Pearson Smith, left, and Harrison Faulkner (photos courtesy of UTC Theatre Co.)
A social entrepreneurship team comprised of two University of Tennessee at Chattanooga theatre students has been selected to compete in the Hult Prize 2025 United States National Competition—a contest challenging students to develop innovative business solutions for global issues.
Senior Pearson Smith—UTC’s first theatre entrepreneurship major—and junior Harrison Faulkner, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in marketing with a minor in theatre, will represent the University at the Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 21-22.
Their social venture, The Wellness Stage, is designed to foster emotional healing and leadership skills for youth in foster care through theatre arts.
Smith, who also is minoring in both education and entrepreneurship, hails from Ringgold, Georgia, while Faulkner is a native of Signal Mountain, Tennessee. The two recently appeared in the UTC Theatre Co.’s production of “Bright Star.”
The Hult Prize Challenge tasks student teams with creating for-profit businesses that drive global change, aligning with at least one United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. Each year, participants develop ventures centered around a specific theme, competing through campus, regional, national and global stages.
The ultimate prize? $1 million in seed funding to bring their venture to life.
Founded in 2009, the Hult Prize is the world’s largest student social entrepreneurship competition. Out of 10,000 teams from more than 100 countries that started in the 2025 competition, only 750 startups worldwide have advanced to their respective national competitions.
Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship Thomas Lyons, the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and executive director of UTC’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said The Wellness Stage was chosen for the national finals through a competitive selection process that included submitting a business model and a four-minute pitch video.
Smith and Faulkner will compete against 64 other teams from across the U.S. for a chance to advance to the global finals later this year.
“This is a remarkable accomplishment by Pearson and Harrison,” Lyons said. “They are very deserving, as they have spent the past year working hard to develop their idea into an opportunity to add value by using their skillset to address a challenging social problem and then crafting their pitch.”
Smith has benefited from the guidance of both Lyons and Department of Theatre faculty member Kristin Nalley through her theatre entrepreneurship capstone course. She has also been mentored by Mike Bradshaw, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Smith and Faulkner’s upcoming travel to the Boston area is sponsored by the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship, which promotes entrepreneurship across the UTC campus.
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UTC Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Pearson Smith (as Judy Bernly), left, Katie Mullins (as Violet Newstead) and Harrison Faulkner (as Franklin Hart Jr.) in the February 2024 UTC Theatre Co. production of “9 to 5 the Musical.” Photo courtesy of UTC Theatre Co.
