Junior Achievement of Central Texas’ (JACT’s) core belief is “Opportunity is for Everyone.” This principle helps to guide the JACT volunteer mentors who work with hundreds of local teens from a variety of backgrounds to start and run real businesses through the JA Company Program. Ernst & Young (EY) is a dedicated community supporter of the JA Company Program and JA serves as the youth entrepreneurship partner for EY.
This year, EY has helped JA Company Program student Yoselin Molina start the path towards realizing her dreams of entrepreneurship by awarding her the prestigious 2019 EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year Scholarship Award.
Although Yoselin just completed her junior year Austin ISD’s Travis Early College High School, this is the second JA student company she has helped to start. Her first experience was during her sophomore year when she served as the Director of Marketing and Social Media at Hope Goals. This JA student company sold lanyards to spread the joy of soccer to children in countries that could not afford to buy equipment. When she returned to the JA Company Program in her junior year, she joined an incubator group where she launched her own enterprise - Yoselin Designs, making handmade leather handbags. Yoselin spent her first few months studying the market, prototyping designs and researching different materials to use. In just one month she went from a felt prototype to a completed product. No small feat considering she cuts, punches and sews everything by hand.
Yoselin’s mentor tells us, “Yoselin puts her whole heart and mind into her company. Not only in the design of her bags but the various details around her business from marketing to finances. Her impressive drive helped take her from a student who was interested in fashion to working Austin fashion week and starting her own handbag company. Not only is Yoselin committed to her own success, but she is always ready to help her classmates with their businesses.”
Her first bag - a hand stitched buffalo leather tote, quickly sold and she re-invested her profits back into her business. This summer Yoselin is designing and producing her first collection of handmade, vegan-leather totes, clutches and key chains with the goal to build enough inventory to launch her first line in the fall.
Yoselin says: “As I move forward in the future, I want to be able to give back to my community and the harder I work the more I will be able to give.”
Congratulations, Yoselin! We wish you great success in all of your future endeavors.
Thank you to all of our dedicated JA volunteers!
Thank you to EY for their commitment to partnering with JA to create a “Better Working World.”
