NEW YORK, May 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Thrasio, the consumer goods company reimagining the world of commerce and consumer products, and Success Academy, the largest and highest-performing charter school network in NYC, have joined forces to create a fellowship program for young entrepreneurs.
The Thrasio Young Entrepreneur Fellowship offers a group of select high school students from Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts the chance to pitch their startup ideas to Thrasio executives and access the resources to make their businesses come to life.
In the inaugural program, students worked with Thrasio mentors to understand what’s involved in a pitch—not just the business itself, but how to conceptualize next steps, best practices for public speaking, and an array of skills needed to communicate, defend, and develop their own product pitches, culminating in a “Shark Tank” style competition.
Thrasio mentors were blown away by the SA student entrepreneurs, and Thrasio is thrilled to announce the exceptional students with the winning product pitches for this inaugural class:
Grand prize: Journalee
Juniors Khady Gadiaga and Aisata Diallo developed an idea for a set of three journals that address three of the many different issues that play a part in mental health. The journals are intended to help people recognize their problems, accept them, and work on them daily. According to Khady and Aisata: “We understand how hard it is to get up and actually attempt to be productive, but that is the purpose of the daily exercises. People will enjoy these exercises, motivating and exciting them to look forward to the next day’s exercises, and we hope to help them take a step forward with their mental health.”
Second prize: SA-NAN
SA-NAN (No Adults Needed) is a community as much as it is an organization. Led by juniors Hannah Moskowitz and Sneha Johnson, with Executive Team Oumou Diallo, Banel Cisse (both juniors), and Marie Fall (sophomore), SA-NAN is a tutoring and mentoring program for sixth graders and a leadership development program for high schoolers.
The winning Success Academy scholars will see their product and/or idea produced, receive ongoing consulting from their Thrasio mentors, and a Thrasio dedicated “web squad” to develop a direct-to-consumer website for Journalee. Both teams will receive higher-education scholarship funds and, in addition, Thrasio has made a contribution to the Success Academy scholarship fund, earmarked for “future entrepreneurs.”
“Thrasio is a company built on making entrepreneurs’ dreams come true,” says Thrasio President and longtime Success Academy supporter Danny Boockvar. “Making dreams come true is what Success Academy does as well. The work that they do in urban and at-risk communities sets students up for a lifetime of professional success. We’re thrilled to be a part of giving students the confidence to lean in to the different paths they can take as entrepreneurs.”
“Presenting their ideas, taking feedback, and working to better develop their business proposals has been extremely rewarding for our scholars,” said Success Academy Founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz. “Thanks to the entrepreneurs at Thrasio, students are learning and implementing professional and leadership skills.”
About Success Academy
Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools are free public K-12 schools open to all children in the state through a random lottery. With 47 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 20,000 students, primarily children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 74% receive free or reduced-price lunch, 94% are students of color, 16% have disabilities, and 8% are English language learners. In 2020, 100% of SA’s third and largest class of 99 graduating seniors were accepted to college, with 22% accepted to highly selective and 47% to selective institutions, with robust financial aid packages; 82% of the class will be the first in their families to attend college. For more information about Success Academy, visit successacademies.org.
About Thrasio
Thrasio is the consumer goods company reimagining omnichannel commerce and consumer products, and boasts an innovation engine that brings high-quality products to market across digital marketplaces, channels, and retailers globally. With the experience of evaluating 6,000 Amazon companies, data on consumer preferences from more than 100 brands, and the operational scale of more than 22,000 products, Thrasio is the largest acquirer of Amazon FBA brands. Under Thrasio’s management, Amazon native brands compete with top household name labels, quickly becoming the trusted items that consumers turn to for their everyday needs. Thrasio brands include the Vybe Percussion deep tissue massage gun, Circadian Optics bright light therapy lamps, and skincare products from Sdara Skincare. For more information, visit https://thras.io.
SOURCE Thrasio
