The Technology Entertainment Convergence (TEC) Conference hosted by TEC Leimert convened experts in STEM, entertainment, Virtual Reality and the arts to exchange insights, wisdom and share the skills necessary for community members in South Los Angeles to succeed. LeadersUp helps connect unemployed young adults to career opportunities and was a featured partner for the TEC Conference, which is held annually in South Los Angeles in the historic Leimert Park community. LeadersUp hosted a panel at the conference on building diverse career pathways into these industries called “The Future of the Creative Economy”.
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This discussion was inspired by a recent LeadersUp report, ‘A Case for a More Inclusive Creative Economy” which shares findings from an immersive summer internship program between LeadersUp and James Bland Productions that helped connect young people of color to career opportunities behind the camera.
Discussion Panelists included:
- Jeffery Wallace, CEO of LeadersUp
- James Bland, Actor, Producer and Creator of the Digital Series “Giants”
- Besidone Amoruwa, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Emerging Talent at Instagram
- Chika Chukudebelu, Vice President of Programming & Diversity at NBC Universal
Moderator: Ashley Whitaker, Creative Executive at Harpo Films
“We have to own our economic power, drive money into companies that reflect our values and invest in talent that reflects the content we see,” shared Jeffery Wallace, LeadersUp, CEO. Wallace went on to state “we need to channel our strength to reflect our culture and to do this we need to create opportunities for young people in our community.” When audience members asked what happens next? Wallace shared a rallying call to action about supporting LeadersUp’s upcoming hiring event, The Career Pathway Summit, that is slated for this fall of and expected to connect young people to jobs in diverse industries throughout Los Angeles.
The Career Pathway Summit, a free and transformative hiring event, aims to serve over 1,000 opportunity youth (young adults between the ages of 18 to 29 that are unemployed and not in school) and job seekers from across Los Angeles county will gain access to over 20 top employers hiring on-the-spot. There will also be on-site career resources, interactive workshops, celebrity guest speakers, free swag, and much more!
Join the Movement
The LeadersUp Career Pathway Summit is a part of a movement that can only be sustained with the support of the community. Here is how you can get involved:
- Become an employer partner and meet your entry-level talent needs
- Volunteer to help connect young adults in your community to employment
- Attend the event as a job seeker and connect to on-the-spot opportunities
To share your interest, please visit bit.ly/lu-career-summit or text CAREER to 64600. Visit bit.ly/lucreativeeconomy to read the full LeadersUp Creative Economy report. Follow LeadersUp on Twitter for up to date information.
About LeadersUp
LeadersUp is a non-profit organization focused on ending the youth unemployment and opportunity-divide by meeting business hiring needs with a pipeline of ready-to-work young adults. Since its founding in 2013, LeadersUp has connected over 3,000 young adults to career pathways and trained over 10,000 young people with the essential professional development skills employers are seeking. www.leadersup.org.
