The five grand prize winners were among 25 students
recognized for their work addressing the challenges of a changing
world and honored this week by co-anchor of NBC's "Today" show,
Hoda Kotb, and Prudential Chairman
and CEO Charles
Lowrey.
NEWARK,
N.J., April 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
Twenty-five outstanding young people were honored this week
by the Prudential Emerging Visionaries
program for their initiatives to address pressing
financial and societal issues.
Presented by Prudential
Financial in partnership with the social
entrepreneurship network Ashoka and with advisory support from the
Financial Health Network, the Emerging Visionaries program honors
young people ages 14-18 from the United
States and internationally. These individuals are selected
from a wide pool of impressive candidates for their leadership in
crafting fresh, innovative solutions to today's financial and
societal challenges.
"You are joining a community we want to help
grow — a community of young
people working to create positive change around the world," said
Prudential Chairman and CEO Charles
Lowrey. "Thank you for your hard work and for setting such
an inspiring example."
Each of the 25 national winners, named in February, earned
a $5,000 award and an
all-expenses-paid trip to this week's Emerging Visionaries Summit.
The summit included an awards ceremony, where winners were
celebrated by co-anchor of NBC's "Today" show, Hoda Kotb. The students also consulted with
Prudential senior leaders on the topics of strategy and impact and
worked with Prudential employee coaches, who helped them refine and
advance their projects.
During one of the liveliest segments of the event, five of
this year's winners were selected as grand prize finalists and
given the opportunity to pitch their ideas for advancing financial
equity to a panel of judges. The prize: an additional $10,000. The judges included Lowrey, leaders from
Ashoka and the Financial Health Network, as well as two program
alumni.
The judges were tasked with selecting one grand prize
winner from the five finalists. However, after hearing how
impactful the finalists have been in promoting financial inclusion,
the judges unanimously decided to award $10,000 to each of the five presenters, who
received a total of $15,000
each.
In addition, employees voted to name an Employees' Choice
Award winner, who was awarded an additional $5,000 to support their work.
Read on to learn about the five grand prize winners and the
Employees' Choice Award winner:
Grand prize winner: Michael
Brode, 17, of Winterville, North Carolina, is the founder of
"Crypto Debunked," an immersive learning platform
that teaches young people about financial topics such as
cryptocurrency and blockchain to bridge the
financial education gap facing young people in underserved
communities.
Growing up in a rural town with a large percentage of the
population living at or below the poverty level, Brode saw
financial literacy as a way for individuals to "create new
wealth-building opportunities and foster an entrepreneurial
mindset." As a result, he created age-appropriate, easily
accessible resources for young people such as online courses, a
mobile application, blogs and a book. Brode has partnered with 15
schools and 25 nonprofit organizations to incorporate his
cryptocurrency and financial education curriculum
into their offerings, reaching more than 5,500 young
people.
For additional photos and b-roll footage:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/c5f2cf55-b9b2-417a-4ed9-4a25bcc3646a
Grand prize winner: Jonathan De
Caro, 16, of Moodus,
Connecticut, founded "One Loan Fund," a financial platform
that provides microloans to unbanked rural women in Latin America with the goal of fostering
economic mobility, inclusion and sustainable financial
health.
"As a Brazilian, I was always invested in the economics of
Latin America and wanting to
create a change through taking action," De Caro says. He decided to
focus on working with rural women because of the important role
they play in the labor force, education and public and family
health. Many women who receive microloans from One Loan Fund start
their own ventures, developing a long-term source of income that
enables them to attain financial well-being. So far, De Caro has
connected a network of more than 300 women to vital financial
resources, fostering empowerment and opportunity within their
communities.
For additional photos and b-roll footage:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/208201fd-0a31-4fbb-6b14-78041e02b387
Grand prize winner: Caden
Harris, 14, of Stonecrest, Georgia, is the founder of "Financial Literacy
for All," a program on wheels that aims to create a world in which
financial literacy is integrated into the curriculum of every
school and is accessible to all young people. Financial Literacy
for All operates a financial literacy bus that travels the country
hosting events that teach students the importance of fiscal
responsibility.
Harris first heard the term financial literacy when
sitting in on one of his father's business meetings. He wasn't
familiar with the concept and realized that many high schoolers
have little to no financial literacy knowledge. He began learning
about finance and started his initiative to help communities
overcome economic disparities and ensure that all young people can
access the knowledge they need to plan their financial futures.
Since founding his project five years ago, Harris has visited
dozens of schools across the nation on his financial literacy bus
and taught over 10,000 kids.
For additional photos and b-roll footage:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/305f1415-4104-4f92-41a5-179e592fa402
Grand prize winner: Sebastian
Tan, 16, of Sewickley,
Pennsylvania, is the founder of "OutsideConnection," an
online job site that drives economic opportunity for previously
incarcerated individuals by allowing them to search for open
positions at businesses and make meaningful contributions to their
local communities.
As a child, Tan grew up working at his family's bakery
alongside a diverse group of employees, some of whom had been
incarcerated. "Our reentrants have become more than just employees;
they've become our family," he says. Tan's project is working to
prevent reincarceration by creating pathways to employment.
OutsideConnection uses manual and artificial intelligence to
collect and sort jobs, creating a searchable online marketplace for
reentrants. Currently, the site hosts opportunities from more than
40 companies in 17 states.
For additional photos and b-roll footage:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/dbda1dec-e53f-4365-577a-c45012f2102c
Grand prize winner: Remy
Tsukahira, 17, of Los
Angeles, is the founder of "Artemis Girls Business Academy,"
a network connecting teen girls to professional women mentors that
expands access to the information, connections and skills needed to
pursue careers in business and entrepreneurship.
Tsukahira has experienced firsthand the challenges of accessing
the resources and connections needed to pursue her dream career. "I
knew that if I was feeling this way, there had to be other girls
going through the same thing — so why not help
each other by sharing resources, information and access?" she says.
Artemis Girls Business Academy works to support the next generation
of women leaders in business by offering resources, including
informational interviews and a speaker series. The network
currently operates on a national level and is expanding through a
chapter model.
For additional photos and b-roll footage:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/675a99ea-4d88-4199-73c7-325662e8b3a8
Employees' Choice Award winner: Sreenidi Bala, 16,
of Farmington, Connecticut, is the
founder of "Code for All Minds," a computer science program for
neurodivergent students that provides educators and families with a
curriculum to make STEM career paths a possibility for young people
with learning disabilities.
Growing up, Bala's best friend had autism, so she often
helped in her school's Special Learning Classroom. "Despite
students' talents and verbal abilities, all of them were being
prepared for careers in labor-intensive industries; there were no
STEM opportunities available," says Bala. This realization started
her on the journey to create STEM resources that use learning
strategies best suited for students with autism. Since Code for All
Minds launched, many students with special needs in Bala's school
district have been inspired to pursue technical post-graduate
programs.
For additional photos and b-roll footage:
https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/7aa98458-2b6e-45fd-7f6b-a868c9020775
To learn more about Prudential Emerging Visionaries and
all 25 national winners,
visit prudential.com/emergingvisionaries.
About Prudential Financial
Prudential Financial,
Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active
global investment manager, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe
and Latin America. Prudential's
diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by
creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential's iconic
Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and
innovation for more than a century. For more information, please
visit news.prudential.com.
About Ashoka
Ashoka is the largest global
network of leading social entrepreneurs — individuals with new
ideas to systemically address the world's biggest challenges and
the entrepreneurial skill to transform those ideas into national,
regional and global social impact. Over 40 years, Ashoka has
supported more than 3,600 social entrepreneurs in 90 countries with
solutions addressing society's most pressing issues. Ashoka's
vision is a world in which everyone is a changemaker — a society
that responds quickly and effectively to challenges, and in which
every individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support
to address any social problem. For more information,
visit ashoka.org.
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SOURCE The Prudential Insurance Company of America