Future Founders and Google Spend Week Empowering Female Leaders of Tomorrow

April 8, 2021

Future Founders wants to inspire more young women to become entrepreneurs. That’s why we spent last week partnering with Google for another year of Startup Spring Break, a free week-long camp for middle school girls.

The camp – which was run 100% virtually for the very first time – brought together 23 aspiring female entrepreneurs from 18 different Chicago Public Schools. Working with the amazing team at Google, Future Founders built a full slate of virtual programming that offered students the opportunity to:

• Connect with successful female entrepreneurs and tech employees
• Create a peer group of like-minded, talented female students
• Gain exposure to Chicago’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Develop the 21st Century Skills they need to become entrepreneurs and future leaders
• Build their own business concepts and mobile app prototypes

Future Founders would like to thank all the amazing volunteers who participated in the various Startup Spring Break events. We’d also like to thank the female entrepreneurs from our alumni network that worked as coaches, judges, speakers, and mentors:

• Tayyaba Ali
• Christina Fontenelle
• Lisa Larbi
• Taylor Morrison
• Kristen Sanders
• Mikaela Turner
• Shannon Varcoe

Future Founders would also like to congratulate the students who walked away winners at the Startup Spring Break Pitch Competition!

First Place Winner ($150 cash prize for each team member):
SJXM Studies: An app that makes education more fun by gamifying the studying process and rewarding students as they learn.

• Sophia Szpila, 7th grader at James G. Blaine Elementary School
• Monica Cardenas, 8th grader at Florence Nightingale Elementary School
• Xochitl Ortiz, 7th grader at Florence Nightingale Elementary School
• Joey Peng, 8th grader at James Ward Elementary School

Runner Up (New tablets for each team member):
PartyVerse: A video chat platform that helps friends stay connected and engaged, even over long distances.

• Adrianna Baptiste, 8th grader at Village Leadership Academy
• Makayla Driver, 7th grader at Turner-Drew Language Academy
• Julia Rodriguez, 8th grader at Keller Regional Gifted Center
• Ashley Diaz, 7th grader at Dawes Elementary School

Future Founders is incredibly grateful to all the amazing students, speakers, mentors, volunteers, judges, and other individuals who made the Startup Spring Break program possible. We also want to thank Google for their continued support of our programming, and their dedication to youth and entrepreneurship across Chicago.