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Aviatra Accelerators awards cash prizes to four young businesses at Flight Night Pitch competition


Aviatra Accelerators awarded $12,000 in cash prizes to four deserving young businesses at their Flight Night Pitch Competition at Carnegie Hall in Newport.

A generous donation from alumna Robin Gentry McGee of Functional Formularies, made it possible to award two outstanding and high potential businesses with $5,000 cash each when the competition ended in a two-way tie for first place.

Wendy Klepcyk and Sarah Kleiner of Envisage Architecture and Megan Sullivan of With Grace B. Bold were chosen as winners.

Sullivan’s With Grace B. Bold is a fashion-based healthcare solution for women experiencing the trauma and discomfort of mastectomies. She combines fashion and function to provide stylish, comfortable apparel that hides tubes and drains and allows women comfort and dignity as they recover.

Klepcyk and Kleiner’s Envisage Architecture’s unique approach to design, affordability, and function has them poised to break barriers for women architects while providing realistic and affordable solutions.

“Aviatra Accelerators could not be prouder of the 12 women representing 10 business who just completed the LAUNCH program!” says Nancy Aichholz, Aviatra Accelerators, Inc., CEO. “This class was especially dedicated, talented and ready to take on the world.”

Megan Sullivan was inspired to create her unique fashionable clothing items after having witnessed her own mother’s struggles with breast cancer, mastectomy, and recovery. Fortunately, her mother is a breast cancer survivor and was in the audience when Megan won the competition.

Wendy Klepcyk and Sarah Kleiner, Envisage Architects, are both alums of Aviatra’s EXPLORE and LAUNCH programs. Both have extensive experience in architecture but had never had their own business. The pair met while with Luxottica, realized they had complementary skills and shared desire to use design as art and function. Their small business has quickly grown and has the potential to scale considerably across the United States.

Smaller prizes were also awarded to both Kourtney Terry, TasteTLove Organic Baby Food, and Melanie Cedargren, The Spicy Olive.


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