Inspiring the Next Generation: Cultivating Young Entrepreneurs with the Young Entrepreneurs Academy

Unlock the untapped potential within your high schooler as we traverse the exhilarating world of youth entrepreneurship with Dana Schloterer, from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA), and the inventive Caroline Sanchez of Crazy Cajun Confections. Our engaging dialogue not only peels back the curtain on YEA's inception and its symbiotic alliances with academia and commerce but also sets the stage for the meteoric rise of teen business savvy. Dana paints a vivid picture of the academy's nurturing environment, where bright young minds are refined into business owners, armed with real-world experience and seed funding. Caroline, a YEA alumna, brings to the table her appetizing narrative of transforming a hobby into a buzzing enterprise, serving up a slice of inspiration for any budding entrepreneur.

Feel the pulse of ambition as we share the limelight with YEA's spirited graduates, who have pivoted from humble beginnings to strategic, profit-conscious magnates. The air crackles with the energy of success stories, including a fashion brand catching the public's eye and a service business scaling new heights. The conversation segues into the high-stakes pitch competitions that have become a launchpad for these young tycoons, with Caroline's experience accentuating the invaluable life skills honed in the process. As we touch upon these narratives, we illustrate the profound transformation experienced by the students—growing in confidence and eloquence, ready to take on the world of business.

Ever noticed a child who seems to operate on a different wavelength, brimming with innovative ideas and a relentless drive? This episode is where you'll find out how these traits can be the early indicators of an entrepreneurial spirit waiting to be sculpted. We delve into the nurturing process at YEA that helps young minds channel their creativity, independence, and strategic thinking into successful business ventures. As Caroline recounts her ascent with Crazy Cajun Confections and the influential role of social media in her enterprise, it's clear that the entrepreneurial journey begins with recognizing potential—and YEA is where potential flourishes into excellence. Join us for a conversation that might just spark the entrepreneurial fire in a young mind near you.

Visit the Young Entrepreneurs Academy site.

Apply to participate in YEA

Crazy Cajun Confections: Facebook | Instagram

Two Sistas Pepper Jelly: Facebook | Instagram

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to.

Speaker 2: 0:03

Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want. Now here is your host, ms Kim.

Speaker 1: 0:12

Chapman. Welcome to another edition of Money Matters. I am your host, kim Chapman. Get ready for an eye-opening conversation as we uncover the secrets of empowering young minds to take charge of their financial destiny. From lemonade stands to tech startup, yea, the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, has seen it all and is here to share insights that will not only inspire you, but might just change the way you look at investments. We've got some really good information to share with you today, so joining me is Dana Schlauderer, executive Director of YEA, and former student and CEO of Crazy Cajun Confections, and two sisters, pepper Jelly, ms Caroline Sanchez. Welcome, ladies. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 0:56

Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1: 0:57

So Caroline and I, before the show, were just kind of chatting about some of her confections and I have to say we'd be disappointed. She didn't bring any, but the descriptions that you will hear will just have you jaw-dropping and mouth-watering for some of those. So let's go ahead and get started. So, Ms Dana, can you share just a little overview of YEA and its mission?

Speaker 3: 1:18

Sure, absolutely so. Yea was founded a little over five years ago. We are actually in our sixth cohort of students this year. Deborah Sternberg and Michael Roth are the founders of the organization. They decided several years ago that there was space for students that are in high school who have an interest in entrepreneurship to have opportunities to start their businesses. Why should you have to wait to be an adult or outside of college to get started doing the things that you know you're capable of as a high school student? So they founded YEA and partnered up with LSU to make that happen, Also the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and the Louisiana Economic Development Department to start our organization. So that's kind of where it was birth. You know, Michael and Deborah both entrepreneurs also themselves and they just really believe in the mission of helping students find opportunities, helping them make those connections and building their network to turn them into successful entrepreneurs like Caroline.

Speaker 1: 2:22

Okay, so can you tell me what skills and knowledge do participants gain through the program and how long is the program?

Speaker 3: 2:29

So the program runs from September to April, so it's kind of an abbreviated school year. We take applications all the way through the middle of August and then the semester starts in September. We have our Shark Tank style event at the end of the year in March and then the semester wraps up as they launch their businesses right after they get their seed funding in April.

Speaker 1: 2:52

So talk a little bit about the skills. So if there's a student that's interested and they want to know, well, you know, what do I need to know? Why would I want to participate in this program?

Speaker 2: 3:00

Do I just?

Speaker 1: 3:01

need an idea. Do you provide ideas?

Speaker 3: 3:04

Right. So it's a little bit of everything, honestly. So some students come to us into our program they already know what they want to do. They have a great idea and we just help them kind of formalize it, intune it, figure out the logistics. Other students just know they have an entrepreneurial spirit, they know they want to start a business, but they don't exactly know what that's going to look like. So you do not have to come to YEA with an idea, and that's one of the things we do right at the beginning. It's we call the big idea.

Speaker 3: 3:36

The program is designed in three trimesters. The first trimester we call the big idea. So they come either with their ideas or with some thoughts, but no specific idea, and we help them fine tune it, work it out Does this already exist? What makes yours different? All of those kinds of things that you want to figure out when you're starting a company. And then we kind of move through at the beginning, fine tuning the idea, and we also teach them some business 101, right so, financial literacy, those kinds of things at the very beginning. In the second trimester they're actually writing their business plan. So we pair them up with business mentors, financial mentors, and each one also gets a graphic designer to create their brand. So they develop business partnerships with Baton Rouge area volunteers who are CEOs, business executives, graphic designers, et cetera. And that is what they're doing right now in our second trimester. So they will come out of this trimester with a 40 or so page business plan written that they then give to the investor panel In the third trimester, which launches with our.

Speaker 3: 4:46

It's our Shark Tank style event. We call it community pitch so that this year that will be March 6th, it's a community event. There's usually a little over 200 people that attend and watch our students stand on a stage and give their quote elevator pitch to a panel of investors who will be then awarding them with real seed funding to start their businesses. And then, once they actually launched their business, they are registered with the secretary of state's office. Their names are registered. If they want to register their LLC, they can do that. We launched their business. So then they go to the other side of the YA program with a registered business, with seed funding, with business mentors that help guide them on the other side of the program and then their network of YA alumni. So right now we have over 125 students that have participated in the program. We've launched 99 businesses up to this point and right now in our sixth cohort, we have 20 businesses.

Speaker 1: 5:43

So I'm going to turn to Caroline.

Speaker 3: 5:44

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Caroline, please tell me how did you even learn about YA and what motivated you to go ahead and join us submitting the application for the program?

Speaker 2: 5:54

Yes, ma'am. So a friend, like a family friend of mine, had referred it to my mama. One day my mama told me about it. We had discussed it a little bit, but I was already doing entrepreneurial things, so my family was very much into it. I think they all referred me basically for it. I don't know, it was just something that I saw and something that I wanted to do.

Speaker 1: 6:18

So what did your parents see you doing on a daily basis that made them think that this program would be right for you?

Speaker 2: 6:26

Well, so at this point in time I want to say I was 15. And so I had been doing pepper jelly since I was 12. And so it, like it, started as just like a Christmas gift type thing and it grew into going to crash shows and festivals and whatnot and people ordering. So we saw it grow from something that was really small to something that was kind of getting a little bit bigger, and I wanted to learn a little bit more about how to deal with a growing small business.

Speaker 1: 6:54

So the idea was pepper jelly. That's just one, but you also have another business, so tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 2: 7:00

Yes, ma'am. So I have my two sisters pepper jelly and my crazy Cajun confections, which is my spice candies, my candies with a spicy twist. And so I have the pecan brittle and pecan pralines, crawls and Cajun corn, and they all have a little bit of Cajun seasoning in them. And the idea behind that was one night I was making a pepper jelly and I wanted to have some like Cajun seasonings in it and it was cooking and I didn't have the ratio just right, and so it ended up not getting to the proper consistency of sugar it's supposed to be and it cooked a little too much, and so we had put it out onto a pan and it made us think of peanut brittle. And so my great grandmother she liked to make peanut brittle a lot for the family. So we were sitting there thinking we were like, well, what if we made a peanut brittle that had spices in it? So that idea was a little bit before YA.

Speaker 2: 7:50

And then, whenever I was sitting in class for the big idea of a, mr Kevin, he was asking for ideas and I was sitting there and I was wondering if I wanted to go and grow my pepper jelly or if I wanted to do something new. So I decided I was going to do something new and different and challenge myself a bit. And so that's whenever I told him about the space candies. And so that's how we were beginning with Crazy Cajun Confections. And now we're here and still selling by word of mouth and social media.

Speaker 1: 8:20

That's a really remarkable story because it sounds like a late night mishap is what actually means to your business. How frequently does that happen, Ms Dana?

Speaker 3: 8:33

Exactly. I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs have stories similar to Caroline's. You know, they accidentally happen upon something and a spark is there. You know she students like Caroline are one of the my favorite things about YA, you know, seeing the spark in them. They have people and she had people in her life that could see that spark, and then when we interviewed her, we could see it as well, and then she just thrived in the program.

Speaker 1: 8:59

And I think young people are just creative by nature. So what is the process? How do you select the students or how do they get the information about the program?

Speaker 3: 9:08

Right. So during the I guess recruiting season, so to speak, when in between January and August, I'm in schools, I'm doing, I'm at community programs, I'm talking to business professionals, just trying to get the word out as much as I can about YA, we'd like to encourage students to apply, even if they're a little unsure, like I don't know, I don't know, am I, am I right for the program? Yes, apply. Let's go through the process, so in schools, developing those relationships throughout the application season and then once students apply, in August, right after our applications and we start interviewing students. So to apply to YA you have to submit an application. Obviously, on the application, there are two essays that are essentially just about why do you want to be an entrepreneur, why are you interested in this program? You know, just, we'd like to see them write. They need to be able to write to participate in our program. Obviously they're writing a 40 page business plan. So that there's it's a double reason for us to have that. One, we want the information and two, we want to see what their writing abilities are. You know, to make sure that they're not, that they're not going to struggle inside of the program because it is pretty rigorous. We also interview every single one individually. So this past year we had 87 applicants and we admitted 24 students. So they once we select those students.

Speaker 3: 10:37

The other thing about our students is it's a very diverse cohort of students, diverse from a location perspective. We are a program of the Baton Rouge Chamber. We serve a nine parish area, so we have students from all over the place. They're not just from the East Baton Rouge parish area, they're from schools outside of East Baton Rouge as well public schools, private schools, home school, literally everything. And then you know, socioeconomically there's a lot of diversity. So we like we love the students that come from different backgrounds, from different schools that would never have known each other otherwise. Their similarities are really uncanny. When they get into class even the very first class this cohort that we're in right now they got into class and they were chitter-chattering like it was a reunion and they had never met.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Wow. Now, what age group is this? Is this strictly high school? What grades are eligible to apply?

Speaker 3: 11:32

You're eligible to apply if you're an eighth through 12th grade.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Wow, that's pretty young, and so the creativity part seems like you already. You know, maybe you were just born with that, caroline. So what skills, what did YA add to you into your business?

Speaker 2: 11:47

Well, it definitely gave a more realistic perspective, because in theory, entrepreneurship sounds like I have an idea and I'm gonna go out and do it, and so YA really like made it real, like this is like the actual things you have to do to have a business, like that business plan, just like all of those things and just like learning how to network and how to meet people and how to talk to people and that type of thing. But so, yeah, it really just it really helped with taking it from an idea to reality.

Speaker 1: 12:19

And so I understand that there's a mentorship program, so can you talk to us a little bit about what that looks like? Dana, and then Caroline, I have you talk to specifically about your mentor.

Speaker 3: 12:29

Yes, absolutely. So that is one of the things that I also love about YA, you know, as adults those of us that are, you know, working professionals you know that your business network, your professional network, is extremely important. So what we have done is paired our students up and taught them the value of building your professional network. So every student is paired up with one business mentor that is that specializes in helping them figure out the logistics of their business what's your marketing plan, what are your strategies, what's your five year goal? Those kinds of things.

Speaker 3: 13:06

And then we also have financial mentors that come in and help them figure out the costs. You know, like for Caroline, for example, there are costs for ingredients, and then how much do my ingredients cost? How much should I charge for these products to make a profit? What kind of profit do I wanna make? What are my goals for? How much money do I wanna make next year? How many candies do I need to sell? Those are the things that the financial mentors help them figure out. And then we have graphic designers that support the students by creating their logos, their business cards and their branding.

Speaker 1: 13:40

All right. So, caroline, can you tell us a little bit about your mentor and basically, what did you learn from that mentor?

Speaker 2: 13:46

Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 2: 13:47

So my mentor was Ms Gay Sandos and she was, I wanna say, the director of the food incubator at the LSU AgCenter, which is now called the Food Innovation Institute.

Speaker 2: 13:58

So she was so sweet and so kind and I hadn't met her before because I had gone to a little seminar at LSU that YA had told me about and so we had spoken a little bit about like what I was doing and I had listened to her insight then on, you know, business and food and whatnot. And so that was the great part about her was I was really blessed to have someone who was in the food industry that could teach me about like going from small to large and upscaling and mass producing and those types of things. She was just very kind, very helpful. She helped me with like craft shows and markets and things like that, and I went and cooked in the LSU kitchen a couple of times and we had, you know, figured out like a game plan for upscaling and mass producing the candies. And she was just so lovely and she's still a good mentor for me to this day.

Speaker 1: 14:47

That's awesome If you could think back to. You know what your business looked like before it was formalized. You know when you were just doing this at home and where it is now. What changes have you seen?

Speaker 2: 14:59

Well, I definitely had not realized how much it cost to produce things. I don't know if that was just something I neglected to think about, but it's definitely. Whenever you're sitting there and you're trying to track how much ingredients and things cost, now like I know what everything costs, Like basically every single penny that's spent, how much comes in, how much goes out, that type of thing. But just overall, I mean, it's just grown in size and efficiency and it's just entirely different than what it used to be.

Speaker 1: 15:34

And, miss Dana, can you give us some other, maybe success stories, other than the brilliant Carolina we have with us today?

Speaker 3: 15:41

Sure, it actually is kind of hard to wrap up because all the students are very different. There's so many different businesses. Actually, on Wednesday, when we were getting ready for class, I was at LSU in the business school in the Rotunda, getting ready to welcome all of our graphic designers. I ran into one of our alumni. He has a clothing line called Wonder and it actually he got Angel Reese to wear one of his clothing items and help him produce. He's in his third iteration of producing his clothing line, so and he was just giving me an update and telling me all about that and giving me his Instagram and immediately networking. He was on it and he's a I think he's a junior in the entrepreneurship department at LSU. So that was great.

Speaker 3: 16:29

We have a student who graduated last year who has a power washing business. He received seed funding. He actually won our pitch competition. So one of the things that happens at our community pitch every year, one student is the winner, so to speak, and we send that student to a national pitch competition in Rochester, new York. So James was the winner. His company is called Washed. It's a power washing company and it's kind of like what happened with Caroline similar. He was already power washing, kind of informally. You know doing that kind of as a as a side hustle out after high school and the y a program allowed him to formalize that and put structure around it. With the seed funding that he received he was actually able to buy equipment. So now he has a trailer with a water tank so when he goes to do power washing he can bring his own water. He doesn't have to hook up to his customers water supply. He also hired employees, so he has employees and I actually saw that video.

Speaker 1: 17:31

I was very impressed. I went back and watched all the videos and saw that and it was really remarkable. So maybe, caroline, can you walk us through if you can remember when you had to do your pitch, your presentation, what was it like? If you remember the questions? Were they hard, were they very easy? And then I'll go back to Dana. We'll talk a little bit about that seed money.

Speaker 2: 17:51

Yes, ma'am. So for the investor panel it is a little bit of a blur. It's definitely because it's so much build up. We spend months and months, you know, doing the business plan, getting this advice from mentors, getting the graphic designs and our logos, and then, you know, we make our PowerPoints and we come up with the elevator pitch and you run through it so many times and so what you know is what you say up there. But whenever you're up there with those bright lights and all those big, all those people in front of you, it's definitely it's over before you can even think about it. But the questions I don't really recall exactly what my questions were, but they definitely aren't too challenging, like they kind of keep it somewhat and like they keep them intriguing so that they're getting some good insight, but not too difficult that a student can't answer, because otherwise that wouldn't really be beneficial for us.

Speaker 1: 18:46

Right, and so, ms Sandke, tell us a little bit about the program itself, in terms of, like the seed funding. You said there are 20 kids, and so do they select a certain number of students that they will provide funding from, and how is the funding provided?

Speaker 3: 19:01

Right. So that event is actually sponsored by Community Coffee. Every year they give us $25,000 to disperse to our students. So we have an investor panel that they get the business plans ahead of time so they've read every student's business plan. So this year there will be 20 businesses launching. A few of our students have partnered up so we don't usually will have a couple of different groups of students that will partner. So they read the business plans, they listen to the pitch and then they have that amount of money, the $25,000, to disperse to the students.

Speaker 3: 19:36

The amount that the students get varies based on what their ask is. Not everybody's asking for the same amount of money and then how well their pitch goes. Just because they ask for a certain amount doesn't mean they're going to get that exact amount. Sometimes it might be less, sometimes it might be more, sometimes it might be exactly what they're asking for. But we do. The students are always successful at their pitch at some level. You know because and we really work hard, that's one of the things you know yes, there are a lot of nuts and bolts that go in the writing.

Speaker 3: 20:07

The business plan is a lot of detail oriented things, but there's so much ancillary benefit to this program for our students. Just the public speaking, for example. I mean most adults are not comfortable standing in front of 200 plus people on a stage with lights, a mic and a PowerPoint running that to say, hey, this is me, this is my heart and soul, this is my business, please give me money. You know it's intimidating, and watching these students who are eight through 12th grade I mean nobody's over 18 years old doing this, standing there in front of those people, it is amazing to watch the evolution of these students, how they come to us and then who they become on that stage is it's transformative, and I think the confidence that they develop in themselves in the nine months that we have them is is my favorite part of the program. Honestly.

Speaker 1: 21:07

So, caroline, I know that you're in school. Is it Louisiana? Louisiana Tech? Yes, ma'am. So tell me how much of an influence your businesses have had basically on your college career and how you envision your future, because I imagine you know is it going to be hard to actually go and work for someone else now that you've worked for yourself for a great part of your life.

Speaker 2: 21:29

Yes, ma'am. So I would like to continue, definitely at least some level of entrepreneurship, whether it be like fully or on the side of some sort. And like I do really enjoy my pepper jelly and the candies and if I could grow those a little bit more it would be nice. But it is a little bit difficult with the collegiate schedule to do that type of thing. It's hard in between exams and homeworks and class to go and cook and make orders in that type deal. But it's definitely like the inside of running a business, being in because I'm studying accounting, so being in business school, you know we hear about these things, we learn about these things and there are things I kind of already know going in. But there's not to say that I'm not learning new things as I'm, you know, being taught about business and econ and whatnot and accounting and you know all those wonderful things.

Speaker 1: 22:23

That's awesome, miss Dana. So I know you talked a little bit about the mentors in the program, but in terms of the wider community, including parents and educators, how does YA engage those individuals?

Speaker 3: 22:35

Right. So it varies a lot. You know, we are developing relationships in all kinds of different ways. Sometimes I'm meeting with superintendents. Sometimes I'm meeting in a classroom talking to a group of students in a CTE class or a pro start class or something like that. Sometimes I'm talking to the guidance counselors.

Speaker 3: 22:57

One of the major goals that I have as the executive director in trying to recruit students to our program is to find champions inside of each school, right? So sometimes, you know, I have a superintendent who is connecting me to principals or guidance counselors or people in their, in their school district Right. Sometimes I have a principal who is putting me in front of the teachers that could be the champions. Sometimes I have teachers who are pulling in the principal. It goes the other way. But what I find is when an adult or up here you know, now we have five years worth of alumni, some of them are still in high school. You know, if they come to us in ninth grade, we have a lot of kids still in schools If you have an adult or up here looking at you and saying you should do this, you're pretty much going to apply.

Speaker 3: 23:47

You know, it's it's I like to call it positive peer pressure, right, you know you look at somebody, you can see it in somebody. You know Caroline had somebody looked at her and said you should do this program and she did it and now she has a second business because of that decision, right? So my goal is, in engaging our educators, is to educate them about YA, so then when they are talking to their students they can educate students about YA and then they can bring us the students that should be participating in it. As you know, the outreach is the hardest challenge, I think, especially because we are serving a nine parish area. You know it's it's easy for me to walk into some of the schools in this area, but it's harder for me to be constantly in front of students out in West Feliciana or over in West Baton Rouge or somewhere like that. So I really rely heavily on my champions, and they are amazing at it, to be honest.

Speaker 1: 24:45

So, caroline, so if you have an opportunity what you do now to be able to speak to young people that may be listening to this, or maybe their parents, you know what would you say to encourage the parents to be able to identify that child that you know oh, we just thought they were. You know, they just like to mess up in the kitchen or they're just always touching on things. What would you say to that parents to encourage them to participate in the program? And if it's that student that says, oh, I don't know if this is a really good idea, I don't think so. I think this is silly, right? What would you say to them to? To encourage them to apply for YA and maybe they could be a CEO, just like you?

Speaker 2: 25:21

Well, if I had to tell a parent, I would tell them to let them do it, to encourage them to do it and to be investing in it themselves as well. I don't think I would be where I am without the support of my family and my parents, but just the people around me. So, to be supportive of it, to motivate them to do it, and for the student, I would tell them to do it. I would tell them to do it right now and sign up today if they could. It has done so many things. There's been so many opportunities I wouldn't have had without YA. There are things that I just wouldn't know, wouldn't have learned, wouldn't have you know myself, you know, seeked out to find, and it's just, it's changed my life like no other and it's, it's unreal and you only really really find out when you do it yourself.

Speaker 1: 26:07

And then in terms of investment, I'm glad you actually even said that word because it made me think about it. You know I was asking you, ms Dana, about the seed money, but the students do have an opportunity to actually invest in themselves. Can you talk about a little bit about that?

Speaker 3: 26:20

Investing in themselves when they start the program.

Speaker 1: 26:22

Correct In terms of putting up their own putting, putting up some of their own seed money.

Speaker 3: 26:27

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's always part of the process. You know, anytime you're starting a business, there are lots of different ways to generate revenue to get your business going. You know, and we teach students that in that in that first trimester, you know, in our financial literacy, how are you going to get the money to start your business? Using your own money is the, you know, obviously the first step. But teenagers don't always have a lot of money, so that is one important thing that we always encourage them to do. You're probably going to need to invest some of your own money to make it. If you're not investing your own money, how are you going to be invested in the results? Right, but then there are other ways to generate revenue, right, obviously selling, selling your product and generating it with what you have, but also doing competitions like the YA competition or other competitions, finding other sources, finding investors. You know, and we teach them, obviously, how to network and things like that.

Speaker 1: 27:24

I tell you, when I visit students in school and we talk about money, you know that's always that top interest is like how can I become rich, how can I make the most money? But it sounds like this is actually a good foundation for students to be able to invest in themselves, especially if they have talent. So, ms Dana, as we wrap up, can you kind of remind us again how students can apply, where they can apply, what the application period looks like and then maybe the email address or information about YA if somebody wants to learn more?

Speaker 3: 27:53

Absolutely so. Students can apply at yabrorg. If you go to the website there is apply here button right on the front. You can also see some of our student successes. So there is a successes tab at the top of the website. I know that you were able to watch a few of them before we met today. They're really fun, you know, just kind of sitting there you can kind of All right, you get lost in watching them.

Speaker 1: 28:19

I thought I was going to watch one or two and then I had to pull myself away from the videos.

Speaker 3: 28:24

Yeah, it kind of gives you some inspirations for what comes on the other side. One of the other major benefits to our program is and I think we haven't even mentioned this here but students. We are partnered with LSU. The College of Business gives students three hours of entrepreneurship credit. So students who attend LSU can get that credit from the College of Business. So there is more value add. You know, in addition to all of the things the seed funding, all of the resources that they receive, the graphic design, logos, all of those financial values, they also actually get college credit and entrepreneurship. And a lot of our students end up majoring in something they don't have to, but they frequently will be majoring in business, marketing, accounting, just like Caroline is doing. The application period starts in January and it goes through the middle of August, right? So students can apply anytime in that window. If they have questions, they can reach out to us. Our contact information is on the front of the website. It's Y-E-A-B-R dot org.

Speaker 1: 29:29

What type of information are you asking for in that application?

Speaker 3: 29:32

So obviously general information about themselves, where they go to school, what grade they're in. The two major pieces are those two essays that we ask them to do. We do also ask them for a photo and a transcript. We don't have a grade requirement, it doesn't matter, you don't have to be a perfect student. We really ask for that to make sure that they are not in any kind of academic distress. You know, our program requires about 100 hours of work outside of the program. I mean when you are creating a business there's a lot of work you gotta put yourself into it.

Speaker 3: 30:08

Yes, exactly. So we wanna make sure a student is not struggling academically, so that they will have time and not suffer. School is very important obviously More important than anything else when you're in high school. So we do ask for that transcript. And then one reference also so and just a non-family member, so that could be a teacher, it could be a boss, it could be a community member that knows you well. One reference just to kind of talk to us about the student. And then every student is interviewed as well.

Speaker 3: 30:40

Oh, the big interview, the big interview.

Speaker 1: 30:42

So, caroline, before we wrap up, can you give us information about your business, if you have a website or social media page?

Speaker 2: 30:50

Yes, ma'am, so I do have a Facebook and an Instagram for both Two Sisters Pepper Jelly and Crazy Cajun Confections. Two Sisters is gonna be the Sisters is spelled C-I-S-T-A-S, but the other words, you know, they're spelled normally. So if you can just go look those up on Instagram or Facebook and like, follow it and you can follow me on my business journey.

Speaker 1: 31:12

Well, that brings us to the end of another insightful episode. I definitely want to thank our incredible guests, ms Dana and Ms Caroline. Thank you so much for joining me. I think this is a really, really big, huge part of financial literacy that can definitely take just a little blurb and ideal and turn somebody into a CEO or the next great business owner. So thank you, ladies.

Speaker 3: 31:33

Thank you so much for having us. ["dance of the.

Speaker 1: 31:38

Sugar Plum Fairy"]. Identifying whether a child has the potential to become an entrepreneur can be challenging, as there is really no one size fits all formula. However, certain characteristics and behaviors may indicate that you have a future CEO on your hands. Here are a few signs to look for creativity and innovation. Entrepreneurs often have a creative and innovative mindset. If your child is constantly coming up with new ideas, solutions or ways to improve things, it could be a sign of entrepreneurial thinking.

Speaker 1: 32:10

What about independence and initiative? Entrepreneurs tend to be independent and take an initiative. If your child is self-motivated, takes responsibilities for their actions and doesn't always rely on others to solve problems, it could be a positive sign. And then I'll leave you with business savvy. Some children naturally show an interest in business concepts and money. If your child enjoys activities like selling items, negotiating or strategizing, it may be an indication that they may be a future CEO. And for more information, check out neighborsfcuorg forward slash financial education to learn more on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want. And I'll see you in the next video.