Sophia K. Russell inside the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship on Wednesday. Credit: Daniel Bush | Campus Photo Editor
Sophie Russell is just like any other Ohio State student. Except the fourth-year in Spanish and economics started her own company, and is moving on to bigger things.
Her decision to create her own start-up, a family-friendly ride share service that provides transportation for kids, was the beginning of a journey that led her to Ohio State’s Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship. Now, she’s a part of a team working to develop another startup, an app called Juggle, which offers babysitting, tutoring and pet sitting services.
“I’m honestly living the dream right now. [There’s] something new every day,” Russell said. “It’s exhilarating.”
The path to entrepreneurship was not linear, and began with a sports injury.
Russell said she has always been interested in starting her own business, and suffering a hip injury that ended her collegiate tennis career at Denison University encouraged her to adjust her priorities.
“I had this moment where I was like, what do I do with my life?” Russell said. “I have all this extra time, I need to dedicate it to something productive.”
Russell decided to follow through on an idea she had when she first left home for Dennison.
“My mom was, like, when you go to college who the heck is going to drive [your brothers] around?” Sophie says, “I said, ‘I wish you could just Uber them there.’ We thought it was a great idea.”
This conversation would spark Kid Kaddy, a ride-share service for kids.
When Russell transferred to Ohio State she became involved in the Keenan Center. In 2024, Kid Kaddy was named one of the winners in the center’s Best of Student Startups (BOSS) competition. Judged against a pool of more than 80 applicants, she won $5,000 dollars to aid in further developing the company.
The Keenan Center is a hub for student entrepreneurs at Ohio State, providing education, mentorship and business exploration opportunities, according to their website. Russell credits Ashley Lippincott, a program manager at the center, as a mentor who helped her get involved.
“She took me under her wing,” Russel said. “She introduced me to all the different programming the Keenan Center had to offer.”
Lippincott said Russell took full advantage of what the center provides for students.
“[Sophie] worked through all these programs as a student founder,” Lippincott said. “Through the connections that she’s gained, through the mentorship that she’s gained, she has really launched forward as an individual founder.”
As Russell continued to grow Kid Kaddy, she was approached by executive-in-residence at the Keenan Center, Greg Pugh, who she connected with through the Center’s Boost program for student entrepreneurs. He offered her an opportunity to work with local start-up Juggle, the app for babysitting, tutoring and pet sitting needs.
“I loved the idea”, Russell said. “I was at this point where… I really want to have the opportunity to work in a start-up that’s a little further along than my own.”
Russell has been working at Juggle since April of this year. She said the service can be a valuable tool for many families.
“Especially now in modern society where there is dual-working parents [or] single parents,” Russell said. “I really hope that Juggle is an asset to them.”
The service is also a great opportunity for students and community members who benefit from the flexible scheduling — Russell said there are no minimum required hours.
“We have some people who do it once a year, or during the summer, and we have some people who do it literally every single day and they love it,” Russell said.
Juggle often works with teachers, healthcare workers and graduate students, Rusell said.
Currently, Juggle actively services around 350 Columbus families and 270 sitters, with roughly 300 bookings a month in Columbus. Additionally, Juggle operates in five states across the Midwest.
Russell said the future of the app isn’t to “grow big,” but to continue to expand within its existing markets and offer more services to users. She said a part of the company mission is the community.
“[Families] don’t just feel like they’re getting a babysitter, but they feel like they have a connection to the university [and] to their community,” Russell said. “We’re hoping to build a village for families.”
Russell hopes to incorporate the Kid Kaddy service into Juggle in the future.
“Eventually, the goal would be adding in more services,” she said. “Driving would be a great example of that.”
In the meantime, Russell said Juggle is working to provide updates to their app to optimize user experience and implement new features.
“We have an amazing tech team,” Russell said.
Russell said she loves working at Juggle.
“I’m honestly loving the dream right now… [there’s] something new every day. It’s exhilarating,” Russell said.
She plans to work with Juggle full-time after graduation.
Russell says students interested in entrepreneurship should explore the center for opportunities.
“Entrepreneurship can sound really overwhelming,” Russell said. “The goal of [the Keenan Center] is not to have the billion-dollar idea. The goal is to learn, grow and understand what entrepreneurship is.”
Lippincott said it works with students from many academic disciplines, from students currently operating business to others still in the idea stage.
“We see entrepreneurs coming [from] all across campus… I think it’s really special that we’re able to connect with them in a really meaningful way,” Lippinocott said.
One program the center offers is the Best of Student Start-Ups (BOSS), the award Russell won. Students participate in workshops, engage with presentations from business founders and receive guidance as they develop their ideas through customer discovery.
At the end of the 1.5-month program, participants pitch their companies. Selected winners are awarded anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 to help get their start-up off the ground, according to the Keenan Center site.
Lippincott said students are encouraged to participate in the semester-long Boost camp, where each venture is paired one-on-one with a mentor who provides guidance as students work through the customer discovery, develop their business model development and market strategy.
Six entrepreneurs from the camp are selected for the year-long President’s Buckeye Accelerator (PBA) program, which offers each venture $50,000 in direct funding.
A number of summer and academic-term internships are also available through the Keenan Center, according to Program Manager Shannon Bradley.
Bradley said students don’t need to be a businessperson to get involved — students from any discipline can apply and be connected with opportunities, start-ups or small businesses.
Russell credits the Keenan Center and Juggle as a key part of her success.
“I would never in a million years be where I am without both Juggle and the Keenan Center,” Russell said. “I want to extend my gratitude to Ohio State and to the Columbus community for trusting us with their families.”
Russel said she encourages other students to get involved, even if they don’t have a business idea. She said that though it can seem intimidating, college is the ideal place to explore.
“This is a great, safe place to dip your toes in,” Russell said, “[the Keenan Center] does a really great job of guiding you out [to] the real world.”
Her advice for students is to “have tough skin… be bold, go in [and] tell people I’m here and I want to talk.”
