Contact us
401 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33606-13490
(813) 253-3333
Written
by: Matthew Restrepo ’26
|
Feb. 12, 2026
Jewelry Venture Sparkles at Campus Pitch Competition
Spartan Cup winner advances to statewide event next month.
Judges and students participating in the Spartan Cup pitch competition gather for a photo in the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center on Friday. Photo by Hannah Vazquez
Last Friday,UTampastudentspitchedtheir businessesand business ideastojudgesattheSpartan CupcompetitionintheǷɳٳԳٰԱܰԳٱ.
PaulinaLabarta Meza, a first-year studentandentrepreneurship major, won with herjewelrycompany,Azzaik,which specializes inaffordable,high-quality,dailyusejewelry.
She started the businesswhen she was 16, she said,because it was difficult to findquality, affordablejewelrythat she could wear during activitieslikeswimming.
“I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollarsonjewelry, and I don’t want to spend five dollarsonjewelryand have to buy the same thing over and over again,so I figured out a way to make the plating 10 timesthickerand last10 times longer to be affordable,” saidLabarta Meza.
She said she hasmadeover $180,000 in sales and sold around 16,000 pieces of jewelry.
This is not the first business shehas run,norwas thisthe first pitch competition she hasparticipatedin.And with the win, she andAzzaikadvance to the statewide Governor’s Cup pitch competition, which will be held April 17-18 at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Brandon Weber,theLowthCenter’smanager of operations, said this is the third yearUTampahasheldSpartanCup.Each person or group was giventhree minutesto present, followed bytwo minutes of questionsfromsixjudges.The participantswerejudged onseveral measures,including opportunity, advantage, competitive landscape, revenue model, founder fit,current status,brandingand presentation.
Along withjewelry, students pitchedproducts ranging from A.I.to lifestyle.
GustaveOliveira,a juniorfrom Brazilstudying economics,pitchedanA.I.productcalledCardioFlow, to be used by physicians for transcription and more.
“Unlike generic A.I. scribes that just turn conversations into text,” Oliveira said, “CardioFLowunderstands the medical context. It combineswhat’ssaid during the visit with the patient’s historyandexam data to produce a complete clinical node.”
He said the first doctor he introducedittoin Braziltold himthat it saved hertwo hours.
Another pitch, made by seniorentrepreneurship majorMaggie Keith with herCFO, seniorOlivia Kelly,wasamultipurpose,steam-basedhairstyler, whichKeithcame up within Entrepreneurship 320and isnowin theearly stagesof development.Keith and Kelly have a third partner who serves as COO of the company,seniorKristinaGuatto.
Though there were many business majorscompeting on Friday, Josh Ray,lecturerandnewventureadviserin theLowthCenter,said this competition, along with otheron-campuspitch competitions,are open to all majors,and all studentsare encouragedtodeveloptheir entrepreneurial skills throughthe way the events teachvulnerability, communication, criticism and more.
More UTampa News