Oxford Impact Lab boosts student entrepreneurs with SideHustle 1.0

Michelle Valigursky • April 10, 2025

In our nation’s thriving gig economy, young professionals often build secondary income streams to offset rising costs.

For the eleven Oxford students and their teammates who participated in SideHustle 1.0, tapping into the expertise of experienced entrepreneurs empowered them to fine tune business ventures for areas as diverse as delivered fresh juices and salads, a user experience app, and a company that provides AI casing prep and recruitment assistance for management consulting.

SideHustle 1.0 mentor Tracy Davis and student founder of Taste and See Fresh Nate Occilien-Similien 26Ox. Photo by Tracy Davis.

“For SideHustle 1.0, we’ve paired industry veterans who understand the ups and downs of entrepreneurship with students in early stages of their startup journey,” says Bridgette Gunnels, associate dean and director for the Center for Pathways & Purpose (CPP). “Part of the draw of working with students is their energy. These students are on fire – sharp, interested, and listening deeply to what our mentors shared.”

With specific initiatives designed to support student flourishing through vocation and values exploration, community-engaged learning, global learning, leadership development, undergraduate research, and meaningful internships, the CPP facilitates impactful student experiences.

“I joined SideHustle to gain mentorship and strategic guidance in growing Taste & See Fresh. While the business has already built a strong foundation, I wanted to refine our growth strategy, improve financial planning, and improve my pitch,” says Nate Occilien-Similien 26Ox.

Taste & See Fresh, a mobile company committed to increasing the quality and quantity of healthy food options for their community, was co-founded by Occilien-Similien and his father, Rutho. The company produces packaged natural juices that can be enjoyed fresh or frozen for later use, salads, and customized juice blends made to order. “SideHustle has helped me refine my focus, particularly in the logistics of scaling Taste & See Fresh and expanding distribution. While I already had a strong vision for the business, the program pushed me to think more critically about operations and efficient ways to streamline growth,” he says.

“It also helped me identify key challenges in distribution and explore more efficient ways to reach underserved communities. These insights have allowed me to fine-tune my strategy and set more evident, actionable goals for the next Taste & See Fresh phase.”
Nate Occilien-Similien 26Ox

Gunnels notes that the four-week interactive program fuels real entrepreneurial growth. “SideHustle 1.0 accelerates early-stage startup projects with intensive mentoring, educational resources, networking opportunities, and $3000-$4000 of seed funding to be awarded at a Shark Tank style event. Our goal is to establish with young entrepreneurs a greater sense of foundational guidelines and strategies – to help accelerate them through the next phase of their projects.”

“We are thrilled to have such talented and accomplished mentors working in such a meaningful way for our students. The depth of conversation and coaching that our students received generated exceptional learning, provoked good questions, and taught valuable lessons about the power of relationships and listening.”
Bridgette Gunnels

Mentor Tracy Davis 10Ox 12C, founder and CEO of TRAX Analytics, shared on LinkedIn following her session with aspiring entrepreneurs. “The energy, the passion, the hunger to create something real–it was contagious. My core message to them? Get crystal clear on your foundation: What problem are you solving? How are you solving it? What makes you different? How does your brand stand out? How do you connect with customers? How do you make them feel something for your brand?” Davis reflected on the concepts and revenue-generating businesses. “Seeing these students light up as we dug into their ideas reminded me why I love entrepreneurship so much–it's about problem-solving, impact, and building something bigger than yourself.”

Ben Garrett, director of The Hatchery, Emory Center for Innovation, also serves as a student mentor. Garrett shared on LinkedIn his impressions of the session with fellow mentor Matthew Goldman 02Ox 05C. “One theme for the evening was learning to let go of perfectionism and transitioning to a mindset of experimentation. This takes a lot of courage and requires innovators to be rigorous in gathering data from each encounter with a potential customer. Matt definitely displayed throughout his journey to building Hera and it was great to learn from his experience.”

PoxKit is an app designed to “streamline the Oxford College experience and foster a productive and enjoyable community for our peers,” writes co-founder and SideHustle 1.0 participant Samuel Santana 26Ox. With co-founder Dharshini Kannan 26Ox, the duo recently celebrated a big entrepreneurial win: their new app is now available in the App Store. Santana shared, “Thank you to all who have helped us in some way to reach this point.” He continued, “Whether you participated in a survey or used your experience in the business world to direct us on the right path, each of you has motivated us to keep growing and improving.”

Side Hustles on the Rise

According to Business Research Insights, the gig economy market report shared that the 2024 market size was 556.7 billion, with a projected growth to 2146.87 billion by 2033. Driving factors in growth, they cite, is “elevation in delivery apps and independency in setting up of the hourly rates to drive the economy market.”

Meet the SideHustle 1.0 Mentors

Founder/ Entrepreneur/ Investor. Duley’s new company, PlanGap, partners with some of the top insurance companies and distribution companies to bring to market, for the first time, a suite of products to help American’s protect against the potential reductions of Social Security benefits.

His advice to SideHustle 1.0 teams: “A good idea is worth about one to two percent of the enterprise value, if that. It is ALL about execution of the idea and this is where most young entrepreneurs fail. Good ideas are easy, good execution is hard.”

Founder, serial entrepreneur, and CEO of TRAX Analytics. Davis is the visionary behind the TRAX SmartRestroom platform for janitorial management, which has been featured in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, named one of USA Today’s Top 10 Airport Amenities.

Her advice to SideHustle 1.0 teams: “Success comes to those who keep pushing forward, learn fast, and stay scrappy. Ask potential customers IF they would buy the product/solution, BEFORE you develop one. Make sure there is a market fit. Then build, test, fail, learn, repeat.”

Entrepreneur and U.S. Marine Corps veteran who brings real-world experience to the delivery industry. As founder and CEO of Hera Solutions, he created software that makes delivery companies more efficient and profitable based on insights from his Amazon delivery business, Juno Transit.  

His Advice to SideHustle 1.0 teams: “Start by solving a problem you've personally faced. I built Hera Solutions after running my own delivery business and seeing the gaps. Don't chase trends - chase problems worth solving. Your background matters more than you think. Nothing is wasted if you apply it thoughtfully.”

Innovator in Startup Ecosystems, builder of strategic tech partnerships known for driving entrepreneurship and digital transformation. As a serial tech entrepreneur, Bonnett serves technology and female entrepreneurs in Atlanta through her work at Invest Atlanta as VP, Technology & Entrepreneurship. She is over the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, the only municipality funded accelerator program for female entrepreneurs in the United States.

Director of The Hatchery, Emory University’s Center for Innovation. Ben's passion and experience has centered on the creation and sustainability of nonprofits and social enterprises. He has been a first hire, facilitator, consultant, and coach for hundreds of social entrepreneurs.

His Advice to SideHustle 1.0 teams: “Learn how to validate everything you believe about your product and business with your customers. Until a customer validates what you believe with an action they take, that belief is just an assumption.”

Tech company founder and seasoned software development professional; expertise in FinTech, Telecom/Video Conferencing, IoT Mobile Technologies. With her husband Chris, she has built and owned tech companies in various verticals including email marketing, IT, cybersecurity, compliance, data privacy, and real estate.

CEO, CISO, & Entrepreneur. An industry expert with24 years of experience in the technology, privacy, security, and software industry.

His advice to SideHustle 1.0 teams: “Have a deep understanding of: Legal/compliance, protecting what you create, scaling a business.”

Developer, entrepreneur, partner, advisor, strategic CFO, and founder of Watchpoint Group financial leadership and guidance company.

His advice to SideHustle 1.0 teams: “You must develop a clear and straightforward financial forecast and utilize that forecast in decision-making. You can (and will) make gut decisions but run them against your cash forecast model to test. Data should drive business decisions, and maintaining adequate cash will allow you to execute on your business plan.”

“The Godfather of Angel Investing,” founder, director, advisor. Mosley is the managing partner of Mosley Ventures, a venture fund investing in early-stage technology startups in the Southeast. Mosley has been the most prolific Southeast investor in 120 startups with 82 liquidity events. He is the current record holder of the largest Southeast venture deal with the $5.7 billion acquisition of Tradex by Ariba. The Siggie Awards for early-stage entrepreneurs is named in his honor.

In a recent interview on the Charlie Paparelli Show, Mosley spoke about how much he likes to help people: “I have tried to help the entrepreneur and grow the community. I believe that the technology community here can be very significant.”

Entering the Shark Tank

After weeks of company messaging and branding refinement, pitch deck preparation, and presentation skills building, SideHustle 1.0 founders prepped for an on-campus Shark Tank-style event on Thursday, March 27.

Shark Tank judges.

Five SideHustle teams faced a panel of three mentor judges: Sig Mosley, “The Godfather of Angel Investing” and Managing Partner of Mosley Ventures;” David Duley 96Ox 98B, Founder and CEO of PlanGap; and Tracy Davis 10Ox 12C, Founder and CEO of TRAX Analytics.

“As a judge, I left the Shark Tank event invigorated and optimistic by the hustle and work ethic of the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs,” Duley says. “They showed resourcefulness, tenacity and grit to present their ideas…the necessary qualities to bring a new idea to life.”

To provide essential startup capital that will fuel business growth, seed grants were awarded to the following teams:

$3500 to Taste & See Fresh, led by Occilien-Similien
$3500 to PoxKit, led by Santana
$1000 to Taste & See Fresh, led by Occilien-Similien, as the Audience Favorite winner

The Sig Mosley Innovation Award was presented to Hunter Richmond and Eamon Walsh, for their business, Sera Hospitality Group.

In addition, The Arrendale Innovation Award was presented to Allie Guo and her proposed summer 2025 work with a venture capital firm in California that leads innovation in medical technology.

Shark Tank photos by Amber Tallent, Oxford Photo/Video.