Student Businesses Win Awards at Loyola’s Annual Side Hustle Showcase

The Ignite Lab, a Quinlan Business School program which supports university-wide business startups through educational resources and mentorship, hosted its second annual Side Hustle Showcase March 25 in the Schreiber Center lobby.

The event featured demonstrations of 12 student-owned businesses selected out of 32 applicants. Students were given tables to pitch their business’ products and services to students, faculty and undercover expert judges as they roamed to each display.

Created by Quinlan Associate Professor Jenna Drenten in 2024, the showcase allows students to apply with an explanation of their business’ vision and merits. All businesses were assessed by a small council of Quinlan faculty and student workers who decided which would be displayed at the event.

During their demonstration, participants were assessed on their individual market understanding while business criteria included viability and innovation, according to Ignite Lab’s website. 

The undercover judges, who selected the winner of the Judge’s Choice award, were a mix of faculty, staff and Ignite Lab students. They tested students on their knowledge and assessed them casually without revealing their identity. 

The other award available was the Peer’s Choice Award. 

Fourth-year information systems major Axel Rives won the $500 Judge’s Choice Award for Unlimited Cover Security, an educational cybersecurity platform which provides access to cybersecurity devices — like a USB to securely store cryptocurrency or a data collection blocker — and resources on how to use them.

Rives showcased some of his devices, including the Unlimited Coverage Hackstick, which can be used by ethical hackers to analyze Bluetooth and test Wi-Fi security vulnerabilities. 

Rives said he plans to put the prize money toward either his business’ inventory or administrational costs, including expenses for utilities and office supplies. 

As it was his first pitch competition, Rives said he was anxious about introducing his business, but his nerves were eased by the other Loyola students who made him feel welcome in an environment full of entrepreneurs. 

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I learned they’re all people who enjoy hearing each other’s ideas,” Rives said.

Other businesses presented were geared toward a variety of audiences.

Synergy Magazine was presented by third-year cognitive and behavior neuroscience major Stephanie Danahey, third-year marketing major Lola Wucherpfennig and third-year multimedia journalism major Megan Ybarra.

Established in 2024, the online magazine, primarily run by Loyola students, advocates for unbiased journalism spotlighting contemporary Chicago life. 

With a focus on attracting young individuals toward the importance of print, Synergy members said had they won, they would’ve used the prize money to print a physical version of the magazine.

“We really wanted to start a revival of print and to bring back something that people can purchase and keep as a hallmark of what Chicago was like in all these various platforms,” Danahey said.

The event’s operation manager Ainsley Hollender, a fourth-year entrepreneurship major, said opportunities like this help students become more confident about their businesses and learn how to present their work in a professional way. 

“Maybe they haven’t done stuff like this before, but now in the future this can help when they’re talking in trade shows or if they’re trying to get investors,” Hollender said. 

Solisart, a canvas art business started by third-year marketing major Emily Narsolis, won the $500 Peer Choice Award. Narsolis creates and paints canvases before selling them as prints through her Instagram page. 

Throughout the two-hour-long demonstration of their businesses, student participants were asked to walk around and evaluate their competition to vote for who they thought deserved to win. In the end, the majority anonymously voted in favor of Narsolis.

Narsolis said she plans to use her prize money for canvases and more expensive art materials, such as paint.

Besides earning money for her business, Narsolis said she gained valuable marketing skills in the process leading up to the showcase. 

“I feel like this whole business helps me in my marketing career because it’s something that I have to market all on my own,” Narsolis said. 

Rives and Narsolis will be given the opportunity to receive mentorship for their businesses from Tim Lanai, multi-franchise founder of Mosquito Joe and fellow for the University of Chicago’s Leadership and Society Initiative. 

Although Hollender said she was proud of the event, she hopes it’ll expand in the future.

While the Schreiber lobby opened the event to all faculty and students, the possibility of a bigger space would enable more students to participate and display their businesses, according to Hollender. 

This year, the prize money increased from $250 to $500 given Loyola’s Quinlan Business School was able to secure a larger donation, Hollender said. This encouraged students to apply for the showcase and provided more opportunities for their business to grow using the money awarded.

“Somebody in the startup world is seeing these other companies receive donations of hundreds of thousands of dollars so it may not seem big, but to a small business, it really is big,” Hollender said.

Hollender said she hopes more students will continue applying for the Side Hustle Showcase, which was able to select two more businesses than last year. 

“This really shows students that if they take initiative and put in the work, they can really create something,” Hollender said. “It’s showing that people just like them can build something.”