By Savannah Phillips
Feature Editor
On Wednesday Summer Coble secured the first-place win of $2,000 for her Casa
Comfort HVAC business-plan pitch at the fourth annual Shark Tank competition, held in LaVerne Banquet Hall. She won over the judges – Matt Villmer, an attorney with Villmer Caudill Law Firm; Charlie Malouf, CEO of Broad River Retail; and Stephanie Busenbark, assistant vice president and data management analyst of Wells Fargo – with her thorough and thought-out plan, her touching backstory and her business values.
Coble grew up with an “entrepreneurial mindset of what it takes to own a business,”
since her parents own two businesses themselves. Casa Comfort prides itself on “being a smaller company and offering honest services,” Coble says.
Jerry Sandoval, whom Coble has been with for four years, worked for her father when they fell in love. “He started dating the boss’s daughter,” Coble says laughing.
The judges appreciated Coble and Sandoval’s shared vision for Casa Comfort, and they have high hopes for this power couple.
All five competitors – Summer Coble, Josiah Down, Adriana Gonzalez Altamirano, Hanna Costello and Nashayla Adams – were chosen by their peers after pitching their proposals as part of an in-class competition.
The students have been working on their comprehensive business plans all semester as part of adjunct instructor Sam Spencer’s Capstone Entrepreneurship 410 course. Long-time animal lover Hanna Costello earned second place with her Tidey Tails pitch, winning $1,000. Costello has been working with animals ever since she was 14 years old and is eager to open up her own well-being facility for pets in Myrtle Beach, S.C., near campgrounds.
Among her many services will be “beach baths” for sandy pups fresh off the beach. She wants to provide a relaxing and welcoming environment for all fur-babies, including those who need special accommodations, which she coined “special care for special cases.” Costello also wants to offer various training opportunities and educational resources for pet owners.
Josiah Down won the $500 third-place prize, as well as the Audience Choice Award of $250, after pitching his heartfelt Elevate Learning Center business plan. Villmer Caudill Law Firm sponsored the Audience Choice Award, and the John William
Pope Foundation supplied a grant for the competition. Down’s younger brother struggled with dyslexia when they were kids, and now Down
plans to open an in-person tutoring center in Waxhaw where, he said, “every learner can thrive!”
“I tried to help him learn in a way that made sense to him,” Down says, “because the
normal, traditional methods didn’t [make sense]. I developed a love for learning and for teaching other people.”
Elevate Learning “empowers students to achieve academic excellence and lifelong
success through personalized, faith-based tutoring and essential life-skills training,”
Down says. The fourth-place prize of $250 went to Adriana Gonzalez Altamirano. The idea for her family-owned and operated business, Tru Road Contractor: Asphalt and Grading, came from hearing her father’s stories about his 20+ years doing road work.
Coming from the smooth-paved roads of Florida, Altamirano admits that the roads of Union County are in need of some TLC, which, she said, Tru Road is ready to provide.
Fifth-place winner Nashayla Adams, creator of Pink Tigress, took home $125. She said that her passion for fashion has grown immensely since 2020, which is when she got her first sewing machine. Pink Tigress clothing is all hand-made or reworked, so each item is one of a kind.
Adams herself was wearing a Pink Tigress staple piece, and she also brought up two
other models wearing her work. You can find her work for purchase on Depop.
Originality is important to Adams and her business. “It’s important to express who we are as a person,” Adams says, “and to find clothing and spaces where we can express ourselves. It’s more than a brand. It’s a lifestyle.”
“I’m proud of all my contestants,” Spencer says. “They’ve worked really hard with
putting their business plans together, and I look forward every year to having this event.”
Sergio Castello, dean of the Porter B. Byrum School of Business, noted that the
competition was tight. “They were all very good,” he says. “Any of them could have
won.” “I think my favorite part was just seeing the passion from each competitor,” said Busenbark, who was a first-time shark. “If you’re passionate about something, you’re going to work harder for it. It was a tough decision.”
“It was a great experience, and I learned a lot,” Down says. “I’m really happy to be
here.”
“It’s honestly a really big honor to know that they have value in my future and the work that I’ve already done to get to where I am now,” Coble says.
Wingate Triangle 