Students Vie for Annual Shark Tank Awards

On Tuesday, December 2, the Economics program presented its Eighth Annual Shark Tank Competition to encourage students to think and act like entrepreneurs.

Students on five teams pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges, made up of area entrepreneurs and investors, and audience members who both cast votes to determine the winners.

Grand Prize: Get Loaded

Isabella Millan-Pedraza, Sebastian Ford, Yordi Gonzalez, and Michael M. Rice won the Grand Prize ($3,000) for Get Loaded, a company that will create a fun lounge for students to socialize when doing their laundry. 

Second Prize: Tasty T Cuisine

Tachynel Merveille won the second prize ($1,500) for Tasty T Cuisine, which will provide home-cooked Caribbean food to students late at night. Merveille looks forward to eventually opening a restaurant in Manhattan.

Audience Favorite: Focus Frame

The Audience Favorite ($1,000) went to Johan Abreu, Binta Bah, Constantine Farinaccio, Anthony Cruz, and Liam Pheffer, who designed the AI-fueled app Focus Frame to help students with executive functioning and time management skills. 

“Shark Tank offers Purchase students incredible opportunities. We have contestants who are already running their small businesses, and the competition provides them with the chance to contemplate scaling up and dreaming big,” says Assistant Professor of Economics, Iuliia Chikish, who spearheaded the competition.

“Additionally, we have students who only have their big idea, and Shark Tank assists them in formalizing it into a doable business plan.”

Acting major Tachynel Merveille ’26, who won second prize, reflects on the value of her experience:

“My biggest takeaway is that things rarely go exactly as planned, and that’s okay. What truly matters is having a well-developed idea and the confidence to present it with real passion. When you stand firmly behind what you’ve created, everything else tends to fall into place, so no matter how big or small the idea, do it!”

Audience Favorite winner Constantin Farinaccio, a junior in Economics, says:

“Participating in the Shark Tank competition was a genuinely eye-opening moment. The challenge sharpened our ability to pitch under pressure, and we’re grateful to everyone who showed up and supported the event. We’re excited to take what we’ve learned and channel it into even stronger pitches going forward. Sincere thanks to the Dr. E. Lawrence Deckinger Family Foundation for making this possible.”

Meet the Sharks

The judges were a diverse group of entrepreneurs who provided invaluable feedback after each student’s presentation, including:

Jocelyn Greenky Underwood, MBA

Business Transformation Strategist and Founder of Sider Road

Katie Mayer

Purchase alum and Founder of EarlyBird Coffee Shop, Bronx and Briarcliff Manor

Nick Read

Founder and CFO of Read & Right LLC

Julie Tsai

Food Consultant

This year’s Shark Tank event was made possible by generous contributions from the Dr. E. Lawrence Deckinger Family Foundation.