ADmission Scholarship Program

Round 2 Entreprenuers

Meet the entrepreneurs accepted to Round 2 of the ADmission Scholarship Program!

With over 400 applicants, we chose these individuals because of their desire to kickstart or build on their growth in the ecommerce industry. Their passion and drive were evident in their application. 

Catch them in 30 days better equipped to achieve their own dreams in Digital Marketing or better equipped to help others achieve theirs. Plus, you might catch some of them as official CTC employees!

We asked each of them an important question: "What makes you passionate about ecommerce and how will this program impact your life?"

Read below to learn more about these amazing individuals and why they applied.

Shayna Eshmoil

Los Angeles, CA

Beginner Cohort

My family business is trying to move online due to the pandemic and the opportunity to learn from experts would be so helpful as I try to start a digital presence and ad strategy for the small company.

Kristen Roush

Whitehall, New York

Beginner Cohort

Right now, I am more passionate than ever about ecommerce. I want to help other businesses as much as I can and I want to help others make money online as well. We all need all the support we can get. This program will definitely impact my life. It will help me and my children to move forward so I can give them a better life. Thank you for your consideration!

Mayorca Young

Houston, TX

Beginner Cohort

I just launched my online portable blender company and I want to learn how to effectively create campaigns that will help me bring in sales consistently. This program will give me the confidence that I need to grow my online business and reach the right customers on autopilot. Furthermore, I see this as an opportunity to sharpen my skillset and learn from industry leaders. My drive and hunger to learn are unparalleled. This program will get me one step closer to do what I was meant to do.

Maria Gates

Los Angeles, CA

Beginner Cohort

I want to learn more about how to run a successful and high converting Facebook ad campaigns. It has been very tricky trying to learn this on my own, so I am open to learning from the pros. I want to help my business as well as help other businesses too.

Danielle Brabson

Chandler, Arizona

Beginner Cohort

E-commerce allows us to build and drive relationships directly with our customer base. Running our ads allows us to own the data we learn and creates more opportunities for us to connect and build trust. The program will help me learn how to do that more effectively and efficiently so we can be successful.

Tina Vargas

Los Angeles, CA

Beginner Cohort

I was furloughed due to covid and am pivoting into a different industry to take charge of my life. My friend and I started a brand enhancement business to manage their social, e-comm, ads, etc, and have two local LA brands we are representing. I want to make this a career!

Ramona Ferreyra

Bronx, New York

Beginner Cohort

As a social entrepreneur, I recognize the importance of marketing. Before COVID-19 80% of our sales took place at pop-up events. Since May 2020 we shifted to online sales. We have invested in a new website and some ads. However, we are failing to reach a broad audience. We are not getting sales and just had our worst holiday season since launching.

If we are unable to master marketing we might fail as a company. Our sales support community advocacy efforts in the South Bronx focused on public housing, public transportation and criminal justice reform. We designate a percentage of our sales to support organizations tackling social and environmental inequity. If we were to fail the good that we do, will stop.

Ruijao Zhang

Los Angeles, CA

Beginner Cohort

I co-founded one e-commerce project with the other on the way in the era of Covid-19. With some brief training in Facebook ads, I independently ran several Facebook ad campaigns for my own products. However, with a relatively small budget, I want to increase the conversion rate for my ad campaigns. I believe this program can sharpen my Facebook ads skills and help me to tackle some difficulties I encountered in my journey.

Roberto Kattan

Miami, Florida

Beginner Cohort

I was born in a family of dedicated entrepreneurs. Although entrepreneurship runs through my blood, I have thus far only reached "wantrepeneurship" status. Coming to the U.S when I was 18 was the biggest blessing in my life, but that came with many responsibilities. Those responsibilities limited my abilities to pursue many of my dreams, learning Ecom and launching a business has always been one of them. At 31, I find myself itching to learn the necessary tools to launch a successful Ecom business and pull through on my dream. I am a dedicated hard worker whose drive and hunger to learn are unparalleled. This program will get me one step closer to do what I was meant to do.

Emily Larson

South Dakota

Beginner Cohort

As part of a small, local business, I'm passionate about ecommerce because I'm so close to every aspect of this shop. I am deeply invested in the success of this business and understand the impact that a strong online presence has on marketing today. I'm also new to the marketing realm and am looking to learn as much as I can. This program will facilitate that learning for me and allow me to bring new skills back to the small business I love.

Janice Holt

New York, New York

Beginner Cohort

I believe it will impact my life because it offers me a range of opportunities that will allow me to be able to achieve my marketing goals and increase my sales. Also what it can provide my customers, which will greatly affect the bottom line. The skills from this program I will be able to not only use it for me but in assisting others with their digital marketing, e.g., the Board that I am on could use it to augment the organization's awareness, which would help with increased donations. This professional development provides me with another marketable skill set.

Rani Navarro-Force

Wathena, Kansas

Beginner Cohort

I am passionate about ecommerce because this is another source of revenue for my business. Due to COVID, more people are shopping online for even basic necessities. Because my business has relied on customers coming in for purchases I really need to figure out how to use social media to generate sales. This is where the money is - and I need to figure it out to survive.

Nawaz Rahman

Miami, Florida

Intermediate Cohort

I've started several e-commerce stores before and realized I needed more experience in the marketing aspect to make a successful e-commerce store. So I took on media buying at an agency and work with some e-commerce clients there. I tend to like the branding aspect of e-commerce where a person's DNA is left on a great product that millions of people can enjoy. At my agency, I primarily run high ticket offers which aren't as brand refined and tend to be very click funnel type offers. So in contrast to those, I prefer the refined advertising of e-commerce brands and I also like the idea of scaling with more products than human time that is associated with high ticket funnels and backend offers.

Amit Shah

Joshua Tree, California

Intermediate Cohort

At some point, I'd like to either have my own DTC product that will fund my retirement. For me, what excites me is working for/with brands that are doing their part to give back to the world, via building engaging products and communities (take Mate the Label and Not Pot as examples)

The landscape of digital marketing is changing rapidly, and there's always something new to learn (or going back in a time machine and learning more traditional ways of marketing) - learning and curiosity are the two things I value and enjoy the most about our world.

Karley Ice

Rockville, Maryland

Intermediate Cohort

I'm passionate about ecommerce because I can see a direct impact from what I implement, test, and create for my clients. The tools available for ecommerce businesses through catalogs, DPAs, and now on-platform shopping and Commerce Manager intrigue me. I love that there is always something to learn and experiment with to drive impact for my clients to help them grow. I'd love to join this program to challenge myself with my own current beliefs and ideas. I love finding new ways to learn and this program may be one of the best places to learn from others.

Tamara Bascom

New York, New York

Intermediate Cohort

I've worked both on the agency side and the brand side in the ecommerce space and have found that there often differing KPIs and objectives to achieve the same goal. I've heard amazing things about CTC and would love the opportunity to learn from people in the space that aren't so narrowed in paid media knowledge but how paid can be leveraged for top-down business goals. Agency life taught me how to leverage paid to hit growth targets but now, being on the brand side, it's more apparent that paid shouldn't be a siloed engine but should be used and built to work in tangent with retention, b2b/wholesale and brand strategies across multiple channels. So I'm always in the pursuit of bettering my skills and knowledge in the space, and figuring out measurable ways on how paid media and ecomm strategies can/should be used to affect the business at large.

Amanda Basse

Providence, Rhode Island

Intermediate Cohort

I love e-commerce because you can create an experience for your shopper through customizations, providing a service or product that solves a need, and create life long relationships with customers through retention. In the new world of covid, these custom actions and delivery of service have become competitive differentiators. With businesses struggling to not only gain brand dominance, but businesses also face the rising costs of CPAs. This course will give me the competitive edge to help businesses not only survive, but thrive in this new market. This is more than a scholarship for me, this is an opportunity to reach hundreds of businesses over the years, resulting in an economic impact beyond the investment of the scholarship.

Edwin Quinones Jr.

Clifton, New Jersey

Intermediate Cohort

I think the combination of working with numbers, the idea of creating systems and strategies, and the exhilaration of seeing them come together successfully and profitably, is what makes me passionate about ecommerce. Figuring out a hard problem is a great feeling!

I just took a huge step of faith and launched my digital marketing agency. If your TMYD Program is even half as good as it sounds, there's no question in my mind and in my heart that my life will be impacted for the better.

Tina Hsu

Medford, Oregon

Intermediate Cohort

E-commerce and Facebook ads are making it easier for anyone to be an entrepreneur. My goal is to elevate minority-run businesses and nonprofits doing good in the world.

Currently, I work with a nonprofit and a small business owner to run ads, but I am hitting a ceiling in terms of strategy mentorship. Ads get decent traffic, but they are not converting well. I hope this program provides me more knowledge and skills to effectively help small businesses succeed and nonprofits to deepen their impact in communities.

Colin Clark

Bellingham, Washington

Intermediate Cohort

I have a passion for empowering small business owners, and I believe ecommerce is a life-changing opportunity for many of them. The ability to sell their products all over the country and the world allows them to massively increase the size of their business and the number of people they can impact. For me personally, learning how effectively run digital advertising for ecommerce companies will give me an extremely valuable skill set that aligns with what I find interesting, and more importantly align with my personal mission to empower individuals and families through entrepreneurship and business.

Don Le

Washington, DC

Intermediate Cohort

I am currently launching a mental health app created for minorities. Reaching and resonating with this demographic is a challenge. I want to learn from this program to be able to provide our service and value to those that need it most!

Ben Hart

Idaho

Intermediate Cohort

I started out with ecom in 2000. I then went on my own and built an ecom brand to 4.5 million/yr. But we got crushed in the recession. We made a lot of mistakes but changed into more of a supplier to retailers and private label. We've been trying to get back into ecommerce and build it back up. I believe ecom allows for massive efficiencies for customers and the ability to create amazing personal interactions between customer and business.

Fernando Cortez

Livermore, California

Intermediate Cohort

Ecommerce change my life in a big way. Three years ago I fell into a huge depression after an injury, which made me stop pursuing my future career as a Firefighter. During the time I was in a dark place I learned about ecommerce/digital marketing and fell in love. Since then it’s been an amazing journey learning and growing every single day.

Archit Batlaw

Austin, Texas

Intermediate Cohort

I’m passionate about growing better for you and sustainable brands. Ecomm has been the focus of my entire career so far, and it’s the most powerful and democratized way to build a business that is actually good for the world - against incumbents. I see DTC 3.0 as leading the way to a sustainable future where products are actually good for people and the Earth.

Aditya Bandodker

Yorktown, Virginia

Intermediate Cohort

My passion for e-commerce comes from the freedom that E-Commerce can give. With E-Commerce, I know that my results are directly related to the scope of how much responsibility I take, my efforts, willingness to learn, grow, improve, the ability to utilize creativity + intelligence, and adapt. These qualities in one word are what I refer to as perseverance. E-Commerce allows me to use my creativity as well as analytical thinking which fulfills both aspects of myself. E-Com is a way of taking responsibility for my own life in the aspect of finances and that responsibility is where my passion comes from. I believe this program will take my skills and understanding to another level and allow me to improve myself and learn from the best of the best when it comes to E-Commerce. I also believe the environment of people at such a level will change the way I live my life and inspire me to become a better version of myself. Ultimately, this program will give me the opportunity to be empowered with the proper tools, techniques, and perspectives to fully actualize my potential.

Nico Johanis

Kansas City, Missouri

Intermediate Cohort

I believe there is a tremendous potential for increased worldwide prosperity through eComm.

I look at simple solutions like Instacart that has the power to change the way people organize their lives for the better, or a company like Warp + Weft that offers consumers a sustainable option and raises awareness for important causes.

I don't think these things would be economically viable if these companies were geographically limited and didn't have access to a huge remote market of engaged consumers that can search out what they really want and find it online.

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On the consumer side, we have the power to demand change, every search we make on Google or ad we click on Facebook is a vote for our integrity, our point of view, how we would want the world to be. Do we need fair trade tennis shoes? Well, you can't find that in a Kohl's (I've asked...) but the internet can help.

All at once, buying what we need becomes so intuitive and easy that we can start to look towards what we would want to see the world become.

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My ability to get results for clients is how I support my wife and 2-year-old. So on a personal level, I believe that the ADmission program will make a huge difference for us as a family and for the clients I serve.