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Addie Sims
Addie Sims is 15 and a sophomore at Gulf Breeze High School. Initiallyou sells completely customizable and unique initials for your home and workplace. Initiallyou has been crafting their initials for the past two years and has sold over 200 products. The company has a proven track record with arts festivals, select retailers, home parties, social media and word of mouth. The CEO, Addie Sims, has always been passionate about art and wanted to share this passion with others. When her family and friends began asking Addie for the products that she simply created for fun her hobby quickly turned into a business.
he Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) is a ground-breaking program that takes students through the process of starting and running real businesses over the course of a full academic year.
YEA! students, as a class, visit area businesses, meet succ
essful entrepreneurs, meet with professionals (attorneys, accountants, bankers, graphic designers, web developers, insurance providers, etc.), develop a business or social movement idea and plan, and work with mentors.
Students then pitch their ideas to a panel of investors made up of local business and community leaders with real dollars at stake to obtain funding, and then launch their venture. By the end of the class, students own and operate fully functioning businesses.
YEA! classes meet Tuesdays from 5-8 p.m. at the University of West Florida’s campus from November through May.
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Students in grades 6 to 12, from Santa Rosa and Escambia County are encouraged to APPLY NOW!
Interested in participating as a sponsor or volunteer in the program?
Click here for more sponsorship and volunteer information.
