Katherine Olives
Life is a platform that connects environmentally-conscious individuals with entrepreneurs selling green products, while also creating an online community in an Etsy meets Buzzfeed type of way.
Keenly, an app that allows individuals with social anxiety to monitor their stress levels while on outings with actual counselors, is breaking the stigma of mental health & bringing people together.
SafeSpace is an app that prevents sexual harassment and assault in party settings by allowing young people to keep track of their friends and find immediate help.
And UnitED translates school documents and homework for parents who are English language learners.
They sound like cool, new startups–and they are. But what if I told you they were started by high school girls? This summer marked the second year of our high school bridge program, and we couldnt believe the sophistication of the ideas that came out of it. #Bossgirls Bootcamp, a program sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, is designed to introduce young women to technology and entrepreneurship. The six-week program emphasizes a problem-based approach to entrepreneurship, and students participate in workshops that encourage them to not only discover solutions to problems all around them, but teach the ins and outs of running a startup. They also learn a bit of coding basics–enough to get them started on a prototype–and go out into the field to conduct in-person customer interviews. At the end of the six weeks, they present a business plan, app/website, and pitch deck.
Jana La Sorte, CEO of Ambassadora led the bootcamp, and coding workshops were led by Zahn alum Abhishek Samdaria. Shaimaa Habib (a former bossgirl) and Maleye Diakhate assisted and helped to coach the bossgirls towards the final stretch. The bossgirls were also supported by countless Standard Chartered mentors and peer mentors from Zahns startup competition.
This summer, the bossgirls focused on personal problems, and found solutions that aligned with their passions. Each year its amazing to see these students from different backgrounds and a variety of high schools come together for common causes. This summers cohort represented high schools like the Academy of Finance & Enterprise, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Brooklyn Latin, Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, Democracy Prep, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass Academy, Gregorio Luperon, NEST+M, New Rochelle, and Stuyvesant. Whats incredible is that these students now have a network that they never would have had.
The #Bossgirls Bootcamp doesnt stop over the summer. Each student is invited into a fellowship that carries into the Fall semester. Six bossgirls accepted the fellowship, and will receive personal mentorship from professionals at Standard Chartered Bank. There are also two teams continuing to develop their business through the Zahn Center–Life & SafeSpace–and we will continue to support their success.
You might be thinking, this deviates from our usual programming. So why do we do it? As part of Standard Chartereds Women in Technology incubator, were supporting women-led startups in New York City and doing our part to make sure that Silicon Alley has gender parity. Our own Kesia Hudson likes to say, I want to see more women in C-suite positions, especially here in New York. Thats part of what we do here–were creating female leaders in New York–and in our eyes, theres no better place to start than with the next generation.
We start recruitment for Summer 2019s #Bossgirls Bootcamp soon, so if you know someone who might be interested, you can email katherine@zahncenternyc.com to request more information until the application is ready.