Academy Senior Ivy Tsang Thrives in USC's Entrepreneurial Environment

Tsang explained that while growing up in Hong Kong, her parents and the Hong Kong education system pushed her to be forward thinking with her career and to have a “growth mindset.” 

“The growth mindset is really important in terms of always pushing yourself, motivating yourself to learn more, and being wrong. It keeps you really open-minded, makes you really flexible with whatever comes along,” Tsang remarked. 

Tsang (pictured in the middle) was drawn to USC for its forward-thinking programs, specifically the USC Iovine and Young Academy which is nationally recognized for its innovative educational model that integrates the arts and design, technology, entrepreneurship and communication.  

FROOT, AN ALL-FEMALE FOUNDING STARTUP

Within IYA, Tsang has also been working on a startup, Froot.  

Froot is “based around a platform that supports women who struggle with discomfort or pain arising from poorly fitted bras. We are also around the idea of empowering and educating women around bra fitting, bra sizing, and we hope to break down barriers for purchasing comfortable, cost-effective and attractive bras,” Tsang explained.

Froot’s all-female founding team is comprised of four IYA students: Tsang, Ashara Wilson, Abigail Africa and Nina Cragg (pictured left to right). 

It was Nina who came up with the idea in their second year.  

“I remember us going to lunch one day, and she was just going off about it. And I was just like ‘who is this girl talking about bras?’” Tsang recalled. “Two years later, we’re on a team trying to turn this into reality.” 

When asked if she saw herself ending up at IYA, laying the groundwork for Froot, Tsang said no, but the program has become the ideal launchpad for her startup.  

As she explained, IYA teaches their students not to start out with solutions, but to first “seek out the problems that are at hand in the world.” Froot “focuses on a really real, imminent problem, and 50 percent of the world faces it.” Having an addressable market this large “is a really important part of why we want to do this.” 

So far, Froot has secured senior startup funding by winning IYA’s Iovine and Young Prize, and Tsang hopes to see the startup blossom. 

JOIN USC'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM

For incoming students, Tsang advised that the key to success is developing a growth mindset, and that “entrepreneurship is a really good tool” for that.  

“USC in general has a really good ecosystem for entrepreneurship. My journey at USC has been so fulfilling, mainly, honestly, because of the organizations and clubs that I’ve been a part of,” Tsang said. 

Tsang also highlighted her experience in LavaLab, a student-run incubator. “You see all these students piling in with all of their ideas, trying to work together to build something great, and it’s really inspiring.” 

But don’t worry if you can’t get into these incubators — Tsang explained that entrepreneurship is everywhere in USC. She is also in a pro-bono consulting agency, Los Angeles Community Impact (LACI). “Even when we deal in the space of NGOs, we’re still looking for opportunities with entrepreneurship.” When consulting, “all these ideas are arising and students see that opportunity to carry it out, and I think that’s very empowering.” 

“So, I would really recommend, really encourage, new students to just dive head into the entrepreneurship ecosystem in USC.”  

To learn more about Ivy, check out her LinkedIn. 

About the Author

Elizabeth Sun is a transfer student and a junior at USC studying business administration. As a digital content summer intern for the USC Hong Kong International Office, Sun hopes to pursue entrepreneurship and digital marketing.