It's been said that age is just a number.
When considering the achievements of Charlotte Inno's first-ever Under 25 list, however, one would be remiss to not acknowledge and celebrate those innovators driving change for the better before their 26th birthdays.
The innovators on our list are from all over the Queen City, tackling a host of unique problems in different industries and companies. All are doing the kind of work that both bolsters the Charlotte tech and startup ecosystem and has the potential to impact the whole world.
So, go ahead and meet this year's recipients, listed below in no particular order. Recipients were selected after considering reader nominations, relevant news and other editorial insights.
Enjoy!
Tarlon Khoubyari | Boss Business Market
Khoubyari serves as the COO of Boss Business Market, which she helms with Naomi Thomas. The company includes three brands: First Class, DigiHouse and The Stem Station — the latter of which is a STEM education-focused brand that works to engage women and minorities in STEM work. In addition to her leadership at BBM, Khoubyari, a self-professed "huge data nerd," served as the program coordinator for INTech Camps for Girls in 2018; she has a business of her own AND a thriving Instagram community.
Zachary Sherbondy | Cloverhound
Sherbondy's specific role at Cloverhound is cisco unified communications engineer. What that means, his Cloverhound colleague Sam Spencer told Charlotte Inno, is that he's point person for the company's strategic partnership with Five9, a multi-billion dollar cloud contract center company.
As a result, "Zach has become the face of Cloverhound to both large companies and nonprofits looking for contact center solutions," Spencer continued. "When he’s not climbing at Inner Peaks, walking his dog Boone (Go Mountaineers!), or volunteering with local nonprofits, Zach is always helping out around town; he even put his unified communications skills to work to fix the Common Market’s phones after a storm."
Fidel Henriquez | Heben
Henriquez is a UNCC sophomore, studying in the College of Computing and Informatics, and has already had a big 2019. His fitness app Heben won the Student Pitch Category at the 2019 Charlotte Venture Challenge in the business category, earning him $1,000 to fund the project. Heben is set to officially launch its beta testing round in November.
Lorena James | Z Spools
James, a Davidson College student in the class of 2021, is the founder of Buffalo, N.Y.-based startup Z Spools. The company uses zebra and quagga mussel shells, which are the two most prominent invasive species in the Great Lakes, and turns them into biodegradable 3D printing filament. Her work has earned her both the High School Erie Hack 2017 Grand Prize and the Davidson College Avinger Scholarship Award, as well as some press.
Treven Stoddard | Genubot
Stoddard, a recent UNCC graduate who studied in the College of Computing and Informatics, developed Genubot, an online app powered by machine learning that helps calculus students discover specific areas they could improve. Genubot got the attention of judges during the the 2018 Charlotte Venture Challenge, where he won the student pitch. That wasn't his only big win; Stoddard received the Blue Diamond Award for Student Innovators in 2019.
Andrew Ashur, Adrian Mayans and David Danielson | Lucid Drone
This trio of Davidson students are behind the popular local startup Lucid Drone, which uses, well, drone tech to help customers better clean the outside of buildings. In 2019 alone, the company was featured in TechCrunch; closed a $150,000 seed round and participated in the fabled Y Combinator accelerator.
Ciara May | Rebundle
May is in the unique position as both entrepreneurial leader and entrepreneur herself. A Venture for America fellow, she also serves as program coordinator for entrepreneurship at Johnson C. Smith University. And then, of course, there's her side hustle, Rebundle. It's a manufacturer (the first of its kind!) of closed-loop synthetic, recycled hair — and its product keeps wearers from having allergic reactions. Her work at Rebundle earned her first place at Venture for America's SPaT (Side-Project-a-Thon), which was hosted by Techstars.
Margaret Kocherga | Light and Charge Solutions
A few things to know about Kocherga: she's a Ph.D. Candidate in NanoScale Science at UNCC's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She's taken to the stage, presenting her work at the 2019 Charlotte Venture Challenge. She's participated in the regional I-Corps program and will be moving onto its national program (after already presenting her work there). Upon completion of allll of that, Kocherga will help run Light and Charge Solutions, a company that provides "a solution to the need for more efficient, reliable, and tailorable materials for the electronics display and OLED TV market."
Tristin Fields | Loose Lace
A UNCC senior in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Fields has developed Loose Lace, an application for both marketing and socializing for those in sneaker culture. He presented his idea at the 2019 Charlotte Venture Challenge, where he won second place in the student pitch for $500.
