Celebrating the 2026 Great Social Enterprise Pitch Winners
On Thursday, September 10 a sold-out crowd gathered at Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse in Lancaster as five entrepreneurs took the stage for the 2026 Great Social Enterprise Pitch.
After months of developing their businesses through the ASSETS’ Idea Incubator and advancing through Pitch & Brew, the Final Five had one last opportunity to share their ideas with the judges and community.
At the end of the night, three entrepreneurs took home the top prizes.
Congratulations to our winners!
First Place
Malia Burris, The Live Well Experience
Malia Burris earned first place with The Live Well Experience, which creates wellness experiences centered around mindfulness, creative expression and community.
Malia also received the $1,000 People’s Choice Award, selected by the audience and made possible by Bank of Bird-in-Hand.
Second Place
Susanna Wurtz, Mountain Laurel Sewing Company
Susanna Wurtz earned second place with Mountain Laurel Sewing Company, a sewing studio focused on education, garment design and production, alterations and sustainable practices.
Third Place
Michael Bradley, Aftercare Compass
Michael Bradley earned third place with Aftercare Compass, a web-based platform designed to help behavioral health and substance use treatment providers improve referrals, follow-up and continuity of care.
Five Entrepreneurs, One Final Stage
The winners were joined on stage by fellow finalists Julia Morrell of Custom Clean Commercial Cleaning Services and Sharon Allen-Spann of Coach Sharon.
Each of the Final Five brought a different business and perspective to the competition, with ideas addressing wellness, workforce development, behavioral health, leadership and sustainable fashion.
Meet the Final Five and learn more about the businesses behind their pitches.
Creativity Beyond the Competition
The evening also made space for music, spoken word and audience participation.
Courtni Frey of Jam Hot Radio set the soundtrack for the evening as DJ, while spoken word artist Sir Dominique Jordan took the stage to perform. Alexander Colon led an interactive Sidewalk Session, inviting the audience into the creative process as a beat was built live using their input.
The evening’s entertainment was curated in partnership with RippleHub, continuing a relationship that began when RippleHub co-founders Alexander Colon and Tabitha Benitez were Pitch finalists in 2024.
Meet the creatives who helped bring this year’s Pitch to life.
Thank You for Supporting the Pitch
Bringing the Great Social Enterprise Pitch to the stage takes support from businesses, organizations and people across our community.
Special thank you to Northwest Bank, our 2026 Anchor Partner, We’re grateful to all of our Community Partners for supporting the program and the entrepreneurs who participated this year. Thank you also to Food Quest for providing the evening’s soul food buffet and to Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse for hosting this year’s event.
And congratulations to all five finalists. The competition may be over, but the businesses they brought to the stage are just getting started.
