EDUCATOR

Equipping Innovators with the Capacity to Build and Lead

Tina is faculty and a Lecturer, Business of Innovation at the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy. She also guest lectures at top academic institutions, like Harvard, Stanford, and University of California at Berkeley. In her classroom, Tina equips future innovators and founders with essential toolkits to build modern brands, drive innovation, and develop sustainable business playbooks.

Watch Innovation Quest

Courses & Convenings

The Modern Brand and Community Playbook (ACAD 402)

This dynamic course equips students with essential strategies to architect modern brands and foster authentic communities. Explore the interconnected realms of the Creator, Attention, and Relationship Economies while gaining insights into AI, blockchain principles, network effects, social artifact creation, and loyalty love loops. Through real-world applications and emerging frameworks, students will develop the skills to design and scale community-driven brands in the evolving digital and modern brand landscape.

The Garage Experience (ACAD 475B)

The Garage Experience is an intensive capstone course designed to propel student-led ventures toward market readiness. Through a hands-on approach, students refine business models, brand strategy, and market entry plans while developing leadership skills, team dynamics, and founder resilience. Rooted in Challenge-Based Learning, the course integrates disruptive innovation, market analysis, and investor communication, equipping students with the tools to craft compelling business cases and strategic roadmaps. By the end of ACAD 475b, founders will have the clarity, skills, and strategies needed to successfully launch and scale their ventures

The Tokenization of Everything

Entrepreneurs, designers, journalists and thought leaders convened at Iovine and Young Academy’s “ Web3: The Tokenization of Everything” hosted by Tina Sharkey, to discuss Web3, NFTs, DeFi, and the metaverse.

The event examined how tokens, technologies and communities enabled by web3 are fueling and reimagining the arts, business and technology.

Watch the full event video.

Iovine and Young Academy's Innovation Quest

The Academy's Innovation Quest offers a series of dynamic experiences that aim to accelerate, cultivate, and support qualified student-led ventures at the intersection of business, technology, and creative practice. This yearlong immersive journey of programming is designed to empower founders, foster innovation, and create a lasting impact within the Academy and Trojan community, serving as a catalyst for innovation and visions realized.

Iovine and Young Academy's Innovation Quest