Joshua Avila

The Story

Built in public, in Indiana, without a playbook

The first pitch was for a product called Novos - an essential oils kit designed to transport buyers to a different culture or location. Joshua Avila and his Munster High School teammates took third place at the Innovate WithIN state finals in 2023. They got $2,500 and something harder to quantify: the experience of walking into a room full of judges and coming out standing.

What followed was not a pivot. It was an acceleration. Avila co-founded NEX Marketing with fellow Munster alumnus Sayeed Mohammed - a full-service digital marketing agency targeting businesses in Northwest Indiana and Chicago who needed real results without premium agency price tags. Budget-friendly was the pitch. Results were the product.

By any measure that matters, it worked. NEX Marketing now manages accounts for 70+ clients spanning Highland, Munster, Merrillville, and Chicago. The agency handles social media management, content creation, branding, logo design, and website builds - the full stack of a company's digital face. For clients who run a dealership on one end and a startup on the other, Avila's team handles the work so the client can handle the business.

And the numbers follow him around. $10 million in client sales driven. 70+ active accounts. A team of eight. A pitch competition record that reads like a fighter's ring record: five wins. That last number is not a coincidence - it is a competency.

"Started my marketing agency at 18 because I saw a gap in affordable, effective marketing for small businesses."

Joshua Avila - via Instagram (@joshua.avilanex)

In Northwest Indiana, the business community is tight enough to have a name: NWI. It has its own business magazine, its own pitch circuit, its own ecosystem of operators who show up at events like 1 Million Cups - where entrepreneurs get six minutes to pitch and twenty minutes of hard questions from whoever shows up that Wednesday morning. Avila has pitched there too, alongside Ruhani Sharma and Mohammed, making the case for NEX Marketing in front of the community that the agency was built to serve.

The recognition is real. Northwest Indiana Business Magazine put Avila in its February-March 2024 special edition on African Americans in Business - a recognition that says as much about the gap he is filling as the business he has built. He was ranked the #2 African American Entrepreneur in Northwest Indiana, a region where that designation carries weight and history.

What makes this trajectory unusual is the scope of it at the age it happened. Avila did not wait for permission or a degree or a second opinion. He looked at a market that was underserved, built a team around the gap, and started winning pitch competitions while the agency's client list kept growing.

$2.5K

First pitch win
Innovate WithIN 2023

70+

Clients across
NWI & Chicago

$10M+

In sales driven
for clients

8

Person team
built from scratch

Beyond the Agency

Region Reinvestors: the other bet

Building one company at 19 is unusual. Co-founding a second, parallel organization focused on social impact is a different kind of ambition. Region Reinvestors LLC, which Avila co-founded with Jack Sudac, operates as a social-impact consulting firm. The name is a statement: the Region - local shorthand for Northwest Indiana - deserves reinvestment from the people building careers and companies inside it.

The dual-track approach says something about how Avila reads opportunity. NEX Marketing is a revenue engine. Region Reinvestors is a community lever. Both are bets on the same geography - that the NWI market is worth building for, not just from.

◆

NEX Marketing

Full-service digital marketing for small and mid-size businesses. Social media management, branding, content creation, websites. Serving Highland, Munster, Merrillville, and Chicago.

◆

Region Reinvestors LLC

Social-impact consulting firm. Co-founded with Jack Sudac. Focused on community investment and economic development in Northwest Indiana.

Track Record

The record, clean and documented

Top Honor

#2 African American Entrepreneur in Northwest Indiana - recognized across the NWI business community for building NEX Marketing into a 70+ client agency before age 21.

Pitch Record

5x pitch competition winner - a winning streak that spans multiple competitions including Innovate WithIN, STARTedUP Alumni Showcase, and regional entrepreneurship events.

State Finals

Innovate WithIN Top 3 - competed at Indiana state finals in 2023 as part of the Novos team, placing third and earning $2,500 as a Munster High School student.

Press

Featured in Northwest Indiana Business Magazine's February-March 2024 special edition, "African Americans in Business" - recognizing his impact as a young entrepreneur in the region.

Competition

Selected as one of 10 teams in the inaugural STARTedUP Alumni Association Showcase and Pitch Competition at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis (August 2024).

Community

Presented at 1 Million Cups NWI - the region's weekly entrepreneurship forum - pitching NEX Marketing to the community audience of local business leaders and investors.

Career Timeline

From first pitch to full agency

2019 - 2023

Attends Munster High School, pursuing Business Administration and Management. Builds early entrepreneurial instincts through coursework and community engagement in NWI.

2023

Joins the Novos team at Innovate WithIN, pitching an essential oils concept that delivers cultural and travel experiences. Places third at state finals, winning $2,500. Collects the first competitive pitch win.

2023

Co-founds NEX Marketing with Sayeed Mohammed. The agency targets a clear gap: businesses in NWI and Chicago that need effective marketing without enterprise price tags. Launches at 18 years old.

2024

NEX Marketing grows to 70+ active clients. Accumulates a 5-win record on the pitch circuit. Drives over $10 million in sales for the client base. Builds a team of eight.

2024

Featured in Northwest Indiana Business Magazine's African Americans in Business special section (February-March). Named #2 African American Entrepreneur in Northwest Indiana.

2024

Presents NEX Marketing at 1 Million Cups NWI. Selected for the inaugural STARTedUP Alumni Association Showcase at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis (August).

2024

Co-founds Region Reinvestors LLC with Jack Sudac - a social-impact consulting firm focused on economic development and community reinvestment in Northwest Indiana.

The Work

What NEX Marketing actually does

📷

Social Media Management

Content creation, consistent posting, account monitoring, audience interaction, and performance tracking - so the client runs the business and NEX runs the digital presence.

🖥

Website Creation

Custom responsive designs built from scratch. Not templates repurposed - actual brand-specific sites that convert visitors into customers.

✎

Branding & Logo Design

Original, professional-quality logos and brand identity systems. For businesses that want to look as legitimate as they are.

🎬

Content Creation

Video, photography, and copy designed around each client's voice. From dealership walkthroughs to event recaps, NEX makes the content worth watching.

📈

Audience Growth

Engagement strategy backed by analytics. Who's watching, when, and what they respond to - translated into a plan that actually moves the follower count and the revenue.

📍

NWI + Chicago Market

Built specifically for businesses in Highland, Munster, Merrillville, and the broader Chicago metro. Local knowledge in the strategy, not just the geography.

Worth Knowing

Details that don't fit anywhere else

01

His personal Instagram handle - @joshua.avilanex - merged his identity with his brand before the agency had its first client. He started as a digital creator, not just a CEO.

02

The Novos pitch that started everything was for essential oils packaged as a cultural travel experience. It lost to first and second place. He won five competitions after that.

03

NEX Marketing's Instagram account (@nexmarketinginc) built a following before the agency had a decade of history - proof that Avila practices what he sells to clients.

04

Two companies, one region. Both NEX Marketing and Region Reinvestors are direct bets that NWI is a market worth building in - not just launching from before heading somewhere bigger.

How to file this one

Profiles & Links

Find Joshua Avila online

joshua-avila-440a95209

Instagram (Personal)

@joshua.avilanex

Instagram (NEX Marketing)

@nexmarketinginc

Facebook

joshsaleswhips

NWI Business Magazine

Press Coverage 2024

1 Million Cups NWI

NEX Marketing Pitch Video