Meet Cassie Betts of Made In South LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassie Betts

Hi Cassie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was 19 years old and living in Honolulu, Hawaii, I was kidnapped. This man steals my car and beats me up. He drives to a remote part of the North Shore. He’s threatening to kill me and put my body in the trunk. He orders me out of the car and tells me to get on my knees. I kneel… Execution style. At this moment, I see the TRUE wealth of the world for the first time. The sky is crisp and brilliant blue. The palm trees are the most beautiful of greens I’d ever seen. The wind feels like kisses against my skin. I’m thinking of all the women who’ve lost their lives this way. As he puts the gun to the back of my head, I speak to God. I pray, “God. If you save me from this moment, I promise… I will change the world.” At that very moment, “our song” comes on the car radio, which I honestly don’t remember ever being on, but I digress. My kidnapper, also my ex boyfriend, starts to cry….

Fast forward a couple decades. I am Founder/ CEO of Made In South LA or MISLA. MISLA is part Tech Academy and part Creative/Software Agency with focus on creating generation wealth amongst the most vulnerable populations.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A smooth road?! No! But we still here! Sometimes I marvel at the fact that Made In South LA started 10 years ago in the janitor’s closet of the 2nd floor of a charter school in an area in South Central known as “Murderer’s Row”. We were able to get some funding and turn the second floor into a business center. I was actually homeless during that time period. I found myself in a verbally abusive relationship and when I left him, no one would rent to me because I had a foreclosure on my record. I had owned a townhouse a few years before that when… trigger warning… my best friend “unalived” herself in my master bedroom. So in my state of trauma and distress, I lost my home. When I had my boys, I’d stay at my cousin’s house. When they were with their father, I’d sleep in my car or in the business center that we built. That’s the hard part about living out your dreams… Nightmares don’t stop and life be lifin’!

The biggest struggle is the simple lack of financial resources. I’ve always been a hustler. I can bring big bags, but those big bags can dwindle fast! I’d say the hardest part of the journey has been the betrayals. People who I thought were good people stealing from me and the company. That’s probably what set me back the most because it broke my heart.

We’ve been impressed with Made In South LA, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At MISLA, we train youth + adults from disinvested communities in all things tech! Our Tech Academy has trained youth from Rwanda, Jamaica, Italy, and other parts of the world. Our bootcamps range from software engineering, web and app development to AI Design, Animation and multimedia. Much of our training programs are funded by grants and corporate sponsors. Our Creative Agency works with small businesses, startups and large corporations in branding, digital marketing, and launching digital products.

We also build out tech centers. I was the visionary and catalyst behind South LA’s Best Buy Teen Tech Center and am in the process of building out multiple tech centers throughout the globe with our fiscal sponsor CEDC- Community Economic Development Corporation.

What sets our agency apart from other creative agencies is the fact that we reinvest our profits back into the community. We have invested our profits back into more workforce development programs and/ or digital products that bring about Social Impact. Making positive change in our communities comes first. We hire many of the youth we train to work for our agency or we help to get them placed elsewhere. Some of our students have even gone on to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in launching their own tech startups!

Small businesses can hire our youth for small creative and admin tasks on our website at hireus.misla.org.

Our next Bootcamp is called “Animate Our World with AI Animation”. It starts January 6th, 2025 and is a hybrid Bootcamp. We are training people in AI. We will be teaching ChatGPT, AI design + animation. The Bootcamps will result in fully-executed, animated projects. We are giving full scholarships to youth ages 13-26 who are low-income, re-entry, or foster youth from the South LA area. Those who do not qualify for full scholarships can still apply for partial scholarships or to be a mentor at animate.misla.org.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Shameless Plug! We have a radio show/ podcast that interviews guests from all different careers in tech. The show is called talktechto.me. It goes live every Saturday at 12pm Pacific on KBLA Talk 1580. Meeting all of these guests has been great networking for social impact projects. We are always looking for new guests to bring on the show!

I love the podcast We are LA Tech. Espree Devora is a close friend of mine and she goes hard for the LA Startup Community.

I didn’t mention it before, but I started a tech company in 2013, yes just 1 year before the nonprofit cuz I’m crazy! And some of the most notable books that really helped guide me through that process were Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh and The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Pricing:

• $1000- Brand Development
• $1500- Foundation Site- 1 page website
• $2500- Growth Site- More optimized for Growth
• $6500- E-commerce
• $2500- 12 Week AI Animation Bootcamp (Hybrid)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://misla.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeinsouth.la/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cassiebettscouture
• Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/instabetts/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@madeinsouthla
• Yelp: https://www.instagram.com/talktechto.me/
• Soundcloud: https://www.tiktok.com/@talktechto.me
• Other: https://talktechto.me/

Image Credits
Basim Abdel-Aziz