Featured Graduate Assistant
Marissa Mengelkoch, MBA
"I became a Graduate Assistant for the Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (CFEE) in August of 2021. When I was originally offered the position, I thought I was simply going to be managing the social media accounts for the School of Business. However, working under Justin Heacock (the director of the CFEE and our Entrepreneur in Residence), I was able to expand on this opportunity and turn it into more than just marketing experience.
Throughout this past year, Justin has emphasized his mentorship role, pushing me to grow individually and professionally. We worked together to establish a new direction for the Center, where I learned and executed agile project management, lean startup, and design thinking skills - all of which will be applicable to my future as I prepare for graduation and begin my career.
Justin picked up on my interests and passions, specifically those related to the healthcare field. He inspired me to participate in the 2022 Florida Blue Healthcare Innovation Challenge, where I was able to pitch my ideas on how to identify health inequities and improve the health outcomes for those that are disproportionately disconnected from care. Justin helped me create my product Traffick Trigger, an artificial intelligence technology that improves health outcomes for human trafficking victims in emergent care settings. I ended up walking away from the competition as a statewide winner, earning $2,500 in seed funding!"