news & events

Penn State LaunchBox Ladies holds pitch competition By Sara Karnish SUMMARY: Woman-owned online education company captures top spot in second annual event CENTER VALLEY, Pa. (July 2, 2024)—An Allentown-based entrepreneur captured the top prize in the second annual Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV) LaunchBox Ladies’ Women in Business Pitch Competition held on June 26 at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital’s Center Valley location. Denise Ogden, marketing professor at PSU-LV, served as the evening’s emcee. Nadia Alicia, Ed.D., was named the grand prize winner, netting the $2,500 prize. Alicia is director of the Language Project, LLC— Spanish Immersion TV, a subscription-based online...

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Entrepreneurs utilize countless innovative strategies to identify needs, tackle issues, and connect with customers. Design thinking is just one approach to creative problem solving and was the focus of the latest Lehigh Valley LaunchBox Ladies speaker series at Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV). Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation by using empathy, creativity, and iterative problem solving to foster ideas and solutions. A record 89 attendees were on hand to hear from Laura Cruz, research professor at the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence at University Park, who offered not only 90 minutes of education...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A festive retail destination – filled with hand-crafted nutcrackers, Christmas tree ornaments, retired reindeer bells and other yuletide cheer – is coming soon to the Christmas City. Dear Santa, a business offering unique Christmas gifts and decor along with family-friendly, Christmas-themed activities, is expected to open by mid-April at 458 Main St. in downtown Bethlehem. Ryan Kneller Dear Santa, a business offering unique Christmas gifts and decor along with family-friendly, Christmas-themed activities, is expected to open by mid-April at 458 Main St. in downtown Bethlehem, owner Tom Dubreuil said. For the past five years, Dubreuil has been...

A young Justin Leusner would walk around places like Hershey Park and the Wells Fargo Center just like any other kid, looking to enjoy what was around him. People would often recognize him from the YouTube videos he started making at 10 years old, some of which had hundreds of thousands of views. “Are you ‘You’re Fired?’,” they’d ask, referring to his first YouTube channel. By the time he was in high school, Leusner had already built a brand on YouTube, and that’s led the now-Penn State junior to make big-time strides with his company, TDAY Sports. Leusner created the social media...

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are complex systems and no one solution will work for everyone. We hope this playbook will spark new ideas and approaches for supporting entrepreneurs in rural areas and in areas where business resources are scarce, and encourage others to share their experiments, successes, and missteps. https://invent.psu.edu/playbook/