Pitch Night Competition Champions Women Founders

On March 4, in honor of Women’s History Month, The Community Foundation Mission Investments Company hosted a Pitch Night celebrating entrepreneurship by and for women.

March 06, 2026
Five women stand together indoors, smiling at the camera. They are dressed in professional attire and appear to be at an event or conference in a gymnasium with people and chairs in the background.
Marlene Megos of Equate Education, Cassandra Hamer of Design Elementary, Christina Phillips of Puure, Tiffany Yu of GlowHopper, and Jeanine A. DeFalco of Mixta AI participated in the Women's History Month Pitch Night hosted by TCFMIC.

On March 4, in honor of Women’s History Month, The Community Foundation Mission Investments Company (TCFMIC) hosted a Pitch Night celebrating entrepreneurship by and for women.

More than 75 partners, investors, community leaders and entrepreneurs gathered at The Lab at ConnCORP as five women founders pitched their businesses to a panel of expert judges: Carlton Highsmith, ConnCORP founder and board chairman; Tanya Kelley, a financial business advisor with the Women’s Business Development Council; and Mostafa Analoui, director of M&T Bank Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Jeanine DeFalco of Mixta AI won the first-place prize of $4,000 for her business that identifies and develops learning and training resources.

A vendor hands a brown paper bag to a customer at an indoor market stall displaying bottles, soaps, and baked goods on wooden trays. Both people are smiling and interacting across the counter.

View photos from TCFMIC's Women's History Month Pitch Night.

PHOTO ALBUM HERE

Christina Phillips, who developed the organic lingerie business Puure, won second place and a prize of $2,500. Tiffany Yu won the third-place prize of $1,500 for her business GlowHopper, which maps Narcan availability.

A woman in a blue jacket speaks at a podium with microphones in a gymnasium, addressing an audience. The background features a white brick wall and part of a projection screen.

“I don’t know a single business owner who isn’t focused on civics – on making communities better,” said Secretary of the State of Connecticut Stephanie Thomas.

Nupur Garg, the founder of Pro-Patient Tech and the winner of the pitch competition in September, spoke about the powerful impact of the top prize. “It’s just an amazing, transformational thing,” she said.

Building inclusive economic growth.

Learn more about The Mission Investments Company.