UW students Danielle Talatian, Diana Xiong, Annie Brennan, and Leah Levy were finalists in the 2020 National Retail Federation’s Student Challenge Competition with their project ‘Tory Burch X Akola’. The students, along with selections of their award-winning work, were featured at the NRF Annual Honors Gala.
For this year’s challenge, 27 university teams from across the nation were asked to select a retailer to partner with Tory Burch and develop a collaborative jewelry line. UW’s team selected Akola, a growing, innovative jewelry brand employing women in crisis in Uganda and Dallas, Texas. All teams developed a plan and presented a 30-slide max pitch presentation and 90-second video to demonstrate how and why their line should be brought to market.
Every fall, UW-Madison Students with a passion for retail have the chance to compete in the NRF Student Challenge. The NRF Foundation Student Challenge isn’t your average business case competition. It puts you and your team in a boardroom in New York City, pitching your business ideas for an iconic brand to a room full of the biggest names in the retail business. Since its launch, the NRF Foundation Student Challenge has provided more than $100,000 in scholarship funds to students across the country, and priceless career opportunities.
(Pictured above: Danielle Talatian, Diana Xiong, Annie Brennan, Leah Levy )