ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis teenager has been praised as the “top young entrepreneur” of 2022 in a national competition. 

Josh Kreuger, 18, is the 17th annual winner of the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, an eight-month-long series of business plan and pitch competitions. Events took place at the local, regional, and national levels, while the national championship is in New York City. 

Kreuger, a student of South Technical High School in St. Louis, won with his business, MODRN Media. His business is a digital marketing agency that trains and employs content creators. They do this while offering budget-friendly video production. The company also has social media management services for small businesses in the same community.

For winning the competition, Kreuger was awarded with $10,000 and a 45-minute mentorship session with Daymond John, The People’s Shark and the founder, CEO and president of FUBU, a $6 billion hip-hop apparel company.

Kreuger documented his progress on a website using blog posts. He also has a YouTube page where he posts videos of trips to the skate park.