COM M U N I T Y
BY: SHARLA BARDIN
Thinking Outside the Bag
Technology Center Student Honored for Innovation, Entrepreneurship
M
ason Love has created a product that gives people the chance to showcase their business logo or other custom designs on wood. Love, 19, and his business are leaving an imprint in other ways, too. The student at Moore Norman Technology Center was a winner at last year’s Norman Innovation Challenge, which highlights business concepts and innovations from students at the center and the University of Oklahoma. Love, of Oklahoma City, is in the entrepreneurship program at the technology center. He said the win was a confidence boost, a great learning opportunity and a chance to generate more exposure for the business he calls Rusentic, which combines the words rustic and authentic. “I really wanted to get myself out there, get myself known and let people know what I’m doing and what I’m trying to achieve,” he said. The Norman Innovation Challenge is held by the Norman Economic Development Coalition and it features students from the technology center and OU, competing and pitching their busi16 | February 2020
ness concepts to judges. Love was the winner from the center with his product, which is a custom wooden bag tag that can be attached to purses, backpacks, gym bags or keychains. For the win, he received a trophy and $500, which he invested into his business. Love said the bag tag idea began to form after his class visited the Tom Love Innovation Hub at OU, which offers resources, equipment and space for innovation and entrepreneurship. Love learned more about using a laser cutter for materials and started to consider a product made of wood that could be customized using a laser cutter. Love said the tags combine his interest in carpentry and the enjoyment of creating an item with his own hands, as well as offering customers a unique product. A next step with his business is to create a website. Love also hopes to sell the product through Etsy and Facebook Marketplace. He alsot also wants to learn as much as
