UW-Green Bay alumna makes semifinals at Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs

While COVID-19 halted the Draper Competition for a few months until a virtual competition could be held, it didn’t stop UWGB’s Marissa Dyess ’20 (Business Administration) from being a semifinalist in the Draper Competition’s product track. The annual Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs is a prestigious invitation-only pitch and mentoring event for women entrepreneurs. Dyess was the second UWGB student to have been invited after trailblazer Jennifer Nowicki ’19 pitched her Cultivate Taste business at Draper in 2019. Nowicki is also a gBETA Northeast Wisconsin alumna and winner of both the Two Rivers and Sheboygan Pop Up Shop contests. Dyess pitched Hempire, her startup that provides Hempire Style-branded herbal remedies which aid those who suffer from eczema and psoriasis. Hempire Style clientele customize their own hemp-based body butters, lotions, and bathbombs from various aromatherapy scents and add ins. Find more on her Facebook page or email her at HempireStyle21@gmail.com. Dyess was to compete in the Draper Competition on site at Smith College in Massachusetts in spring, her last semester of undergraduate work at UWGB. While she graduated in May, all those who qualified for the student competition were still able to compete after graduating.