As an undergraduate majoring in global studies, Jessie Garcia '12, '13G had no clue she'd be leaving Lehigh with a master’s in technical entrepreneurship (TE) or that a concussion from playing on Lehigh's women's rugby team would give her the idea to start her own company – one that is now entirely run by Lehigh students and graduates.
Just a year after graduating with her M.Eng. in TE, Garcia founded Tozuda, a company that manufactures impact sensors designed to be placed on headgear and change color in response to dangerous levels of force. The sensors, which can be positioned on hard hats or athletic helmets, work without electronics to signal the need for possible medical attention.
Garcia has said “tozuda” is Spanish for hardheaded – in a determined way – a word her grandmother often used to describe Garcia’s personality.
Garcia and her innovative concussion sensor was profiled recently in The Express-Times, and earlier this summer was featured in NBC-10 Philadelphia's "Growing Greater Philadelphia" series.
