Austin-based law firm Bertolino LLP has awarded its 2026 Impact in Government Scholarship to Ajok "Jolie" Bul, a student whose winning video argues that current regulatory distinctions between cosmetics and drugs may become obsolete by 2075. The $2,500 scholarship, announced October 27, 2026, invited applicants to answer one of two prompts; Bul chose: "What do you see in the law today that will be obsolete in 2075 and why?"
Her video, "When Beauty Becomes Medicine," focuses on a regulatory contradiction: South Korea regulates sunscreen as a functional cosmetic, while the United States classifies it as an over-the-counter drug. Bul argues that as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and personalized skincare advance, the legal line between cosmetics and drugs may not hold for another 50 years. The topic matters beyond the beauty aisle because regulatory classifications determine how products are tested, marketed, and sold across borders, affecting manufacturers, retailers, and consumers in multiple markets.
Bul brought firsthand industry experience to the subject. She founded Nile Glow, a social-impact skincare initiative that supports fair-wage employment for young women in South Sudan. "When I encountered the prompt asking what law today might be obsolete by 2075, I immediately thought of the inconsistency in how a product as simple as sunscreen is regulated," Bul said. "That contradiction became the foundation for my video."
The selection committee also cited Bul's broader achievements. She is one of 11 students in the NexPoint John G. Tower Scholars Program, a competitive four-year interdisciplinary cohort focused on global economic systems and policy analysis, and the only Tower Scholar to conduct original research on U.S.-Japan trade relations, which she presented at the Sun & Star Business and Geopolitics Symposium co-hosted with Kwansei Gakuin University. She is also a Gerald & Gail Turner Scholar, served as Director of Programming for the Association of Black Students, where she increased freshman meeting attendance by more than 60 percent, and worked as a Brand & Marketing Outreach Intern for HANDS International in partnership with UNICEF, helping generate more than $150,000 in international funding to support more than 20 girls displaced by conflicts in the Middle East. Her volunteer service includes Hope Farm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and she is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity and the SMU African Student Association.
The scholarship will support Bul's studies in Economics with Financial Applications, with minors in Public Policy & International Affairs and Business Administration. She plans to pursue a career at the intersection of business, government, and international development. The award comes from Bertolino LLP, an Austin law firm that has defended thousands of Texas licensed professionals since 2003, representing doctors, nurses, real estate agents, teachers, and others before state licensing boards. The firm frames its practice around the idea that a professional's license represents years of training and sacrifice and deserves a serious defense. For readers in regulated industries, the scholarship highlights how regulatory definitions can shape entire markets, and how emerging technologies may force governments to reconsider rules that once seemed settled.
