One of the many programs offered through our Summer Youth Employment Program is the Marketing Academy. In partnership with the City of Cleveland, this seven-week paid program offers a hands-on learning experience where youth gain skills in writing, design, photography, branding and more. Throughout the summer, they work on a variety of projects as they explore different related career paths.

One of their first assignments was putting together short bios of each other. The ten participants paired off and interviewed each other. Check out what they wrote below!

Darnasia W.

Written by Jaylee W.

Seventeen-year-old Darnasia is a Junior Copywriter for the Y.O.U. Marketing Academy this summer. When asked why she applied for this academy, Darnasia replied that it aligned with her personal interests of drawing and painting.

"I'm into artistic things," she said while smiling.

As we learn the different components of marketing, design principles, and coding, Darnasia wants to apply what she learns for future careers.

"I want to apply it to personal projects and portfolios and incorporate it in my artwork. Learning coding will be useful for my major in college and the future,” she said. “The interviewing skills and interactions I'll get in this work environment will help with building relationships and networking in the future."

As Darnasia will be a 12th grader this fall at John Hay Early College High School, she plans to attend a college in Ohio for engineering after graduating. She wants to continue growing as a person (which we have no doubt that she'll do!).

Jaylee W.

Written by Darnasia W.

Jaylee is an 18-year-old graduate from Cleveland Metro Remote High School who will be attending The Ohio State University in the fall. She enjoys spending her free time drawing, listening to music, and watching K-dramas with her sister. Though she watches a plethora of genres, her favorite is horror.

Jaylee joined the Marketing Academy through the recommendation of her art teacher after she informed her of the marketing minor she was interested in. She enjoys expressing herself creatively through drawing, digital art, and recently painting.

In ten years, Jaylee sees herself being well established as a freelance designer while also starting a non-profit. This non-profit will aim to place counselors with careers that are aligned with specific high school students’ interests. This way students can be guided by adults in the fields they are interested in. She hopes to use what she learned at the Marketing Academy to build her company’s websites, learn to market herself, and improve connections with people.

Tymere B.

Written by Destiny H.

Tymere B. is 15 years old. He attends Horizon Science Academy going into his sophomore year. He joined the Marketing Academy program because he is interested in a marketing career. He wants to start young to pursue a career in retail. For fun, he likes to play board games and spend time on social media.

Destiny H.

Written by Tymere B.

Destiny goes to is Garrett Morgan School of Engineering and Innovation. She is 17 years old. The reason she picked this job is because she wants to pursue marketing and designing. Her main hobbies are doing nails and lashes, designing, mostly going on social media and buying shoes. A fun fact about Destiny is that she played an instrument for ten years and did some plays.

Antonio B.

Written by Michael M.

Antonio B. is 17 years old and is in the 12th grade. He goes to Campus International School and has an interest in photography. He joined this marketing program because he heard that photography goes hand-in-hand with marketing.

He likes to play games in his free time, especially Super Smash Bros (mainly playing Sora and King K. Rool). He wants to go to college after high school and study photography. He wants to understand photography down to a science.

Michael M.

Written by Antonio B.

This is Michael, he is 15 years old and goes to Campus International School. What got him interested in marketing was a suggestion from a friend who is also doing the program. He has a favorite superhero, Spiderman. He watches a lot of shows but his favorite so far is TrollHunters.

His favorite games are Elden Ring and Helldivers. He has 236 hours on Helldivers and has every achievement. On Elden Ring he is currently playing through the DLC, which he says it is really difficult. I asked him what was his favorite childhood memory and he said it was when his little sister was born.

Analyce C.

Written by Aaliyah Y.

Today, I had the opportunity of having an intimate conversation with Analyce and learn more about her story and her ambitions. Analyce is one of the many young and brilliant minds that are attending the Y.O.U. Summer Marketing Academy Program. We got the chance to discuss many different topics and learned new and interesting things about one another.

Analyce decided to join the program this summer because she has the very unique talent of crocheting clothes. She currently sells these items on her social media page, though she has a passion of owning her own boutique where she can sell her clothes.

Being both Puerto Rican and Black, she is really good at bringing her culture out in her cooking. She's the oldest of five siblings, loves to draw and is a wonderful mother to a beautiful baby girl named Mariana. Analyce plans on majoring in fashion design when she heads to college, though she also has a very strong interest in science and would even consider having a career in the science field. If given the chance, she would love to move to either Sweden or Spain. In all, I learned more about her than I thought I would and really enjoyed our conversation today.

Aaliyah A.

Written by Analyce C.

Aaliyah and I met at the Y.O.U. Marketing Academy program at the beginning of summer. Meeting her was very cool because she is a kind person that isn’t afraid to speak up. She is a very good artist & has a strong passion.

Aaliyah plans to be a software engineer because the money is good and she thinks it’s interesting to learn about different computers. Her major in college is International Business because she mainly wanted to do marketing and if she did international Business, she’d be able to travel the world. She wants to be a business owner as well. She would go to Dubai because it’s a safe place to go.

Meeting Aaliyah was a great experience for me because I don’t really talk to people about my life or things of that sort, but talking to her made me feel comfortable. She is very sweet and we had a great conversation. I learned a lot about her. For example, she started drawing during the pandemic because she needed a hobby to get through that time (like everyone else). Her inspiration for drawing was seeing her brother be able to draw realistic things and be good at it. She already has plans for when she has children and has their beautiful names picked out. She is big on self-care and self-healing. She has a to-do list for her day so she doesn’t forget and has a good routine going. I think Aaliyah is a great and passionate person that will do a lot of good for the world.

Liberty M.

Written by Rapheal B.

Liberty is born and raised in Cleveland. She loves drawing and also doing nails but fell out of love with it. She joined the Marketing Academy to learn new things. Liberty started working with Y.O.U. her freshman year at East Tech High School. She goes to John Hay High School but is transferring to Cleveland School of Arts for her senior year. Her definition of success is to not be in debt and not worry about how to spend money in the future or struggling in the future.

Rapheal B.

Written by Liberty M.

Ralph currently goes to John Adams High School as a junior. He found out about the Marketing Academy through a Y.O.U employee and he enjoys learning new things through this program. He wants to learn how to start his own business and market himself to other companies.

When he feels stressed, he goes to sleep or he plays video games. One of his strengths is playing sports and listening to people very well. Rapheal says he has a creative mind and he is good at building. He defines success as generational wealth and doing things on your own. His favorite foods are mac n cheese, ribs, chicken and yams.