Priya Tejpal ’25: From Student to Café Owner

As a student, Priya Tejpal ’25 loved the quiet warmth and friendly buzz of her neighborhood coffee house.

For her, it was a comfortable sweet spot—less formal than the library but more inspiring than studying at home.

This summer, she created her own sweet spot with Momo’s Café in the Westchester village of Ardsley. 

Love of Arts and Head for Business

A graduate of New York City’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Tejpal originally (and surprisingly) majored in biology at SUNY Albany. Looking for a better fit, she transferred to Purchase, where she found her footing and felt more at home with the college’s creative, think-wide-open vibe.

Though Purchase doesn’t offer a business major, Tejpal made it her business to major in Communications and minor in Arts Management.

With courses in funding, finance, and communications management, she honed the academic knowledge, techniques, and business insight she needed to pursue her true passion—managing her own café.

“Those were the classes I needed to excel in. They taught me skills like negotiation and public speaking. Now I apply that understanding to running my business,” she says.

“In management, you learn to know your audience and how to speak to your employees and different people outside of your organization.” 

A Purchase Shark Tank winner

In 2023, Tejpal shared first prize for the best new business idea in the Purchase version of Shark Tank. In the student entrepreneurial competition, Tejpal, along with two others, pitched their virtual startup, iTextbook, an online company designed to make it easier to access course materials and save money.

The following year, Tejpal was invited back to the Shark Tank competition, this time to sit in the “judge’s seat.”

Finishing School + Starting a Business

With help from her family and some experience as a hostess and waitress, Tejpal put together Momo’s during her final semester.

Named for her beloved cat, Momo’s features senior-level paintings and photography created by Purchase alumni Kristina Gallo ’22 (Photography) and Alexa Gallo ’25 (Painting and Drawing). She plans to showcase more art created by Purchase students throughout the cafe, as well as through gallery events and painting nights.

Tejpal’s spacious, comfortable eatery bustles with customers enjoying morning coffee and breakfast, chatting with acquaintances, and working at laptops. There are sweet and savory bistro foods and libations, including coffee, sandwiches, pastries, muffins, and bubble tea.

The atmosphere is cheerful and welcoming, with shelves of books, games, and plenty of desktop space to study or work. It is a gathering place that Tejpal says was sorely needed in the community, a need met by this 21-year-old student whose college experience made her business-ready.

“Hearing the Shark Tank judges’ feedback that day gave me the confidence that I needed. Pitching our idea to people who are business owners, who are successful, and know how business works, I thought, ‘Okay, I can actually do this.’ It made me believe in myself.”