It all started with plants and bugs.
“Growing up, I was always obsessed with … life,” junior biology major Malique Middleton said. “I used to be outside all the time, bringing in all types of flowers and bugs.” Sure, kids like to play in the dirt and muck, but Middleton took it seriously. “For Christmas, I asked for a microscope,” he recalled. “Most kids don’t ask for a microscope.”
When he found out that being a biology major would allow him to explore the natural world in depth, “I couldn’t see myself doing anything else, or something not aligned with my passions,” he said.
As a
freshman in Eagle Hall, he cooked batches of his skin creams in the dorm kitchen,
one day attracting the notice of another resident. “By the end of the semester,
I had maybe [25%] of the entire building coming to me to buy products,”
Middleton said.
So when he received an email about the entrepreneurship minor offered through the College of Business, he signed on.
Middleton’s entrepreneurship classroom experiences have begun paying dividends. He recently started an LLC called Liques to take his products to the marketplace, where he sees potential for his natural formulations.
Another ingredient in Middleton’s formula for success came from his work in an independent research course supervised by biology professor Michael Renfroe. “I try to act as a sounding board for Malique and help provide insight and experience from my botanical knowledge as he considers various ingredients,” Renfroe said. “For some ingredients, he already knows more about them than do I, so he is doing very well in thoroughly researching his products and trying to make the best product that he can.”
In Fall 2019, Middleton attended an event with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., at a local hemp farm. He came away with some new perspectives, as well as some hemp oil that he has taken to the lab to incorporate into his products.
Middleton has added a pre-med designation to his studies, envisioning himself a dermatologist or a Ph.D. with his own clinic and the Liques product line.