If you wrote the story of Paige DeAngelo's life so far, it would be in mascara.
Start with dance. Ever since she was a toddler watching her older sisters in dance class in Haddon Township, New Jersey, she loved it. By age 8, she was competing and putting on her own makeup. Lots of mascara there.
Then there's the weather. Clouds, the stars, it was all magical. In elementary school, her mother took her to meet her idol, the glamorously camera-ready Fox29 weather anchor Sue Serio. Even more mascara.
By the time she entered Drexel University, this Jersey girl knew she wanted to combine her loves — weather, performing, and makeup — for a career as a television meteorologist. She landed a co-op reporting on weather and sustainability for Drexel TV.
But then she started thinking more about what she was reporting.
"I'm preaching to be sustainable, but I realized how much I was wasting," DeAngelo said. "I thought maybe I could apply this to myself and find reusable makeup. At least mascara, because I use mascara everyday."
But she couldn't find a product that fit the bill for quality or safety.
So DeAngelo made her own.
And now that mascara — and her mascara story — just might be taking her around the world.
In early May, the Drexel senior will be one of 18 young people worldwide to compete in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) virtual semifinals. If she makes it through, DeAngelo and her Aer Cosmetics will represent the United States as one of only six contestants in the final international competition in South Africa. Earlier this month, she placed first in the North American competition, after winning the Philadelphia regional. Overall, 1,250 students across the globe have competed.
Her invention — waste-free mascara — is solid tablets of mascara in a reusable case. The mascara is activated by fluid and applied with a wand. The user never has to buy a new case, just tablet refills.
"Paige really exemplifies what we're looking for, not only as a student entrepreneur, but as a person, as well," said Vinit Dhruva, board member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, the international association that sponsors the GSEA.
"It's about the journey," said Dhruva, the president of DFW Motel Supplies & Textiles. "As entrepreneurs, we all have journeys."
For DeAngelo, 22, that journey started with $20 and a trip to CVS.
After her sustainability epiphany, she bought various ingredients, wrecked some kitchen tools, but — voila! — ended up with a prototype mascara.
"I wasn't just thinking, 'Oh, I'll use this for myself,' because I knew it was a problem," she said. "I wanted other people to have it. So I looked into Drexel's resources."
She learned the Close School of Entrepreneurship had a co-op program — prestigious and hard to get in — that would provide a $15,000 scholarship, office space, other start-up support, and several months to turn her product into a business. Forget that she was still a journalism major and had only a couple of weeks to put her pitch together. She decided to give it a shot.
She got the co-op.
Despite some nerves, DeAngelo had a secret weapon: her "Popou" — her grandfather Luigino DeAngelo and his absolute faith in her.
"My other family members were probably a little scared because they knew I didn't have any experience," she said. "He was the one that was like, 'You're gonna do this! You're gonna see it through. Just keep that peace with you.'"
That was her grandfather's big thing — trying to bring peace to the world, she said. A World War II veteran and an inventor himself, he helped her come up with her company's symbol — an olive branch for peace.
"He wanted me to do it more than anyone else," she said.
For the aspiring entrepreneur, there were hits and misses.
She teamed with a cosmetic chemist company to come up with an improved formula that was vegan, organic and cruelty-free. A good move.
At first, she intended to market her mascara as water soluble. Not so good.
DeAngelo's siblings, along with her sorority sisters and fellow members of her Drexel dance team, had been supportive product testers. So when her sister Nicole was invited to a wedding, Paige offered to do her makeup, using her Aer Cosmetics mascara. The results were lovely, until Nicole teared up at the ceremony.
"It was a nightmare. She called me. She was like, 'Paige, there's paint all over me!' I was like, 'Oh, sorry. Thanks for that research.'"
After that, she found a fluid solution that makes the mascara waterproof — as well as customizable. A small amount of solution gives a more natural look. More creates dramatic lash effects.
Charles Sacco, associate dean of Drexel's Close School, said Paige is part of a growing business breed: social entrepreneurs.
"It's not always about making money," Sacco said. "It's about having an impact, and we're seeing a lot more of that within this generation of kids. They see they've got to figure out how to make the world a better place through novel solutions to difficult problems."
On Veterans Day 2022, her beloved Popou died. He was 95. DeAngelo's friends gave her a little crystal angel. When she went to San Diego for the GSEA North American final in early March, she brought the angel and a photograph of her grandfather.
"Every time before I go to bed or before I compete, I talk to him," she said. "He's always in my head, especially when it gets hard."
She'll be taking his memory with her as she faces the international portion of the GSEA competition. The winner takes home $50,000.
Paige said she plans to keep working on the project after she graduates. Up until her grandfather's last moments, she said, he was telling her "just go for it and figure it out. Everything is figure-out-able."
