Marie Sykes
FEATURES
Julia Dees – First Place Winner
Name: Julia Dees
Class: 2026
Major: Neuroscience
Business: Safe Haven Doula Support
Safe Haven aims to provide educational, emotional, and physical support to birthing people throughout pregnancy and during birth in order to facilitate empowerment and self-advocacy, improve birth satisfaction and help achieve the best birth outcome as defined by clients. Safe Haven will work to reach communities usually unable to access doula care in order to bring the benefits of working with a doula to as many people as possible and reduce the negative impact of our biased healthcare system.
I Joined the Contest Because… I wanted a chance to get guidance and support developing my long-term business plan and was hoping that any prize money would help fund postpartum doula training courses over this summer and help with birth doula certification.
Fun Fact: I was a competitive climber during high school
Laura Bradley – Ready, Set, Go! Winner
Name: Laura Bradley
Class: Class of 2025
Major: Business Economics
Business: LB Studios
Based in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, LB Studios (lbstudios.net) is a sports media agency that brings an innovative and modern approach to sports content creation and digital marketing. LB Studios offers photography, videography, digital editing, and marketing services.
I Joined the Contest… to test the viability of my business idea, LB Studios, and to get valuable feedback from judges who are experienced in entrepreneurship and business development. This feedback helped me iterate on my idea, develop a stronger business model, and improve my presentation skills. The competitive nature of this competition also provided motivation and accountability to push my idea further and to use the prize money won by investing it back into my company.
Fun fact: My clients and collaborations range from high school sports teams, DI-DIII programs, and even FloWrestling and New Balance!
