HISD Student Entrepreneurs win $500k in Seed Money from Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson

Inside NRG Stadium on May 20, dozens of teenagers stepped onto a stage wearing branded merchandise to pitch their startup ideas before a panel of executives and investors.

Among them was Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, whose G-Unity Foundation partnered with Houston ISD four years ago to launch the G-Unity Business Lab. The initiative culminates each year in “Hustle Tank,” a competition designed to expose students from historically underserved communities to entrepreneurship through mentorship, business training, and startup development.

By the end of the evening, three startup teams secured access to a collective $500,000 in seed capital and business support. The funds will be available through a milestone-based funding program, allowing participants to draw resources as they execute their business plans and achieve key development goals. Additionally, each team has a $5,000 cash award awaiting them at age 18.

“In schooling, we retain information long enough to pass midterms and then move on to the new information,” Jackson told the crowd from the stage. “This program is not about that. It’s about internalizing information that they can use for life.”

 

 

 

 

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The Incubation Stage

The initiative is developed in partnership with HISD’s New Education System (NES) campuses including Kashmere, North Forest, Washington, Wheatley, Worthing, and Yates high schools. Participants received “MBA-level instruction” from accountants, entrepreneurs, and business coaches, while also being paid as student employees.

Biweekly sessions stretched across 28 weeks, with students refining their concepts for two hours after school, researching market gaps, scaling strategies, and brand identity. Between pitch decks and prototype revisions, many said their ambitions evolved past the financial incentive.

“My mindset changed drastically throughout this experience,” said Christian Barrera Diaz, Chief Financial Officer of Wraply, a prosthetics apparel and accessories company developed with fellow students from Worthing High School. “It helped me grow closer to the people around me and expand my ideas.”

At the root of their business ideas lie deeply personal experiences of mental health struggles, a rapidly changing AI workforce, and disability and accessibility. 

“This program prepares students to navigate real-world challenges they may not have been equipped to encounter before, but will face beyond the classroom.” Dr. Patrice Allen, who has led the program for the past four years, said. 

The Winning Ventures 

The winning ventures reflected a generation growing up alongside rapid technological and social change.

The first-place team, Building Literacy and AI Skills for Teens, or BLAST, emerged from Yates High School’s film program and focused on helping young creatives learn artificial intelligence tools for the entertainment industry. The platform focuses on accessibility for people across the experience and ability spectrums. 

"AI is like almost a part of everything now. We teach those who are creative and neurodivergent to use AI to their advantage,” BLAST’s Chief Marketing Officer Jaedis Brown said. 

 

Second-place winner Tender Hearts, also from Yates High School, created a pet adoption platform focused on mental health and emotional support animals. The platform includes an AI chatbot called Supportive Intelligent Mentor for Better Animals, or SIMBA—named after the school’s lion mascot—that answers user questions.

Meanwhile, Worthing High School’s Wraply sought to address a niche they said was rarely considered by mainstream fashion brands: customizable prosthetic decorations and apparel designed to allow users greater self-expression. The idea itself came from Chief Executive Officer Esmeralda Castaneda, who was inspired by a TikTok video of a fully functional wood carving prosthetic.

Finding the ‘Hustle in Life’

Behind the program is Allen, a former HISD graduate, educator, and administrator who helped develop its curriculum, drawing on her MBA and instructional background. Alongside Executive Director of the G-Unity Foundation Elizabeth Martin in 2021, she created a 10-lesson business course inspired by Jackson’s book “Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter”, translating concepts such as branding, negotiation, and capital into lessons for teenagers.

Allen now also serves as HISD’s Director 2 of Special Programs, overseeing initiatives aimed at expanding access to enrichment opportunities and community partnerships for students in underserved neighborhoods, including no-cost domestic and international travel. 

 

She described her work as an opportunity to alter students’ trajectories by teaching what she called a “hustle in life,” or the ability to produce economic opportunity through collaboration and skill-building

Julissa Rocha reviewing her feedback from guest judges at the May 7 practice pitch at The Ion District’s Microsoft offices.

That mission has extended beyond high school campuses. Julissa Rocha, an eighth grader at Hartman Middle School and the first middle schooler to compete in Hustle Tank, pitched SnugBug Co., which creates heated and insulated products for unhoused people during winter. She joined Hustle Tank through 713 Rocket Studios, a program partnered with Space Center Houston and Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation.

Her mother, Gina Campos, said the experience transformed her daughter’s self-assurance and solidified her future ambitions in business, law, and aerospace.

“She’s more confident,” Campos said. “It’s really helping her figure out what she wants to do when she finishes school.”

Bria Grisby being interviewed by FOX 26 for her award-winning Comcast documentary of her journey as an entrepreneur and student. (Courtesy Bria Grisby)

The program’s ambitions are also reflected in alumni like Bria Grisby, who won third place in the 2023 competition for her “generational wealth starter kits” while a student at Washington High School. During her time at G-Unity, she was featured in a Telly Award-winning Comcast documentary that highlighted her balance in entrepreneurship and school and increased visibility to her artistic talent. 

The program’s ambitions are also reflected in alumni like Bria Grisby, who won third place in the 2023 competition for her “generational wealth starter kits.” During her time at G-Unity, she was featured in a Telly Award-winning Comcast documentary "Hustle from the Lab" that highlighted her balance in entrepreneurship and school and increased visibility to her artistic talent. 

Today, she manages BG Customs, a custom clothing and apparel design business alongside her career as a tattoo artist. Her work has earned collaborations with the Houston Texans and the Houston Rockets—a roster she hopes to complete with a partnership alongside the Houston Astros.

She returns to mentor current participants, offering motivational speeches and practical guidance on sustaining a business after the applause fades from the competition.

”Whether they win or they don't win, it doesn't stop from there,” Grisby said. ​​"You can grow from this business, but you have to put in the work at the end.”

 

What’s Next for HISD Winners?

For this year’s finalists, the competition marked the start of new possibilities of students envisioning futures in entrepreneurship that they had not previously seen around them.

Lucia Rivera, Chief Executive Officer of Tender Hearts, said her Tender Hearts team intended to pursue the company regardless of where they placed and hopes to partner with Houston Humane Society, Citizens for Animal Protection, and other local dog shelters to actualize their vision.

Meanwhile, members of BLAST and Wraply hope to use the resources to refine their marketing strategy and increase brand recognition. 

As many of the winners prepare to graduate, they all want to follow their entrepreneurial aspirations alongside college, with Lucia Rivera planning to study veterinary studies, Taylor Woods and Julannie Pichardo studying nursing, Jaiden Harvey studying supply chain management, and Arjai Williams studying film. 

Next fall, another group of Houston students will step onto the Hustle Tank stage to make their case before investors and executives. Grisby, now on the other side of the process, offered simple advice to those considering applying: “Try it.” 

“With 50 Cent giving this gift out, people should take advantage of it while it’s here and while it’s still growing,” Grisby said.