Competition Winner’s Video Game Focuses on Mental Illness Awareness

November 20, 2018

Willow Hendershot took the top prize for the 2018 Attman Competitive Business Prize Competition, netting $3,000 for her startup, Prevail, the first in a series of video games that focus on mental illness awareness. In the game, players progress through the story of someone struggling with PTSD.

“The competition was such an amazing experience,” Hendershot said. “It really validated my ideas and my research—not just winning, but the amount of people that approached me throughout the event and told me their stories of dealing with their mental illness. At the end of the day Prevail is for them and anyone else that may need that extra support, however small of an impact it makes.”

Hendershot is a current business administration student and a Ratcliffe Entrepreneurship Fellow. She transferred from Howard Community College in the spring of 2018 and expects to graduate from UB in 2020. She was one of the six finalists that made it through to the Nov. 13 event. It was the first time that a UB pitch competition finale was made up entirely of women-owned businesses.

Read the full news release about the competition.
Video of the competition pitches.

: Len Attman and Kurt Schmoke, president of the University of Baltimore

: The Attman family with President Schmoke and Dean Murray Dalziel

: Deb Tillett

: Finalists, Brianna Billups, Kareema McLendon

: Winner of the Attman Prize Willow Hendershot

: Brianna Billups, B.S. ’18, pitched Fully Grown, which is on a mission to eradicate food deserts by growing our communities the way we grow our food: fully and sustainable.

: Shelby Blondell, last year’s winner.

: President Schmoke

: Leslie Joyce , John Zuknick

: Murray Dalziel, Dean of the Merrick School of Business

: Kurt Schmoke

: Len Attman

: Our winner, Willow Hendershot

: Answering questions

: rystal Santiful, B.A. ’19, pitched Chrystal Tutu Paradise, a business that is dedicated to creating custom fashion designs for any occasion.

: Kareema McLendon, B.S. ’20, whose eponymous fashion startup is a wholesale bridal firm focused on designing, manufacturing and selling bridal gowns to women aged 30-50.

: Mikita Thompson, B.S. ’20, founder of The Party Room, a multi-functional event hall that is fully equipped with everything customers need to host social events.

: Brittany Whitby, B.S. ’18, MBA ’20, and Demi Abromaitis, B.S. ’17, who teamed up to create Charmony Naturals, which offers a mix of science, joy, and passion to create a unique line of hemp cosmetics for a diversity of needs.