March 21, 2022 – The Charlotte Hornets and Bank of America tonight announced entrepreneur Elizabeth Escobar and her bilingual job platform, Hay Trabajo, was selected as the winner of the Hornets Innovation Summit Presented by Bank of America and a $15,000 investment from the organization. The announcement of the winner was made during tonight’s game between the Hornets and New
April 23, 2021 – The Charlotte Hornets Foundation tonight announced entrepreneur Brandi Long and her product, The Jurse, was selected as the winner of the first-ever Hornets Innovation Summit and a $15,000 investment from the organization. The announcement of the winner was made at halftime of tonight’s game between the Hornets and Cavaliers, which was this season’s second Economic EmpowerMINT Night presented by Bank of America.
The Jurse, which is short for jacket-purse, describes itself as “fashion meets convenience” and transitions from a jacket to a purse, or vice versa, in less than 30 seconds. It also contains an additional pocket to store essentials such as keys, cellphone and cards that do not need to be removed during the jacket to purse transition. The Jurse was selected from five finalists by a panel of five judges: The Lonely Entrepreneur Founder & CEO Michael Dermer, Red Ventures Co-Founder & CEO Ric Elias, Hornets Sports & Entertainment Executive Vice