Entrepreneur Peytyn Willborn recently visited her alma mater, Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy, to kick off an innovative initiative to give back to the youth of the city she loves.
Designed to educate and provide resources for Chicago’s inner-city youth interested in entrepreneurship, Willborn’s “Future Moguls” campaign will call for her to speak at various schools around the city for the remainder of the school year, in addition to hosting educational seminars on entrepreneurship for students.
The program’s goal is to educate youth on financial literacy and business development, as well as provide them with communication and networking skills needed to foster both personal and professional growth.
During the campaign, one $500 textbook scholarship will be awarded to a graduating senior with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in addition to one $500 stipend to an aspiring business owner to be used on startup costs. This scholarship recipient will also have a chance to consult with Willborn and get a thorough step-by-step breakdown of how to incorporate a business.
According to Willborn, it was her own humble beginnings that inspired her to put the campaign together.
“It was very important for me to start this scholarship because I remember where I came from. I came from a low-income household,” she said. “We lived in [the housing project] Altgeld Gardens, and I know firsthand what it is and how to it feels not to have, but to still have a dream.”
A former stylist to the stars, Willborn has singlehandedly evolved into an entrepreneurial strategist with four thriving businesses to her credit in the last decade. She is the founder and CEO of Kids R First, a 24-hour daycare center situated on the south side of Chicago. In less than five years, the wildly popular childcare facility expanded to two more locations, thus creating a franchise. Her latest endeavor has the business savvy mom of two maneuvering into the culinary arena by opening an Italian restaurant named Truth in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
Willborn hopes her “Future Moguls” campaign will encourage and motivate youth to not only seek wonderful opportunities but create them as well. She sais she feels it’s her duty to help make those opportunities happen for others.
“I remember going through the cosmetology program at Simeon and not having money. I wanted to pursue this career and further my education in the hair industry and my mom just didn’t have it,” Willborn said. “So now that I have it I want to help others to get it too. I’ve been successful and I want to share it and this is how God told me to do so.”
For more information on the “Future Moguls” campaign, please email [email protected].
