Amnoni Myers, CEO of Launch Ahead and You Are the Prize, has transformed her personal experience in the foster care system into a long-term solution for future generations. Launch Ahead, her platform, aims to support foster youth as they transition into adulthood.
At the 2024 Black Venture Summit in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Myers presented her initiative to a crowd of investors and attendees, showcasing its potential impact. Following her pitch, she sat down with rolling Out to discuss her vision and the journey behind Launch Ahead.
What was it like to pitch at the Black Venture Summit?
I am super honored to have had the opportunity to pitch for the Black Venture Summit.
The showcase and the pitch were amazing. It was really important for me to talk about the wins I’ve had since April when I graduated from ACT House. I have reached milestone after milestone.
It was just a beautiful time to be on stage, feel the energy from the crowd and be able to see the progress I’ve made so far since building out this company.
What is Launch Ahead?
We are essentially revolutionizing the way we do transitional planning for young people in foster care.
I will have a goal management app that’s going to help. It’s going to help support young people in the foster care system as they transition out of care. Our app is going to provide resources [and] mentorship and we’re going to help them connect them to their goals. It’s also going to help them with their essential documents.
We also are going to help increase caseworker efficiency [with] being able to support young people [by] being able to do their tracking of the young people. So, instead of doing paper-based plans, they’re going to be able to track the young person’s progress in real time.
What is your book about?
My book is titled, You Are the Prize: Seeing Yourself Beyond the Imperfections of Your Trauma. It’s essentially a memoir of my life, of what it was to grow up and age out of the U.S. foster care system. I talk about the wins, the challenges, the struggles and how we can inspire other young people that, no matter what you’ve gone through, you can do amazing things.
Most importantly, I wrote this book because I lost my little sister. I lost my little sister to the foster care system. … One of the things that she said to me was, “Sis, always remember that you are the prize.”
So what I said was, “I am going to utilize the grief. I’m going to utilize this tragedy of losing my little sister to be able to write a book and to be able to talk about the pain, the wins, the struggles and the areas where we can help improve the foster care system.”
What are some challenges you’ve faced with your business and how have you overcome them?
One of the challenges I faced in the very beginning was I was doing a lot of it on my own. We also know funding is hard to come by.
I am a go-getter, and I’m determined. I know how to make anything out of nothing, but I feel like, in entrepreneurship, you have to continuously improve and prove yourself. So being in tune with a community is knowing you’re not alone. When I meet other founders and hear about their journey, I recognize I’m not alone. During the times that I want to stop, I recognize I’m surrounded by other young people or other entrepreneurs who are in the same boat. So, it’s really about sharing your resources.
