Loyola student entrepreneur receives $50,000 innovation award
Charles Engler, ’27, a finance major and innovation and entrepreneurship minor at Loyola University Maryland, received a Pava LaPere Innovation Award and $50,000 to support his business startup, Luminova Beauty. The startup is the 21-year-old’s third since he became interested in business at age 14.
“Charles is a serial entrepreneur whose success with Luminova will not be his last,” said Wendy Bolger, founding director of Loyola’s Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which nurtures student innovators through education, hands-on experiences, and creative experimentation. “We were thrilled when he decided to join us at Loyola and are lucky to have the chance to support his entrepreneurial development through his minor and the resources of the Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.”
As a teenager in Annapolis, Engler learned about stock market investing from his father and books on the topic. After months of study, he developed and sold stock market investing guides and was featured by WTOP News in 2021. His second venture launched in 2022, where he advised investors in groups and one on one.
“For my first business, one of my mottos was, ‘Be your own boss,’” Charles said. “At 14, learning how to trade stocks and not work under a manager at a retail store, for example, has always stuck with me. I always preferred to work for myself. I want to see how far I can go.”
After observing his younger sister’s interest in skin care products, Engler worked with Chinese manufacturers to develop two products, a red-light therapy wand and turmeric cream, and launched Luminova Beauty. He transferred to Loyola as a sophomore to learn how to grow his startup at the university’s Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
“If I want to do anything business related, Loyola is the place to be. The university has an amazing business school,” he said. “It’s like when you’re playing tennis, as long as you can trust there’s someone on the other side of the net, then you’re always going to have a game going on. That’s what I found at Loyola. Wendy is always there to support. She’s always there to help me out in any way she can.”
Engler received the Pava LaPere Innovation Award from TEDCO, which works to develop technology businesses in Maryland. The state-funded award is named after the late Pava LaPere, a business leader in Baltimore who served on the Simon Center’s advisory board.
“The award represents countless hours of hard work and perseverance and the mental fortitude I poured into this idea,” Engler said. “I want to disrupt the beauty industry and challenge these major brands that put such a hefty price tag on their products. It’s an opportunity I never would have had if it wasn’t for Loyola.”
As part of the award, Engler will present his business startup at TEDCO’s Maryland Student Venture Showcase on Feb. 18. He said he plans to use the $50,000 to accelerate Luminova Beauty product development, expand market research and advertising, and begin to sell products in retail stores.
Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management in Baltimore delivers an internationally recognized Jesuit business education. Recognized for its scholarship, ethical leadership, and tradition of excellence, the Sellinger School delivers a wide range of sought-after fields of study including nine undergraduate majors and 12 undergraduate minors as well as full-time, part-time, and fully online MBA and Master of Accounting programs.