SALT LAKE CITY — The family of the late Utah tech entrepreneur Erin Valenti has partnered with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah to establish a scholarship for women entrepreneurs starting in the 2020-21 academic year.
Valenti’s family, friends and supporters gave more than $100,000 to fund the Erin Valenti Women in Entrepreneurship Scholarship following her death in California in October 2019. The money and future donations will be held in an endowment to provide annual scholarships to promising female entrepreneurs at the U.
“Erin was an inspiration to many, and we hope this scholarship fund will inspire young women like her for many years to come,” her husband, Harrison Weinstein, said in a statement announcing the scholarship. “She would have loved to work with these entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and help them find success in business and life. Her spirit will live on through these scholarships.”
The first recipients of the scholarship were also announced in the statement. They are Justine Nguyen and Sydney Hewitt, both first-year, pre-business majors, and Ella Bachorowski, a first-year, pre-design major.
All three are participating in the Lassonde Founders program, which is designed for young and active entrepreneurs to live, study and launch together at Lassonde Studios, a five-story dorm and innovation space managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.
Valenti, 33, was the founder and CEO of Tinker, a product development agency and venture studio. She was also actively involved with Utah’s Women Tech Council and founded SLC Tech Startups, a professional networking group in Utah, where she organized events that provided the opportunity to learn, create and connect.