Student entrepreneurs make a splash at WooTank

The setting was Worcester’s venerable BrickBox Theater, but the Clark University student entrepreneurs who pitched their businesses in the April 2 WooTank intercollegiate competition took every opportunity to step outside the box.

Their efforts paid off — literally — when they came away with the night’s top honors and largest cash awards.

After listening to a series of presentations by students from Clark, Holy Cross, WPI and Nichols College, the judges awarded $4,000 to Sophie Lee ’26, owner of Sophremacy, which sells gothic and punk-inspired jewelry and accessories. Lee, who was the only woman in the competition, received the largest individual award of the night.

Lee’s fellow Clarkie, Owen Chase ’26, owner of Just for Fun Farms, which specializes in growing nutrient-dense microgreens for direct sale to students, was awarded $3,000 by the judges. Chase and Lee were the only competitors to be awarded by all three judges.

The Clark students’ combined total of $7,000 surpassed that of any other college in the competition.

WooTank involved students pitching their business ideas to a panel of industry leaders in technology, sales, and marketing in a format modeled on the popular show “Shark Tank,” which also serves as the inspiration for Clark’s annual Clark Tank event.

Clark Tank 2024

On April 4, the annual Clark Tank competition made cash awards for business and marketing presentations. The winners were:

• Owen Chase ’26, Just for Fun Farms – $3,000
• Forest Ryvicker ’26, HighDef Hognose – $2,800
• Alyssa Martinez ’26, Stamp & Petal – $2,050; (Most Improved) – $500
• Sophie Lee ’26, Sophremacy – $1,750
• Neel Kumar ’26, Masala King – $1,050
• Ana Gabriela Santana ’26, International Food Hub (Marketing Pitch) – $1,000
• Yajaira Bonilla ’26, Gen Scholar (Christina Bai Impact Award) – $1,000
• Ana Gabriela Santana ’26, International Food Hub (Christina Bai Impact Award) – $1,000
• Manny Torto ’27, Manny’s Mobile Recording Studio – $500

See more E&I student ventures

Both Lee and Chase were selected to compete in Woo Tank by the Clark Tank 2024 Committee.

“Going into this, we were concerned that there would be a heavy emphasis on tech,” said Teresa Quinn, manager of Clark’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. “We had a long discussion about it, until Henry Reyes [’23, last year’s Clark Tank winner] said, ‘We’re Clarkies, and we’ll go into this as Clarkies.’ And he was absolutely right.”

Quinn says Clark’s competitors were well-schooled in the essentials of marketing, financials, customer profiles, revenue projections, and other elements that made a compelling package for the judges. She said they were so impressed with Lee’s pitch, they presented Lee with $700 more than she’d requested to fund her business’ growth.

“They were incredibly complimentary to Sophie and Owen,” Quinn says. “They both just blew it out of the water.”

Lee and Chase were both at Red Square on Wednesday, selling their products at the weekly pop-up market sponsored by the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, which operates out of the School of Management.

Lee, a studio art major and entrepreneurship minor, began selling jewelry in high school during the COVID lockdown, and has continued to grow the business in her two years at Clark. She purchases jewelry components and assembles them into one-of-a-kind pieces. “When I came to Clark and heard about the pop-up, I just had to be here,” Lee said.

In addition to the pop-up, she sells her jewelry and accessories in shops in Vermont, North Carolina, and Massachusetts, and is currently looking to introduce them into the Boston market. Lee is clear about her ambitions.

“I plan to make this my career.”

Chase, a global environmental studies major with an entrepreneurship minor who grows his microgreens in his dorm room, suggested that the appeal of Just for Fun Farms is its mission to supply locally grown food year-round as a way to combat food insecurity. He has been working with the Worcester Regional Environmental Council since the summer of 2019 and has learned the advanced skills needed to operate urban farms year-round. “I think they sense the passion and authenticity behind this,” he said. “And honestly, it’s easier to do something when you’re passionate about it.

“And I enjoy doing it,” he insists with a smile. “It says so right in the title!”