own instincts. Every pitch that walks through the door teaches her something new about what it means to build something from nothing.

Just The Beginning

Unsell is set to graduate at the end of the current spring 2026 semester, but her personal experiences and extensive knowledge across multiple areas has given her a leg up on her peers.

Few students leave CU with the kind of perspective she has built. She has navigated three different cultures, learned a foreign language by pure immersion, watched the global business world up close from a Paris classroom, built a product from the ground up, and spent years evaluating the ideas of others. Most people wait until they're handed an opportunity to start flexing that muscle. Unsell has been repping it since first grade.

That's the thing about entrepreneurship as a muscle: the earlier you start training it, the stronger it gets. And the reps don't always look like what you'd expect. For Unsell, they looked like surviving a German elementary school without speaking the language, feeling like an outsider in a Parisian cafeteria, and flying to California to salvage a formulation that wasn't working. None of it felt like entrepreneurship in the moment, but in hindsight, it all was.

“Entrepreneurship is a muscle. The more you do it, the more you keep a lookout for problems to solve. I now keep a lookout for it everywhere. You just start looking for problems.”

After graduation, Unsell will join Deloitte's consulting practice, with her sights already set on an international office. The muscle, it seems, is far from being finished.

Zoe Unsell has been building her entrepreneurial instincts since first grade, navigating German elementary school, absorbing the global business world from a Paris classroom, and eventually co-founding a canned beverage startup from the ground up. Now one of Leeds' most well-traveled and experienced graduates, her story is proof that entrepreneurship isn't born in a boardroom.

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Garrett Boudinot and the Many Paths to Entrepreneurship

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Garrett Boudinot and the Many Paths to Entrepreneurship Colton Sontrop Thu, 03/12/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

Entrepreneurship can come from anyone and anywhere. Founders come from a variety of backgrounds, applying different insights resulting in different experiences.

When Garrett Boudinot first started thinking about the idea that would eventually become Vycarb, he wasn’t approaching it as a business opportunity. At the time, he was focused on climate science, studying how carbon moves through natural systems and searching for ways to better understand the environmental changes shaping the planet.

Today, Boudinot is the founder and CEO of Vycarb, a climate technology startup developing solutions to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The company is built around an idea that grew from years of scientific research into ocean chemistry and the global carbon cycle.

But when he first began exploring the concept, entrepreneurship was nowhere on his radar. His background was firmly rooted in research, and starting a company simply wasn’t part of the plan.

“It all just kind of happened. Six months before Vycarb was launched, I did not think I would be starting a company.”

At the time, Boudinot was unaware of the path ahead, but it would prove to be a life-changing one. Scientific discovery was about to merge with entrepreneurial curiosity, leading to a major solution to one of the world’s most complex environmental challenges.

A Diverse Academia Background

Climate technology has always been a part of Boudinot’s background. However, his academic background is incredibly diverse. He completed his undergraduate at College of Charleston in geology, religious studies and environmental studies.

A common misconception is that fields like science and religious studies don’t naturally intersect. But for Boudinot, studying religion helped answer a question he had long been curious about:

Why did he care so deeply about climate change when many others did not?

During his undergraduate years, he explored that question through religious studies, examining how beliefs, worldviews and cultural narratives shape the way people think about the environment.

“I went into college saying, ‘I care about climate change, and a lot of people don’t. Why is that?’ I would call it almost a religious belief about caring for the natural world.”

That integrative curiosity continued when Boudinot pursued a PhD in Organic Geochemistry in the Geology department at the University of Colorado Boulder. Working with Dr. Julio Sepúlveda, his research focused on environmental chemistry and the way carbon moves through natural systems, particularly the ocean. Much of his time was spent studying how chemical signals in environmental samples reveal the ways carbon cycles through ecosystems.

After conducting his research, Boudinot wanted to share its potential beyond academia. This idea would eventually become Vycarb. The company is built around accelerating a natural ocean process that already removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Normally, the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide and converts it into bicarbonate, a dissolved and stable molecule that safely stores carbon in water. Vycarb’s technology speeds up that process by taking carbon dioxide from different sources and triggering the chemical reaction that converts it into bicarbonate almost immediately.

“We’ve developed a technology that accelerates a lot of that natural ocean carbon chemistry to permanently pull CO₂ out of the atmosphere.”.

For Boudinot, the company represents the convergence of the scientific and human questions that shaped his academic journey. His background in environmental science provided the technical foundation, while his studies in human belief systems helped frame the larger challenge of getting societies to adopt climate solutions in the first place.

An Unexpected Shift Towards Entrepreneurship

Despite the scientific breakthrough that led to Vycarb, entrepreneurship was never part of Boudinot’s original plan. His focus had always been research, studying climate systems and looking for ways to understand environmental change. The idea of building a company came later.

In fact, the shift toward entrepreneurship began somewhat unexpectedly during his time at Cornell, where colleagues encouraged him to consider whether the research he was working on could be commercialized. At first, the idea felt unfamiliar.

Curious about the possibility, he joined the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, which helps scientists evaluate whether their research could translate into real-world products. The program introduced him to a new process, talking directly with potential customers to understand what problems they were actually trying to solve.

“Go out and talk to people who might be customers. Nine times out of ten, when scientists actually do that, they realize people don’t want what they thought they wanted.”

These conversations shaped his knowledge of the business world. From here, it became more than just publishing research, and he began exploring how his work could become a practical climate solution.

As the idea for Vycarb began to take shape, Boudinot applied for the Activate Fellowship, a program supporting scientists working on high-impact technologies. The fellowship provided funding, mentorship and training that allowed him to launch Vycarb and begin turning his research into a scalable company. Soon after, he also connected with Buff Gold Ventures, a Boulder-based venture fund that invests in startups with ties to the University of Colorado. The firm supports emerging founders with both capital and mentorship, helping university innovations transition into scalable businesses.

Establishing a Balance

Turning a scientific concept into a company meant stepping into entirely new roles. As Vycarb began to grow, Boudinot found himself responsible for roles beyond just technology. He had to build his company, including operations like compiling a team and managing day-to-day operations.

Like most founders, he found himself initially handling nearly every responsibility. Eventually, he realized the importance of building a team consisting of people with different areas of expertise - or as Boudinot jokingly put it, “firing himself.”

“I started doing every job, and I constantly think, ‘what is the job that I’m doing that I need to fire myself from?’”

From that realization, every addition has helped the company move forward. For Boudinot, learning how to delegate and trust others with key responsibilities became one of the most important skills of building a startup.

Developing Crucial Career Habits

Looking back, Boudinot’s journey into entrepreneurship highlights how unconventional the path to building a company can be. To him, it is less about following a specific formula and more about identifying meaningful problems and finding ways to solve them.

Throughout his career, one of the most valuable habits he developed was connecting with people outside his academic field. He regularly reached out to professionals across industries, often sending cold emails to individuals whose work he admired.

“I was very active in sending cold emails to people. I’d say, ‘Hey, I think what you’re doing is cool. Can I buy you coffee?’”

Those conversations helped him understand the entrepreneurship world in ways that research alone could not. Ultimately, Boudinot’s path demonstrates that entrepreneurship can emerge from many different places.

For students considering their own path, his experience serves as a reminder that careers often evolve in unexpected ways. His story shows how small habits, like reaching out for spontaneous connections or going beyond comfort zones, can eventually lead to something much bigger.

Garrett Boudinot never initially set out to start a company. But years of climate research eventually led him to found Vycarb, a startup accelerating natural ocean processes to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. His path shows how entrepreneurship can emerge from endless places.

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Behind the Scenes of Boulder Venture Club

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Behind the Scenes of Boulder Venture Club Colton Sontrop Thu, 03/05/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

Boulder Venture Club (BVC) is a student-led program within the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative at the University of Colorado Boulder that brings together students interested in entrepreneurship, venture capital and startup culture.

“Supporting the amazing student leaders of the Boulder Venture Club is an absolute delight, and the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative is thrilled to have BVC as part of our programming. Their energy, initiative, and collaborative spirit are a powerful force in ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� thriving innovation and entrepreneurship community.” - Leah Jean Shafer, program manager, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��'s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative

Through weekly meetings that include speaker panels and workshops, the club gives members a chance to hear directly from professionals with experienced backgrounds who are actively building companies.

Beyond the presentations, the goal is to create a space where students can enhance their entrepreneurial mindsets and career paths. While its focus revolves around business and venture capital, BVC draws students from across campus. Members come from all majors, creating a community where different perspectives come together around a shared interest in building and learning.

Their current executive team is now focused on enhancing this image, while continuing to grow the club to anyone around CU.

Maria Goergen (Co-President)

Maria Goergen first discovered BVC as a freshman while walking through a campus club fair. Drawn in by an interest in entrepreneurship but unsure where to start, she decided to attend a meeting and quickly connected with the energy of the room.

“Entrepreneurs are just so excited and passionate about what they have going on and about other ideas. I love that energy.”

Now a psychology and public health major with a minor in business, Goergen saw BVC as a way to explore entrepreneurship without needing to center her degree solely around business. The collaborative atmosphere and passion from other members fueled her involvement, and over time she became deeply invested in the club’s growth.

Her first step into leadership came when she organized a nonprofit entrepreneur panel, an event she planned before even holding an official role. That paved the way for her position as Vice President of Professional Development, where she worked to connect students with internship opportunities and career resources related to entrepreneurship. The experience further cemented her place within the organization and eventually led to her current role as co-president alongside Sam Benton.

Today, Goergen helps lead the club by coordinating meetings and shaping programming that reflects the interests of its members. While earlier versions of the club focused more heavily on practice pitch nights, recent semesters have incorporated a broader mix of speaker events and workshops that expose students to different sides of entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Looking ahead, she’s pushing BVC to widen its member base across campus. Goergen believes entrepreneurship benefits from a wide range of perspectives and wants to attract more students from fields outside of business. She also hopes to see greater gender diversity within the organization, creating an environment where more women feel comfortable exploring the entrepreneurial space and contributing their ideas.

Samuel Benton (Co-President)

Sam Benton is a sophomore studying finance in the Leeds School of Business and is also the Managing Director of Spark CU. He regularly attended meetings as a freshman, and it didn’t go unnoticed, as he built relationships with former exec members who encouraged him to eventually step into a leadership role.

He did just that, taking on his first executive position as Vice President of Marketing despite having no prior marketing experience. In true entrepreneurial fashion, Benton quickly adapted, learning how to manage flyers and promotional materials, social media, and general club outreach.

“I was just excited to help out in any way I could, so I jumped on it despite not really having any marketing experience.”

His work soon led to a larger role, quickly becoming a co-president of BVC, where he and Maria Goergen reorganized the executive team and continued the club’s mission of supporting student entrepreneurs.

Today, Benton’s role centers on organizing weekly meetings and bringing experienced professionals into the room. Much of the preparation happens before the semester begins, when the executive team reaches out to industry speakers and plans the schedule. During the semester, the focus shifts to confirming logistics and ensuring meetings run smoothly.

Since stepping into the role, Benton has noticed a shift in engagement. What was once a sporadic attendance now includes consistent participation from sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students, many of whom stay after meetings to connect with speakers and continue the conversation.

Looking ahead, Benton hopes to leave BVC in a strong position before his term ends later this semester, as he prepares to study abroad. His focus is on building the next executive team and expanding the club’s reach beyond the business school, encouraging students from other majors to explore how entrepreneurship could fit into their own paths.

“A lot of students across campus might not think about entrepreneurship as part of their career path, but it can apply to almost anything.”

Fletcher Boyd (Vice President of Marketing)

Fletcher Boyd is a sophomore in exploratory studies, but he’s always had an interest in entrepreneurship. The curiosity began long before arriving at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��. Raised in San Francisco, he grew up surrounded by the Bay Area’s culture of technology and startups, which sparked an early fascination. Boyd spent much of his childhood experimenting with new ideas and projects, leading to his first small business in elementary school, when he sold handmade paracord bracelets outside local sporting events.

After taking a gap year working several hands-on jobs, Boyd arrived at CU eager to explore the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship. He is exploring paths such as creative technology and design while continuing to work on several independent projects and startups of his own.

He first discovered BVC during his freshman year while searching for a community focused on venture capital and startup culture, and quickly became a regular attendee at meetings. Today, as VP of Marketing, he helps connect students with speakers and perspectives from across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, while promoting upcoming events. Drawing from his background, he works to broaden the club’s reach beyond traditional business majors. By bringing in speakers from a variety of fields, Boyd hopes to show students across campus how entrepreneurship and venture capital can apply to their own ideas.

“Venture capital applies to most things if you understand how it connects to what you’re building.”

For Boyd, BVC represents a space where curiosity and ambition intersect. He sees the club as a place where students can challenge themselves and learn directly from founders and investors who have navigated the startup world firsthand. In his view, that environment is what makes BVC such a valuable community for aspiring entrepreneurs at CU.

Ken Herrmann (Vice President of Finance)

Ken Herrmann, BVC’s Vice President of Finance, is a sophomore studying finance who grew up in Boulder. With a passion for traveling and trying new things, he was drawn to CU’s entrepreneurial community early on. Herrmann first learned about BVC through connections he made during Startup Summer, a program hosted by Silicon Flatirons, as well as through a founding member of the organization.

Eager to become more involved in entrepreneurship at CU, Herrmann saw BVC as a natural way to combine his interest in finance with the startup ecosystem. Since joining the executive team, he has found the club to be an inspiring environment where students can learn from experienced professionals while exchanging ideas with one another.

One moment that stood out to Herrmann came during a recent meeting when a guest speaker sparked a thoughtful discussion about finding purpose and what that means as students move into their professional lives. For him, BVC represents a community of motivated individuals who push each other to grow. And looking ahead, he hopes to continue building that community, while maybe convincing the team to bring Cane’s to a meeting along the way.

Looking Ahead

As Boulder Venture Club continues to grow, its leadership hopes to expand the sense of community even further. A key focus moving forward is reaching more students across campus who may not initially see entrepreneurship as part of their path, but who could benefit from understanding how ideas turn into ventures.

For the executive team, that means continuing to build on what has already made the club successful. BVC creates a space where students can learn from experienced professionals while exploring their own ideas, helping students take their first steps into entrepreneurship.

In doing so, the club is building more than just a meeting space. It is helping cultivate a community of students who are willing to learn. Now, the foundation is in place for BVC to continue growing.

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How Mackenzie Culver Redefined the Ambassador Role

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 12:30:00 +0000

How Mackenzie Culver Redefined the Ambassador Role Colton Sontrop Thu, 02/26/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

When Mackenzie Culver (Bus, Mktg ’26) first stepped onto campus, she already knew she loved entrepreneurship. DECA in high school had introduced her to business plans and creative problem-solving, and she arrived eager to build something of her own.

Four years later, that excitement has only evolved.

Now a business analytics and marketing double major with a minor in creative technologies and design, Culver has balanced the creative and analytical sides of business while serving as a Deming Center Ambassador. Though she doesn’t currently run a startup of her own, her impact on CU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has been unmistakable.

As graduation approaches and a role in data analytics at Fisher Investments awaits her in the Pacific Northwest, she’s still certain that entrepreneurship is very much part of her future.

Positioning Herself for Opportunity

Long before she became a Deming Center Ambassador, Culver made it clear she wasn’t going to sit on sidelines throughout her time at CU.

She quickly immersed herself in campus life, including joining Alpha Kappa Psi, CU’s professional business fraternity. The fraternity has honed her leadership skills, giving her a fantastic opportunity to expand her professional network. She’s also built long-term relationships with her peers through business practices and a friendship-oriented culture.

At the same time, she took on a role with CU’s Career Development Office, where she interacted directly with employers visiting campus. It initially seemed like a small operational position, involving greeting recruiters and coordinating logistics. However, she took advantage, gaining firsthand access to companies which ultimately helped her secure the post-graduation position she’ll begin this year.

She’s also been involved in the classroom. She understands the importance behind creating relationships with her professors. By majoring in both marketing and business analytics, she’s able to develop both hard and soft skills.

Business analytics has given her opportunities to develop personal number-skills and access to specific analytics certifications, strengthening her resume. On the flipside, marketing exercises her creativity every day, creating the perfect balance. It’s a common double-major for Leeds students, and it’s clear as to why through Culver’s story.

“I like the balance, because I like the creative, I like the analytical, so I like to be able to do both.”

Shaping the Ambassador Role

Culver’s path to becoming a Deming Center Ambassador began through connection. A friend introduced her to the opportunity during her freshman year, and she jumped at the chance. Then, it was a way for her to just get involved. Now, it’s much more.

Over the years, she has witnessed multiple iterations of the Deming Center, working alongside different leadership teams and helping shape what the ambassador role could be. Some of her most memorable moments came in the lead-up to events like Shark Tank. Her and other ambassadors would spend hours blowing up balloons and finalizing details. Through the Deming center’s trust and their creativity, Shark Tank was just one of the many events that occurred through Culver’s tenure.

Not every event unfolded perfectly, but that didn’t stop her from turning it into triumph. When her and other former Deming Ambassador Sean Boselli (Bus, Entr’25) had an event go array, they didn’t quit. They turned it into a success story, handing out leftover pizza and spreading the word about Deming, creating one of her best memories.

“It ended up being so much fun… and we would have never considered that as an opportunity until we had to pivot on the spot.”

Being an ambassador has given Culver intangible but invaluable skills. It gave her confidence to take initiative and see how meaningful impact can happen behind the scenes. Now, Culver was learning and putting her leadership skills to work.

A Vision Taking Shape

If there’s one thing Culver has learned about entrepreneurship during her time at Deming, it’s that there is no single mold.

“There’s no mold for an entrepreneur, it’s just people who care.”

Every student who walks into the center brings a different perspective. Some arrive with fully developed ventures. Others simply have a spark of curiosity. Watching those sparks turn into action has consistently re-inspired her.

While she doesn’t currently run a venture, Culver’s entrepreneurial interests remain clear. Fashion and sustainability have long been central to her identity. As a lifelong thrifter, she's always been drawn to the idea of taking what others discard and transforming it into something valuable. That future possibility is still very much in the cards.

Just Getting Started

As she prepares to begin her career at Fisher Investments, Culver is comfortable stepping into the corporate world - for now. She values the culture she found there, prioritizing balance and people-first leadership. But long-term, she envisions building something of her own.

To her, entrepreneurship is not limited to startup headlines or venture capital pitches. It’s about recognizing a problem and caring enough to solve it. It’s about being fearless enough to act, and self-assured enough to trust your approach.

“I think every day, everyone has their business idea in their back pocket, but it’s the people that are actually ignited enough and passionate enough and kind of fearless enough to make it happen.”

Her journey at CU has culminated in confidence in her ability to create, and now lead. And wherever she lands next, that entrepreneurial mindset is going with her.

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Vintage, Vision, and the Power of Starting with Aidan Ellwood

Colton Sontrop — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Vintage, Vision, and the Power of Starting with Aidan Ellwood Colton Sontrop Thu, 02/19/2026 - 05:30

Colton Sontrop

When ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Leeds School of Business student Aidan Ellwood (Fin’ 28) lost his restaurant job in 2023, it was abrupt, and disappointing. That feeling however, didn’t last long,

When he needed to cover basic essentials like gas and food, he turned to selling vintage, forgotten apparel. A few flipped pairs of Carhartt pants turned into curated racks of tees. Now, he’s got celebrities like Nikki Glaser showcasing his gear, and a growing network of buyers who look to him for their next standout piece.

That side hustle evolved into a passion, and now a business. Aido Vintage sources rare finds and moves product through various platforms including Instagram and Depop. In-person pop-ups and larger events like ThriftCon are now a haven for Ellwood, giving him the freedom to instill life into something previously overlooked.

In a world built on fast production and constant newness, his business proves that sometimes entrepreneurship begins with what’s already hanging on the rack. For Ellwood, it’s now about taking his momentum and evolving it into a larger-scale venture, and it starts here at CU.

Sharpening the Eye

It started small. A few pairs of Carhartt pants pulled from thrift store racks and resold for a margin. Over time, covering things like gas and food evolved into something more intentional. Ellwood sharpened his eye for quality, shifting from workwear to higher-tier vintage pieces. The more he sourced, the more he understood that it was more than just flipping clothes.

As Aido Vintage took shape, so did his approach. Instagram quickly became his digital storefront, and pop-up events across Boulder and Denver translated his online presence into a real-world community. Now, he had begun thinking more than just someone who was clearing racks.

He was curating them.

He started sourcing more with intention. By paying closer attention to what resonated at pop-ups and online drops, he was able to appeal to his target market more effectively. He’s also taking his personal learnings and incorporating them into his business. As a finance major, he’s constantly applying newfound knowledge into the real life situation that is his business.

Business-Defining Moments

The evolution of his side hustle into a business didn’t just happen with just time alone. Certain moments enhanced his outlook on Aido Vintage.

One of the most surreal moments came when a vintage Rockies jersey he had sourced made its way, through a local store, into the hands of comedian and actress Nikki Glaser. It reminded him how far a thrifted find could travel.

“I was able to take an item that was just sitting around, and put it in the hands of Nikki Glaser… and she wore it for a tour show, which is pretty sweet.”

Events like ThriftCon amplified the feeling, bringing even more excitement to his venture. Buyers from as far as Japan flew into events and picked up tees, and he quickly realized: these items were leaving the country. His reflection revealed he had created an actual business.

“It’s pretty incredible… I’m subtly growing an international network of buyers and connections.”

Using & Expanding his Ecosystem

While Aido Vintage was growing outside the classroom, Ellwood was sharpening a different set of tools inside it.

As a finance major, many of his courses focus on large-scale companies and high-level strategy, but he began pulling what he could into his own operation. Concepts like contribution margin started shaping how he thought about pricing and sourcing, and Excel became an actual tool in his everyday life.

His exposure to CU’s broader ecosystem also expanded his perspective. His first introduction to the Deming Center was meeting CJ Riggins at a Fashion Case Club event. The connection introduced a new perspective. He was now paying closer attention to the mentors and professionals CU brings into the room, broadening and familiarizing his perspective of entrepreneurship as a whole. Everything now felt more tangible than ever.

A Broader Entrepreneurial Perspective

It’s clear that Ellwood is going to continue growing his venture, with no end in sight. He’s got the resources and knowledge to make it happen, and now it’s just a matter of time.

However, his day to day activities are sure to continue. Vending at ThriftCon and other pop-ups is a passion of his. Connecting with others in that space is invaluable to him, and it ensures he will continue to build from the heart.

At the same time, his entrepreneurial curiosity is expanding. Over the past few years, he’s developed a growing interest in nutrition and health, and he’s begun brainstorming ideas in the food, beverage and consumer packaged goods space. And why shouldn’t he?

“College is such a great time to try new ventures and new ideas, because you’re not in the working world yet. You still have time.”

Through all of this, he’s learned that entrepreneurship is about freedom, and it’s shown through Aido Vintage. The entrepreneurial mindset has allowed him to act on an idea without waiting for permission, and now, that abrupt ending in 2023 became an open door.

And for him, that door is still wide open.

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