YW 66 - Young & Successful Media with Jennifer Kushell

At 38, Jennifer Kushell, has lead a movement inspiring young people to do more with their lives for two decades. As Co-Founder and President of Young & Successful Media, she has been a relentless advocate for the younger generations, impacting the lives and futures of millions around the world. In 2006, she led her company in launching YSN.com – Your Success Network – an online universe for emerging adults to explore their passions, connect with ambitious others and find opportunities across the globe. The site has since attracted young entrepreneurs, leaders and fast rising executives from 200+ countries.

Author of the NY Times Best Seller Secrets of the Young & Successful (Simon & Schuster), The Young Entrepreneur's Edge (Random House) and Solo Para Emprendedores (Grupo Norma), she has been called a “guru” of her generation’s entrepreneurial movement by US News & World Report and “The Career Doctor” by Cosmopolitan.

Kushell has appeared in front hundreds of millions throughout the world via major media such as CNN, CNBC, BBC, NPR, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, Cosmopolitan, and Seventeen and has sourced over 400 journalists on trends that affect young people, while providing emotionally charged content to inspire emerging adults to lead extraordinary lives.

As a popular speaker, she has addressed and delivered keynotes to a wide range of corporations, trade associations, universities and organizations, including: Starwood Hotels, American Express/OPEN, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Business Growth Conferences, The National Association of Women Business Owners, Junior Chamber International’s World Congress in Japan, Students in Free Enterprise, AIESEC, Future Business Leaders of America, The National Youth Leadership Congress, Insead University in France, Harvard’s International Business Conference, The Harvard Club in Belgium, University of Lima in Peru, ESEN (Escuela Superior de Economìa y Negocios) in El Salvador, The White House Conference on Small Business, and the National Science Center in Australia.

As a corporate consultant and thought leader, Kushell has worked with a wide range of educators, NGOs government agencies, and global corporations. Highlights include projects with Subway AOL, Visa, Bank of America, BusinessWeek, Inc, Ernst & Young, MTV, Staples, Exxon/Mobil Oil, The Australian Government, Job Corps, and Boston Public Schools. Her focus: The Next Generation Workforce and Youth Empowerment, Employment and Entrepreneurship. Kushell has helped sculpt numerous programs, promotions, and initiatives targeting students, young professionals and business owners, while increasing the amount of information, resources, and support available both nationally and internationally. These collaborations grant organizations unparalleled access to young people around the globe, an intimate understanding of what motivates them, and paves the way for innovative solutions to make campaigns more influential, emotionally charged and compelling.

Having started her first small business at the age of 13, by 19, Kushell was on a mission. Frustrated with the lack of support and guidance available for younger people pursuing their first ventures, in 1993 she founded The Young Entrepreneurs Network, one of the first online communities connecting over 10,000 entrepreneurs in 70 countries. From there, her team conducted the first psychographic research study on young entrepreneurs (featured by the Wall Street Journal) and wrote the first advanced entrepreneurship curriculum for high school students.

A founding member of the National Mentoring Partnership, Kushell worked with the founders and top executives of leading youth service organizations (such as Big Brothers, YMCA, Girl Scouts of America, etc.) to further the reach of mentoring programs throughout the country, establish guidelines for best practices, and increase government funding via new legislation. She has also served on the advisory boards of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), The National Mentoring Policy Counsel, and Harvard Women in Business. Kushell has been honored with national awards from the National Federation of Independent Business, The US Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and The Kauffman Foundation.

Find out more about Jen Kushell at http://jenniferkushell.com/