SFA students blend pop culture, business innovation at Swift-Mas Showcase

Students in Stephen F. Austin State University's Nelson Rusche College of Business stepped into the spotlight during finals week for the Swift-Mas Showcase, an event supported by SFA's Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship that highlighted student innovation and creative problem-solving throughout the fall semester.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Students in Stephen F. Austin State University's Nelson Rusche College of Business stepped into the spotlight during finals week for the Swift-Mas Showcase, an event supported by SFA's Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship that highlighted student innovation and creative problem-solving throughout the fall semester.

Held outdoors near SFA's iconic Surfin' Steve fountain, the showcase served as the final presentation day for "Swiftonomics: The Business of Music and Entrepreneurship," a course taught by Dr. Amy Mehaffey, lecturer in the Department of Management and Marketing and member of SFA's Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows Program.

According to Mehaffey, the course examines Swift not as a celebrity but as an entrepreneur whose mastery of storytelling, values-based branding, market segmentation and audience connection makes her one of the most influential marketers of her generation. Students spent the semester analyzing these strategies and developing their own fully realized product launches inspired by Swift's approach.

"The best part of this course was watching students realize how capable they are when they're given creative space," Mehaffey said. "Taylor Swift was simply an entry point, but what they're really learning is how to think like marketers, problem-solve and explore life as entrepreneurs."

During the showcase, attendees explored individual student business concepts featuring prototypes, mockups and visuals that demonstrated how students applied entrepreneurial frameworks to develop innovative solutions for their own brands. Participants described the experience as both energizing and confidence-building.

"This class taught me the most out of all my classes," said Logan Pantoja, senior marketing major from Weatherford. "I have a whole new understanding and perspective on marketing, and my love for the discipline has only grown stronger. The class strengthened my creative skills and understanding of branding strategy."

A festive "Swift-Mas" atmosphere elevated the event even further, blending academic rigor with creativity and seasonal celebration. The course's 43 students representing nine different majors transformed business concepts into practical, audience-ready displays to showcase not only their knowledge but also their ability to think entrepreneurially in a real-world context, according to Mehaffey

"In addition to developing and pitching their own product launches, students engaged in a theory-driven analysis of how public figures navigate brand challenges and scrutiny," she said. "That assignment pushed them to think critically about reputation management and the strategic decisions behind the headlines. I'm proud to say many students reported leaving the course with strengthened creative problem-solving abilities and a deeper understanding of marketing, branding and entrepreneurship."

Autumn Nielsen, junior entrepreneurship major from Kingwood, echoed this sentiment.

"We learned how marketing works in the real world and how people respond to different marketing tools," Nielsen said. "This was so effective because we were talking about a real person and not reading about some concept in a textbook."

For more information on SFA's marketing and entrepreneurship academic programs, visit sfasu.edu/mgtmkt. To learn more about the Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship, visit sfasu.edu/ace.