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Meet the 2022 Winners: The Austin Pitch Competition

Star Jackson - 1st Place

Star Jackson is the founder of SerenelyStar Publishing. A publishing company focused on empowering the youth to utilize literacy to amplify their voices. Most importantly, SerenelyStar helps to improve young people's confidence and helps to encourage them to continue their education after they graduate high school.


Through their publishing program, students learn the necessary literary skills to communicate their book ideas and learn how to self-publish. Star supports students in taking them from ideation to publication. She currently has 37 students with fully developed manuscripts.



Lora Williams - 2nd Place

Lora Williams is the founder of The Treasured Protégé. The vision of T.T.P. is to equip individuals and their families with the tools, support, and skills to lift them out of the cycle of poverty; and ultimately position them for sustainable change. T.T.P. offers a complete online Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A.) do-it-yourself course, a Complete Project Management course, and one-on-one consultations.

As a registered nurse and her husband, Cedric understands the importance of adult education and workforce skills. Lora started as a Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A.) at 16 in San Marcos, Texas. Cedric completed his H.V.A.C. certification in 1997 in San Marcos, Texas. Accomplishing their certification in their respective industries opened doors of opportunity that would ultimately enable them to remove barriers of poverty.



Brittany Bygrave - 3rd Place

Brittany Bygrave is the founder of Butter'd Bodycare, a feel-good beauty brand that offers simple, moisturizing skincare for melanated skin. Brittany didn't feel good or comfortable in her skin. She's dealt with acne, hyperpigmentation, and eczema. In searching for solutions, she noticed harmful ingredients.


After numerous attempts to find a product that felt like home, she decided to create the products herself. Butter'd Bodycare is on a mission to continually help you feel heard, safe and good with products made for you. Not only that, Butter'd Bodycare is donating 1% of All Fluff Body Cream to Black Women for Wellness.



Subscribe to the Digital Orange Juice for juicy ideas and the people who fund them. You can find out about our next pitch competitions. Also, be sure to join our new community BGV Connect!






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