Today we’d like to introduce you to Weston Seid and Khiry Kemp.
Weston and Khiry, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We realized that when we entered college, we didn’t have a strong understanding of potential business careers. Through various on-campus experiences and summer internships, we were able to engage in work ranging from financial services to marketing. By pursuing and securing internships, we were able to learn what we liked and disliked, and it was very different from what high school prepared us for. What if we could help high school students develop a solid understanding of careers in business before entering college?
We saw that there were high school students who we could help develop a stronger understanding of business, and we decided to create a nonprofit dedicated to that cause. We wanted students to learn business fundamentals. After a couple days of thought, we decided to name the company “Building BLOC,” with “BLOC” being an acronym for “Business Leaders of Orange County” in part due to our location, which quickly became “Business Leaders of California” to allow for growth throughout the state with the anticipation of a larger expansion. We checked online for availability and registered the company in the state of California.
We started at Westminster High School with our first initiative, Building BLOC Club, that brought students mentorship, community, and leadership opportunities! After only a few months of developing this initiative, we established another initiative, Building BLOC Career.
Students were asking where they can find volunteering and internship opportunities. With this latest initiative, Building BLOC establishes relationships with communities to help provide these opportunities to high school students! Since launching Building BLOC Career in January 2019, we have grown our nonprofit from 1 school to 25 states, 31 School Districts, 91 Schools, open to 157k students!
Our latest initiative is to further the amount of communities we bring together through Building BLOC Career. We are doing a road trip to set a Guinness World Record of ‘Fastest time to visit 48 contiguous US States by electric vehicle.’ Through this trip, we will be meeting all the schools we have established relationships with to congratulate them for providing students with awesome opportunities!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think the hardest thing for us is leaving our jobs. Previously Weston and Khiry worked at KPMG and Deloitte respectively as Consultants. In theory, it is clear to put impact over profits but becomes hard when we have to worry about rent, food, and car expenses.
Over the course of our time as consultants, we saved up as much as we could, moved into Weston’s parent’s house, share a room with queen-sized bunk beds, and eat frugally (specifically canned chili).
Once we validated the full impact we can make, we knew we had to chase our passion.
Please tell us about Building Bloc.
Our nonprofit has two main initiatives, Building BLOC Club and Building BLOC Career.
Building BLOC Club: Using experiential club activities and personal mentorship, we enable students to find a career they are truly passionate about.
Building BLOC Career: Fostering genuine relationships with nonprofits, local businesses, and corporation, we empower career centers to give their students as many opportunities as possible.
We are here to help high school students chase their passion! We enjoy what we do and we want these students to enjoy whatever career they choose!
A few unique things that separate us from others are as follows:
– Our mentors, young professionals that are old enough to have great experiences but young enough for students to find them relatable. We find this to be the sweet spot for high school students to really find our mentors as older siblings and much more approachable!
– Our partnerships, we work with nonprofits, small businesses, corporations, mentors, teachers, counselors, school districts, students, and parents! We work with so many awesome passionate people that we can make sure we deliver the best experience to the students!
Pricing:
- Completely Free
Contact Info:
- Website: thebuildingbloc.org
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebuildingbloc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBuildingBLOC/
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
