Austin area middle and high school young women took a field trip to Capital Factory Downtown on Tuesday, May 16th to learn career skills and the basics of starting a business at JACT's inaugural E2 Summit: Entrepreneurship and Empowerment for Young Women. The young ladies completed the JA It’s My Business! program by creating a product or service, designing a prototype and presenting their idea to a panel of professional judges in a pitch competition. The young women had a blast coming up with their ideas and creating a product out of a mystery box of materials!
The JA E2 Summit would not have been as successful as it was without JA’s wonderful volunteers. Over 35 professional women from the Austin community came out to lead the young participants throughout the day during the various activities.
The young women at the E2 Summit learned about resume building and job search skills from Indeed Job Squad, and interview tips from Amy Wolfgang, founder of Wolfgang Career Coaching. Ken Downing, Senior Vice President and Fashion Director of Neiman Marcus, Skyped in to talk to the young ladies about being confident and dressing for the workplace . Downing, a JA Alumni himself, closed his fascinating speech with the following words of wisdom, "be impressive, be confident, and be strong powerful women."
The E2 Summit concluded with a product pitch competition. The young women presented their well thought out products to the panel of judges. The judges asked the ladies challenging questions about their products or services. In the end, the judges deliberated and chose their first, second, and third place winners. All pitches were fantastic and truly displayed the hard work the young ladies put into the day.
Couldn’t volunteer on May 16th but still want to be involved? Opportunities are available to join the E-2 Mentor Group or to sponsor a young woman to participate in future JA programs. Contact Lauren Weronick, Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at lauren@jacentex.org or 512-710-5437.
