The founder of The Gem Project had the honor to present at this year’s Stop Shootin’ Young  Entrepreneurship Program (YEP), which took place at the United Way of Essex and West Hudson Counties. The YEP is a 6 – week  summer long  program geared toward youth between age 13-18, which teaches youth the principles of business development and entrepreneurship. Toward the conclusion of the program, youth have the opportunity to compete in a business plan competition. The cash prizes for the competition were $500, $350, and $100.00.

Our founder spoke to youth about how to cultivate passion through their work and inspire a shared vision with their supporters: friends, family, and strangers. She introduced a “fear in the box” and “dream in a box” activity, participants   wrote on labels about what they feared most about entrepreneurship and life– and also did the same with what another label about what their dreams were. At the end of the program, solutions were discussed with each “fear,” and action-oriented advice was given to youth about achieving their dreams.

The founder’s workshop took place on July 17, 2012 from 9 AM – 11 AM. View more photos here.