Mississippi State University boasts a number of successful graduates from best-selling authors to professional sports players to Supreme Court justices.
MSU’s May 2013 graduates who prepare to leave college and enter the workforce can take with them the advice of some successful MSU alumni.
Brothers and MSU alumni, Neil and Joe Couvillion, own 929 Coffee Bar in Starkville. Open for less than two months, 929 has already been a huge success in the city. The business was voted “The Best Coffee House” by the annual readership poll in the Starkville Daily News and won the “Best Drink” award at the 2013 Cotton District Arts Festival for its cold brew.
Neil’s wife Havilah and Joe’s wife Carrie co-own 929 Coffee Bar with their husbands.
Havilah said the coffee bar has been a beautiful collaboration of knowledge and craftsmanship between the four owners.
“Neil and Joe own a design build firm here; Joe is a general contractor,” she said. “It was perfect for their background because they know every plumber and electrician (in Starkville) and all the business codes. I ran and owned a coffee shop in Birmingham for six months. So when I moved here, I was pushing for us to start a coffee shop.”
Neil’s degree from MSU was in landscape architecture, while Joe’s was in real estate and mortgage finance. Together, the brothers also own Couvillion Design Build, LLC, but Havilah said 929 Coffee Bar is the Couvillions’ “heart and passion.”
“We wanted to create a place where you can come and fellowship and study, but you can also come and have a beer late at night,” Havilah said. “Our passion is to create a place where people can not only gather and have great coffee and great food, but to really have an outlet for avenues like art and music. I think there’s a need for that in this area.”
Havilah said her advice for MSU’s May 2013 graduates is to avoid fearing the future and embrace life’s journey.
“If you’re zealous and passionate about something, do not be inhibited to pursue it,” Havilah said. “Life is too short to do something that you don’t love. Be willing to step out and do something you enjoy. If you have ambition, pursue it. Don’t settle.”
MSU alumna Hannah Becker now owns and operates Mississippi Lawns, a landscape business based out of Starkville.
Becker said the business started as a school project of her husband’s, but together they made the project into a reality.
 ”My husband and I felt like there was a big need in Starkville,” Becker said. “The current (lawn care) companies don’t offer vacant property packages, and so many of the properties here are student owned. Many students are gone all summer, so we felt like that would be a niche.”
Despite a seemingly non-related degree in animal and dairy science, Becker said she learned leadership and business skills during her time at MSU.
Becker said her advice for graduates is to stand by their ideas, no matter what anyone else thinks.
“As a college graduate, you may lack experience and knowledge that an older and more mature person might have, but you’re very smart,” Becker said. “People didn’t believe in our idea for Mississippi Lawn, and our first month’s revenue proved that wrong. When you have the results – and you will if you stick with it – you’re kind of the one laughing in the end.”