The Garage x Weinberg

The Garage is a community and physical space for every Northwestern student interested in entrepreneurship to learn, iterate, and grow. We offer students resources, programming, and mentorship designed to help build the skills and entrepreneurial mindset they need to succeed in any industry.

Students from across the University bring a wide range of diverse academic and personal experiences that enrich the entrepreneurial environment at The Garage through exposure to new ideas, ways of thinking and skill sets.

In the fall of 2022, there were over 90 Weinberg students participating in programs at The Garage, working on projects spanning an impressive range of industries. Below are a few student stories.

Alex Bahram, Weinberg ’23 & Gleb Blekher, Weinberg ’24

Alex Bahram and Gleb Blekher participated in The Garage’s summer pre-accelerator program, Jumpstart, and are current members of the Residency program. Alex was also a participant in the Fall 2022 cohort of The Garage’s revolutionary leadership development program for student founders, X-Factor.

Major: Economics

Project / Company: JupiterDX is building a platform for patients with chronic illnesses to share data with loved ones, care providers, and researchers.

The resources and the community at The Garage have been absolute game-changers for me. Having gone through Residency and Jumpstart, I can confidently say that there is no better place than The Garage to develop as an entrepreneur at Northwestern.“

Major: Economics

Minor: Computer Science & Entrepreneurship

Project / Company: JupiterDX is building a platform for patients with chronic illnesses to share data with loved ones, care providers, and researchers.

The Jumpstart program helped me to develop as a person, learn a lot of crucial insights about the startup world, and build connections. The Garage community itself is a welcoming place which makes you feel at home and makes you want to come back every day.”

Jack Burkhardt, Weinberg ’24

Jack is a member of The Garage’s Residency program, where he and his team are incubating their startup, Overture Games. They also participated in the Jumpstart program and won third place + $2,000 at the end-of-program Demo Day.

Major: Computer Science

Project / Company: Overture Games develops video games for music students that they play with their instrument.

Without the resources provided by the Garage, we would’ve had a lot more difficulty getting our startup off the ground. Whenever we need help or advice, there’s a Garage staff member or another community member who’s been in our shoes and is more than willing to help us out. Plus the relationships we create in the Garage community extend outside of just business — there are family events, outings, beach trips, and more! It’s one of the most memorable parts of being at Northwestern.”

Naomi Aisen, Weinberg ’23

Naomi is a member of the Propel program, The Garage’s program for female student entrepreneurs.

Major: Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS)

Project / Company: Gather is a passion project to empower university students to cook healthy and creative group meals in their college homes by providing a low-commitment meal kit delivery service, catering to college students’ sometimes unpredictable schedules.

The Garage’s Propel program has been an amazing experience as it has introduced me to knowledgeable individuals, provided me with constant advice and feedback, and exposed me to a wealth of resources. The Garage has truly been a guiding force as I began my entrepreneurial journey!”

Bella LeSage, Weinberg ’25

Bella is a participant in The Garage’s Residency program, where she is incubating her startup, hostU. She is also a participant in the Fall 2022 cohort of the X-Factor leadership development program.

Major: Economics and International Studies

Minor: Entrepreneurship & Business Institutions

Project / Company: hostU is a medium-term shared economy rental platform exclusive to college undergraduates, graduates, and faculty.

I am so grateful to be a part of The Garage’s community and entrepreneurial culture. The resources and mentorship I have received have enabled me to take my startup to the next level. The X-Factor program has completely transformed my personal development and leadership skills.”

Sofia Meléndez, Weinberg ’25

Sofia is a member of The Garage’s Residency program, incubating her startup, BearRoom. She and her team also participated in The Garage’s pre-accelerator program, Jumpstart.

Major: Computer Science

Project / Company: BearRoom is elevating the traditional tabletop experience by creating a space for people to play their favorite board games – transforming their phone into a controller and a tablet, laptop, or TV into the board.

The Garage is where all of your ideas come to fruition. With an extensive network of student entrepreneurs, professionals from different fields, and The Garage alumni and staff, The Garage is a space where you and your startup are celebrated in times of success, and elevated in times of failure. Being a part of the Garage as a Resident and through the Jumpstart program have been extremely rewarding experiences that have not only helped me develop my startup, but also evaluate what it means to lead a group of people united under the same goal.”

Weinberg Students at The Garage

Tinker Program:

Yujia Xie	Sahil Seth	Jordan Checkoff
Rohan Wedam	Dora Hu	Lauren McDonnell
Bryden Behrens	Zahra Hussain	Erica Zhou
Jin De Zhang	Jacob Pomerantz	Alex Meza
Vincent Yang	Laura Félix	Hannah Zhang
Mikhail Melnichuk	Roy Zhu	Naomi Aisen
Victor Rodriguez	Kellen Bryant	Emma Drisko
Abigail Coffey	Hailee Kim	Varoon Enjeti
Jacqueline Chui	Heidi Hazelrig	Tony Yang
Tom Choi	SeoRa Kim	Xamantha Laos Cueva
Sara Kurniawan	Jessica Li	Dhruv Patel
Sarah Talbert	Ilana Fingersh	Irena Liu
Kang Hyun Ki	James Carlin	Terry Chen
Adam Valiji	Emilio Alvarez	Austin Firestone
Jeremy Neto	Gerardo Perez	Kiran Moore
Sara Bouftas	Nam Vuong	Thomas Langford
Jack Moses	Ali Lee	Angel Pimentel
Theodore Horn	Austin Shi	Colleen Charchut
Dean Uata

Residency Program:

Abhishek Shah	Alessandra Mariano	Alex Bahram
Bella LeSage	Bryan Sanchez	Caitlin Smith
Jack Burkhardt	Jake Connell	Jasmine Javaheri
Lily Glaubinger	Maddie Morse	Mercedes Sandu
Shareef Jabba	Sofia Meléndez	Stanley Jia
Will Hoffmann	Zahra Hussain	Hannah Zhang
Arjun Kumar	Ashley Guo	Aspen Buckingham
Chris Reyes	David Bogner	Hanjune Lee
Jenna Kim	Jiayan Luo	Julia Chu
Minseo Kim	Noah Edelman	Samar Saleem
Steven Jiang	Tasneem Abdalla	Varun Goel

Jumpstart Program:

Ashley Guo	Aspen Buckingham	Gleb Blekher
Minseo Kim	Sofia Meléndez	Stanley Jia
Jack Burkhardt	Jake Connell	Mercedes Sandu
Steven Jiang	Alex Bahram

Propel Program:

Nicole Markus	Jessica Li	Sarah Talbert
Abigail Coffey	Erica Zhou	Alessandra Mariano
Naomi Aisen

X-Factor Program:

Bella LeSage

Alex Bahram

Stanley Jia

The Garage x Weinberg News

Weinberg Students win big at Jumpstart Demo Day

Weinberg Students featured in Chicago Inno’s ’25 Under 25′ List

JupiterDX Team Spotlight: Featuring Alex Bahram ’23 & Gleb Blekher ’24

Overture Games Team Spotlight: Featuring Mercedes Sandu ’24, Aspen Buckingham ’23, Jack Burkhardt ’24 & Steven Jiang ’24

BearRoom Team Spotlight: Featuring Sofia Meléndez ’25 & Minseo Kim ’25

Questions?

Email us at thegarage@northwestern.edu