On April 7, Enactus held their annual Shark Tank competition in McInnis Auditorium. Three students participated as contestants in the event, where they pitched their businesses to three business experts in the hopes of winning a $1000 prize.
Those “sharks” were rough at times, questioning the candidates, but they also gave their best advice regarding whatever weakness they saw in the business. Three individuals took their shot, but only one came out alive.
That person is Jenna Evangelista, a girl who loves to run and wants to share her experience with other people so that they can have confidence in their running. Evangelista is passionate about the sport she loves. A Reading, PA native, Evangelista started her business three years ago and has come a long way since the beginning. As an Exercise Science major, she knows about the different approaches to conditioning and workouts and she enjoys exercising what she knows through the business she runs.
Three years ago, before anything was well-established, some of Evangelista’s friends needed help improving their running. “Some of my friends were signing up for races and knew that I’m an Exercise Science major, and with me being a collegiate athlete, they came up to me and asked, ‘Jenna, can you help me out?’ So I made just a rough training plan at the start, then it got more complex as I got experience,” she reflected. As her training plans became more complex and more and more people asked for her help, her hobby became a business, Maxx Running Inc.
How she got involved in “Shark Tank” is a story of its own.. Her sister, Carley, won the competition three years before, and that gave Evangelista the inspiration to participate in the event as a way to grow her business. Fast forward to today, in her senior year, she competed as an actual contestant. And her hard work paid off; she won the competition and the $1,000 that came with it. She intends to use the money to hire personnel such as a webmaster for her website and personal trainers to work alongside her. Advertising is on her agenda as well, to grow her clientele.
Her future looks bright, as she aims to work in cardiac rehab and, of course, always continuing to run and improve her business. She offers these words of wisdom to all runners: “Running is a journey, it’s not something that you can wake up and just run ten miles, it takes a lot of practice and sticking with it even on the hard days, what you put into it will let you see the results you want out of it.”
As the saying goes, “You may think your light is small, but it can make a huge difference in other people’s lives.” Evangelista exemplifies this by working with her clients not only to improve their running, but also to improve their lives.