Current Lavins and Mentors

Entrepreneurial SDSU students collaborating on innovative ideas

 Here are the current Lavin Entrepreneurs that make up the 2019-2021 Cohort 

Bella Messina

Computer Science 
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Bella Messina is studying Computer Science and has passion for artificial intelligence, robotics, and medicine. Her favorite question is “Why?” since understanding how things work drives her. Bella has been creating since she was young, and invented and built a self-regulating & water-efficient shower system in high school. This led her to apply to ZIP Launchpad where she created an automated plant care business called SproutSiter. She joined Entrepreneur Society as a freshman and became Vice President her sophomore year. Her ever growing network has led her to amazing opportunities, including pitching an AI-powered education toy at VentureStart in Spring 2019 and interning for ZIP Launchpad’s Women in STEM initiative. Bella was elected President of Entrepreneur Society for 2019-2020 and has begun executing her plan to increase the membership, publicity, and value-add of the organization. In her major she became an Instructional Student Assistant last year and plans to continue teaching. She’s currently a Data Science Intern at iHerb, a trusted global retailer of natural products, and is collecting data from the ecommerce site to increase profit and customer satisfaction through product recommendation algorithms. Through the Lavin Program, she plans to hone her entrepreneurship and leadership skills, connect with like-minded individuals, and build towards her goals while helping others do the same. She’s inspired by learning how much she doesn’t know, and can’t wait to see what will be accomplished.

Ben Chao

Business Marketing
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ABen Chao was born in Tucson, Arizona and was raised in Orange County, California. He is currently a student at SDSU pursuing a Business Marketing degree. Ben came into SDSU with just over a year’s worth of college credit and he is on pace to graduate in three years. Born into a Taiwanese household in Tucson, Arizona, Ben grew up watching and helping his dad bootstrap his own company from selling USB drives on eBay into a supplier in the promotional industry. This kickstarted the entrepreneur within Ben. Through leveraging his dad’s network, Ben spends his summers around and working with entrepreneurs in all different types of ventures from retail drinkware to coffee chains to crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies. Ben has interests in real estate, social media, and brand building. He is also fascinated by anything creative including music, fashion, graphic design, and photography/videography. Not only was Ben raised in a different culture than most kids in the US, but he also spent an entire year living in Taiwan providing him with an appreciation for the many different perspectives and cultures throughout the world. After graduation, Ben wishes to create a company or service with a global impact.

 

Benjamin Nguyen

Music Education
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Ben Chao was born in Tucson, Arizona and was raised in Orange County, California. He is currently a student at SDSU pursuing a Business Marketing degree. Ben came into SDSU with just over a year’s worth of college credit and he is on pace to graduate in three years. Born into a Taiwanese household in Tucson, Arizona, Ben grew up watching and helping his dad bootstrap his own company from selling USB drives on eBay into a supplier in the promotional industry. This kickstarted the entrepreneur within Ben. Through leveraging his dad’s network, Ben spends his summers around and working with entrepreneurs in all different types of ventures from retail drinkware to coffee chains to crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies. Ben has interests in real estate, social media, and brand building. He is also fascinated by anything creative including music, fashion, graphic design, and photography/videography. Not only was Ben raised in a different culture than most kids in the US, but he also spent an entire year living in Taiwan providing him with an appreciation for the many different perspectives and cultures throughout the world. After graduation, Ben wishes to create a company or service with a global impact.

Domenique Sciuto

Business
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Domenique Sciuto was born and raised in San Diego and is a transfer student from Palomar and Mesa College. She is a Business major with a focus in Marketing, and looking to minor in Entrepreneurship. She believes she was always had an interest for entrepreneurship, starting to babysit and nanny when she was younger and now having established a wide array of clientele and years of experience. She has always been motivated to work hard, and is not afraid of failure if she is working towards something she is passionate about. After graduating high school and spending time in Los Angeles, she became fascinated with everything behind the scenes of production companies, auditions, YouTube events, modeling castings, etc. and knew she wanted to get into talent management and or marketing. Her interest in entrepreneurship really flourished when she got to spend some time in Seattle, WA surrounded by young, successful entrepreneurs and knew she wanted to work hard and achieve goals similar to them. At her junior college, she was the Director of Public Relations in the business club and got exposure to different types of marketing, as well as meeting entrepreneurs and business professionals in the community. Domenique is eager to start her journey with the Lavin Entrepreneur Program and hopes to gain knowledge on being successful in business and learn how to be a woman in entrepreneurship, as well as make connections with the other students in the program.

 

Jasmin Villa

International Business
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Jasmin Villa is an undergraduate student at San Diego State University, pursuing a degree in International Business in Spanish and Latin America. She is a driven and motivated individual who is passionate about the Spanish language and working with people of different backgrounds and cultures.
Since coming to San Diego State University, Jasmin has served as the Academic Director and part of the Mu Sigma Consultancy Team for the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi and worked for the SDSU Research Foundation. Currently interning at GoSite, a tech start-up based in San Diego, Jasmin is extremely interested in learning about the operations and functionalities within starting a new company and the SaaS industry specifically. She is currently in charge of managing the online presence of 30+ enterprise accounts at GoSite, including top franchises such as The Broken Yolk Café.
Apart from her professional activities, Jasmin enjoys listening to jazz and plays multiple instruments, including the keys, trombone, guitar, and the ukulele. For her last onstage performance, she opened for the 2017 Annual Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl as the only female in an all-male jazz band. Through her time as a musician and a student, Jasmin has learned the importance of pushing oneself out of their comfort zone in order to reach new heights and professionally and personally grow themselves for the better.
As a Lavin Entrepreneur, Jasmin aims to develop her creativity and abilities in problem solving to tackle economic problems in the future. Her ultimate goal is to start new ventures in developing countries, so that she can one day stimulate new business, create job opportunities, and further economic development in these areas.



Kyle Joyce

Entrepreneur
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Kyle Joyce’s entrepreneurship journey started at a very young age. In elementary school he began working with his dad selling custom neckties face to face at trade shows.
Kyle began buying products wholesale and selling them to his peers from custom socks to sports bracelets. In 7th grade Kyle got the idea to start his first company Cascadia Enterprise that designed Seattle based apparel. To gain sales, the company created a team of local skateboarders that we sponsored to represent our products. Having networked with local skate shops, Kyle was able to sell products at their stores. and sold products in a tent by the beach.
A year and a half later, Cascadia Enterprises expanded to include graphic design and apparel printing services, and renamed the company Seattle Logo Design.
At the end of his freshman year of high school, Kyle created a third company: Cityscape Skateboarding. The company made custom die-cut grip tape with a Seattle space needle outline and California state outline. The brand quickly by creating an ecommerce platform and website as well as social media to find potential clients. A big accomplishment of Kyle’s was getting products into all Seattle skate shops and a lot of stores up and down California. A notable achievement of the company was when a YouTube channel with 3.8 million subscribers, called Braille Skateboarding, showed off a board with the company’s grip tape.
That same year Kyle started another company called Active Wheels Co. which made custom skateboard wheels. Kyle developed a website, gained a strong social media following of over 10k, and recruited an elite team of skateboards. The social media following gave Kyle the credibility needed to get the wheels into multiple local skate shops across the USA notably in Seattle and California.
Kyle also reached out to the company Zumiez and were negotiating to get a small run of product into their chain. However due to inventory issues so the company was only able to do one small run in a local location.
Kyle learned from the other companies how to create branding and capture brand identity. In his junior year he started Monaco Design Co were the company emphasized full branding packages and apparel printing. The company designed logos for restaurants and companies in the area notably: Foodz Catering, Zbar, Flight Path, and Annie Firefly. Later on the company focused solely on design and branding services.
During the middle of his junior year he became more interested in the software field. He started working on countless iOS app ideas, learned about the process of design and of very early stage development. These interests led him to work on the app called Licity that was a private social media platform and music sharing app. He worked on Licity and began development, but halted the project after discovering idea development issues.
Around the time he enrolled in SDSU, he began another company called Graphic Elements. This is a full service apparel design and printing company targeting greek life and small businesses.
During the Summer of 2018 he created a talented team of programmers, designers, and marketing people to form his current company called Enver Ventures, a full service software development and design company. Currently, he is working in the field of UX and creating/developing new software ideas with his team.
He currently spends his time learning and phoning his UX skills while working on software products for clients as well as internal products.
He is focused on balancing all the different things he has going on and time management is the most important element to him.
Last, his startup Enversuite. Enver is a premium web builder platform that grows with your business all for one monthly fee. The startup is a premium mainstream website solution for businesses and offers industry specific plugins to meet the needs of any business. The plan is to roll out the first version of the product in fall 2019.

Lasse Engel

Business Administration and Management
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Lasse is originally from Stuttgart, Germany. After graduating from high-school he took part in a short- term program at the car company Porsche in their headquarters in Zuffenhausen where he was collecting experience in human resources. This led him to an internship in the logistics department of Audi, another car company. His entrepreneurial journey began with his acceptance to SDSU.
Since his first semester, Lasse has been a part of the Entrepreneur Society and actively engaged with all entrepreneurial events on campus. He is a Business Administration and Management major with minors in marketing and entrepreneurship. Since his first year on campus, it was his goal to become a Lavin Entrepreneur. Lasse recently launched his own web design freelancing business and is currently working on publishing a clothing company. Last summer, he was working full-time at Mercedes-Benz in their manufacturing department as assembly assistant. In addition, Lasse is a member of the Division 1 SDSU football team, which is what brought him to the United States originally. While his interests are in the travel and fitness industry, Lasse is always trying to engage and explore new areas and interest.
He strives to have a positive impact on all the businesses and people he interacts with and to create a lasting change in his community. Because of his international background, Lasse is able to offer and present a unique perspective on many areas in business. Lasse sees himself as a global citizen that hopes to inspire others, by doing what inspires him. He is extremely excited for the learning outcome and networking opportunities that come with being a Lavin entrepreneur at SDSU. Through the program, he hopes to grow as a person and an entrepreneur on a professional basis and further his connections on campus and beyond.

 

Logan Lacher

Business Management
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Logan Lacher is a Business Management Major with a Emphasis in Entrepreneurship and transferred to San Diego State from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California. Logan grew up in Southern Orange County and found a passion for entrepreneurship when he was in elementary school selling pens and pencils to his peers. In middle school he took orders for custom duct tape wallets and sold them throughout the campus. It was at that time he began to buy and sell products from China. He created relationships with suppliers that he still has to this day. He hired his peers to sell products for him and was recognized by the principal for his business initiative. Logan found a passion for video production and decided to join his schools live morning show where he realized that he loved being both in front and behind a camera. At 15 years old he decided that he wanted to take his passion of videography and photography and turn it into a business; so he bought his own equipment and sold his services to companies and individuals. Logan was hired by companies such as Performance Paddling, B. Candy, Laguna Niguel Magazine and Going Native Therapeutic Gardens. He also served on the board and was the marketing director for the non-profits Kids Helping Kids and Stop B4U Start. When he graduated High School Logan wanted to gain professional sales experience so he got a job at Shoreline Marketing and sold a variety of products inside Costco’s throughout Orange County. After only two months he was recognized nationally as a leading salesman. Logan sees the world through the eye of a entrepreneur and has a plethora of business ideas that he hopes will one day become a reality. Working a nine to five job is not a lifestyle he could imagine himself living. Logan’s goal is to create and run successful businesses and he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to achieve it.

Naveed Gorgani

Business Administration Management
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“Fortune favors the bold.” Naveed Gorgani, an undergraduate student studying Business Administration Management, strives to live by these words. In his teenage years, he always seeked comfort and the safest route, but his thinking began to change after reading his favorite book of all time—Rich Dad Poor Dad. Now, Naveed seeks new experiences and growth, hoping to constantly challenge himself and improve every single day. Professionally, he has great interest in the fields of Real Estate, Consulting, and Startups. After Interning at a top commercial real estate brokerage and a fast-growing startup, Naveed yearns to gain more experience in both fields, and eventually aims to start his own real estate investment company and to launch startups solving issues with mental health and sustainability. Currently, he is the leader of a ZIP Launchpad Team called Hiatus, which is a startup that strives to help social media users and addicts control their time spent on social media. He is also the new Director of Consultancy for the Mu Sigma Chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, the largest and oldest professional business fraternity in the world, after spending 6 months on the Mu Sigma Consultancy team. Naveed aims to keep gathering experience and knowledge in consulting, and then eventually start a business that specializes in consulting for early stage startups. Yet, Naveed is aware that his goals and plans will change over time. But, regardless of how his aspirations change, Naveed’s number one goal in life will always be to leave a positive impact that paves the path for a better world.
In his personal life, Naveed loves to eat, work out, meditate, read, explore the outdoors, and go on any adventure that doesn’t challenge his fear of heights. Growing up, he practiced tennis and kung fu for over 12 years each, and is a 2nd degree black belt in martial arts. He also has found a passion for boxing, and is always looking for more sports to experience and enjoy.
As a Lavin, Naveed seeks to take full advantage of all the opportunities that this exciting program provides. One of the things Naveed tries to avoid most in life is the regret that comes from letting an opportunity pass by, and he aims to embody a sponge in these next two years by soaking in all the knowledge and experience he possibly can.

Patricia Campanella

Business Management
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Patricia Campanella is studying Business Management and is specializing in Entrepreneurship. She will be transferring to SDSU with an associate degree in both Economics and Business Administration. All her life she has been compelled to better her community through political activism and volunteerism. Over the last decade, some of the organizations Patricia has volunteered for include: The American Red Cross (Minneapolis & San Diego), The Rock Church Homeless Ministry, Bernie Sanders Political Campaign (2016 & 2020 campaigns), Father Joes Villages, I Love A Clean San Diego, and March for Our Lives. Rather than being discouraged by the world’s problems, she is driven to make a positive impact. In an age where the news offers more problems than it does solutions, we have been made to believe that the world faces challenges too large to allow the average person to make an impact. For this reason, Patricia hopes to rebuild the collective confidence in changemaking, beginning with oneself. After graduation Patricia hopes to create a social enterprise that works in partnership with existing nonprofits to enhance activism by galvanizing the power of collective communication of volunteers within communities and between volunteers and organizations. While in the Lavin Program, Patricia plans to zero-in on potential target markets, streamline her business model, and create lasting business relationships.

 

Reid Becker

Business Management
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Reid Becker is a young entrepreneur looking to make his mark in the industries of technology and venture development by focusing on startup operation, strategy implementation, and management. Recently accepted into the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program at San Diego State University, Reid is looking to enhance his entrepreneurial talent while running his current startups. When he isn't glued to his computer working, he is either working on his car, traveling, skiing in the Rocky Mountains or missing free throws. Reid was born in Highlands Ranch Colorado and lived there until moving to San Diego for college. He is now studying business management with a specialization in entrepreneurship at San Diego State University. While in college, Reid co-founded two companies with fellow friend and entrepreneur, Kyle Joyce. They started an apparel printing company, Graphic Elements, that supplies custom designs and printing services to greek organizations on the west coast with hopes to finish a national expansion this year. Reid exclusively manages the operations of Graphic Elements and its team of sales reps, print shops, and graphic designers. They also created the team which is now Enver Agency which supplies small businesses with app and website development services with hope to soon be supplying industry specific API algorithms as well. Reid has helped to plan out the foundations for the agency and works on sales and operations currently. Someday they hope to use Kyle’s creative talents and Reid’s strategy skills to get into venture development, where they can help young entrepreneurs make their own ideas a reality. Right now, Reid is living in San Diego California, where he is working towards the success of his startups everyday.



​Ryan A. Wallace

Management Information Systems
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“Ryan A. Wallace is a Navy Veteran and a Business transfer student from San Diego Mesa College. He is now pursuing his third degree which will be a Bachelors’ in Management Information Systems. Ryan was born in Brooklyn, New York, moved to the Bronx and spent the last years of his adolescence in Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon is one of the smallest cities in New York ranging over 4 square miles, but even the entire State of New York couldn’t contain Ryan’s desire to see more. Ryan enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17 to see the world and the more he saw the more he knew that he wanted to bring his passions to life through his art. This passion cultivated in 2015 when Ryan started his clothing brand, Lonely Floater, which morphed into much more than just a brand, it became a lifestyle. With athletes in Extreme sports, Boxing, Motorsports and artist of all sorts soon became sponsored by the brand. Ryan’s message has always been constant, simple yet powerful. As a black man with big dreams from small city it is possible to feel alone, but you never truly are when we’re all Lonely Floaters at heart. Ryan is also a mentor for youth in San Diego and New York. Once a year he gives speeches to San Diego’s teenage community on his story and the development of his business. What Ryan hopes to gain from this program is an education on traditional and unconventional ways to turn an already successful brand into a Prolific legacy. Stay up, and Fly at Your Own Altitude.”
– Written By Intelligence Specialist First Class Petty Officer Tevin Everett, United States Navy.

Ryan Wooldridge

Business Management
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2nd year student at SDSU pursuing a major in Business Management with a specialization in Entrepreneurship. Ambitiously determined to take on any challenge with passion.
Experienced salesman, video/photo editor, coach, and craftsman. Started own business junior year through senior year of high school selling homemade candy, profiting 150-200 dollars per week. Designed online course as well as managed online marketing/advertising as a recent intern at Opt-Out Life LLC.. Head coach of Marina CA skateboard camp for 5 years. Part time surfboard repairman/buyer and seller of used surfboards.
Veteran skateboarder of 11 years, surfer, and intellectual. Currently associated with a non-profit organization in Ramona CA, working towards building a skatepark by running a skateboard camp for kids. Also in the process of establishing a skateboard club at SDSU and bringing together the community of skateboarders both on and off campus.
"Opt-Out Blueprint", the online course which was designed during an internship for Opt Out Life LLC., a business that records podcasts in which they interview very successful entrepreneurs, and teaches others how to "Live the life you want now. Not when you're 65."
Associate of Ramona Skatepark Champions, the non-profit organization working towards getting the city of Ramona to approve and build a skatepark.
Offer Up, one of the main platforms personally used to buy and sell surfboards. It is a mobile app that makes it easy and simple to sell anything and everything conveniently within your geographic area.

 

​Sam DeLeon

Business Management
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​Sam DeLeon is a business management major from Camarillo, CA. At a young age, Sam has always been interested in how the world around him worked. He asked his dad one day how he could become a genius. His dad gave him a book that would change the way he saw the world, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. Obsessed with the idea of being financially free, he sought to learn and develop his mind to understand the world around him, learning and studying influential figures throughout history, like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Woodrow Wilson, John Muir, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Einstein and many others. He strived to understand what made these individuals different from the rest while at the same time developing his own mindset and skills. At a young age, he learned how to play the piano, sold popcorn and soda around school, and developed his leadership skills through Boy Scouts, eventually getting his Eagle Scout Rank a week before his 18th birthday. While in Boys Scouts he led a team through a two week backpacking trek through Philmont Scout Ranch where they amassed over 200+ miles. Through the mishaps and experiences of the trek, he learned the importance of leadership and how a team can excel by working together towards one common goal. Throughout elementary school, his parents gave him the privilege to travel with them all around the globe to places like Egypt, France, Russia, London, Argentina, Australia, and the Philippines, where he was able to see the cultural differences and socioeconomic factors that vary between each country, giving him a worldwide understanding of the global economy. Sam firmly believes that if you want to do anything in this world it all starts with the proper mindset. By having the correct mindset you’re able to overcome any obstacle that comes your way as you strive for what you dream for.

Trevor Bailey

Business Management
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My name is Trevor Bailey, I’m a 21 yr old who had a dream of moving to California after growing up in Connecticut my whole life. The east coast norms striving for Ivy League colleges and having a need to impress your parents with your salary didn’t feel right to me as far as what success was to me. I loved where I grew up, but I found that it wasn’t where I belonged. I’m a competitive nationally ranked bodybuilder, which in time came to the reason I chose nutrition and dietetics as my major. I loved working out, it was at one point the only consistent thing in my life when other areas of my life seemed to be struggling. The therapeutic sense of lifting weights and being on a naturals foods diet I truly believe translates into success as a business owner, because it’s about consistency, patient, trial and error, and most importantly applying pressure to improve. I started my own Southern California fitness clothing line called Klassic & Relentless just over a year ago in my freshman dorm with only $300 in my savings account. I just saw an opportunity to change the way people viewed fitness and to appeal to the Southern California lifestyle that everyone in the world talks about. I wanted my brand to associated with risk takers, about people who take care of themselves because they want happiness and freedom out of life. That rush of doing things that scare you I believe is one of the main purposes of life, because just that overwhelming emotion of happiness you get from standing up to what you fear is a life high. I wanted more out of college than lectures, because I never felt my skill set translated into my gpa. I wanted to run a business because I wanted to work for myself after college, I wanted to build my own company, and I wanted to have my ideas be put to use. My dad started a private investment firm in Stamford, CT when I was a newborn and after lots of financial struggle in the beginning my father 20 years later has build his company Spruce Private investments up to beyond what he thought. He also told me as a kid that he knew I wanted to be my own boss. The Baileys can be a bit stubborn, but my dad said it’s because we don’t settle. Through so many life experiences, from mental breakdowns to some of the happiest moments of my life, I can say with great pleasure starting my own company was the best investment in life I could ever make. I’m grateful to be part of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program at SDSU and I wish I could go up to Mr.Lavin myself and thank him for all he’s done for this program. Thank you and I’m looking foward to meeting you.

Tristan Fleming

Business
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Tristan Fleming is a serial-entrepreneur and student studying Business at San Diego State University. Tristan’s current and past businesses include a logo design studio that handled 100+ logo design projects, a subscription box for candle enthusiasts, textbook reselling that net over $1,000 per hour, and most recently, a software company that helps college students find roommates which has raised $100K. Another passion of Tristan’s is design, where he enjoys spending time doing logos, branding, UI/UX, and interactive prototypes for software. For hobbies, Tristan has spent his entire life in offroad motorsports with his family and continues to pursue that. Along with this, Tristan enjoys scuba diving, traveling, and spending time with close friends.