Before graduating from Drexel University, College of Arts and Sciences alumna Paige DeAngelo ’23 turned a dorm room project into Aer Cosmetics – a sustainability-minded brand producing water-soluble, vegan mascara tablets in refillable tubes to cut plastic waste across the beauty industry.

A major turning point came when Paige applied for the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneurship Co-op, securing dedicated funding, hands-on mentorship and the resources to be her own boss.

Through late-night prototyping, iterative testing, and raising over $75,000 in grant funding across campus pitch competitions, Paige learned that resilience, curiosity and resourceful execution outweigh perfection every time. Today, as a full-time founder and mentor to current Drexel students, she reflects on how the Close School ecosystem helped her connect her passion with a lasting, global mission.

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