We equip students for life beyond the classroom by partnering with schools and businesses to develop, organize, and implement engaging educational competitions in communities across the US. Students need to be active learners and innovators when it comes to career awareness and their education — not passively listening to professionals at a career day.
The problem
Children in underserved communities are not exposed to private sector jobs and have limited career awareness because of it.
Without proper career exposure in America’s most diverse communities, how can we tap into the full potential of our nation’s workforce?
50% of students from low SES that enroll in college receive a degree
491:1 is the average HS student to counselor ratio
In addition, companies lack diverse talent and the strategies to further future diversity in their industry. Recruiters share there is no pipeline at the collegiate level.
1% of Fortune 500 companies have an African American CEO
85% of top executive positions are held by white men
We ask our corporate partners to be part of the solution—introducing their industry and their professionals to students as early as 10 years old. Students need to see people who look like them sitting at the table.
Our mission
SuitUp increases career readiness for all students through innovative business plan competitions.
Our vision
SuitUp’s vision is to align the incentives of schools and corporations to ensure that all students have the access and awareness to pursue the college and career of their choosing. We envision a world in which all companies have a corporate executive that can call themselves a SuitUp alum.
The solution
Through SuitUp, students experience solving a realistic corporate challenge, such as designing a new product for Nike. They have the opportunity to interact with corporate volunteers who coach them on marketing, design, financing, and strategy as well as professional “soft skills”, before helping them pitch virtually to judges for a cash prize.
By the end of the experience, students can see the corporate world as part of “their world” and know that job titles, such as CEO, CFO, VP of Marketing, etc. are now in their grasp.
Zooming In Across The US