California

BUILD CALIFORNIA

Launched in 1999

“As the flagship BUILD region, BUILD California showcases that dreaming big, working hard and persistence is in all of us.”.

3,155

Students Served

2,092

Mentors

163

Youth Businesses

65

Teachers Trained

PROBLEM:

A student’s opportunity is too often limited by their zip code, race and class.

the build story
IN CALIFORNIA.

The BUILD program was founded in the Bay Area in 1999, and now serves over 1,500 students annually throughout the state of California, equipping them for college, career and life success. BUILD partners directly with schools and integrates our curriculum into existing Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways to help students develop and run their own small businesses, ultimately delivering content that enriches students’ high school experience in profound ways. Our program prepares students for postsecondary education as well as the rapidly changing needs of the 21st century workforce. BUILD showcases that dreaming big, working hard, and persistence are in all of us.

 

Through our 25 year history, BUILD California has been dedicated to creating systemic change in the educational system. As we move forward, we will continue to inspire and empower under-resourced students to achieve their full potential and help build a brighter, more equitable and interconnected society.

1999

BUILD Founded in East Palo Alto

BUILD, founded by Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, launches as dropout prevention program inspired by four high school students in East Palo Alto.
2004

Oakland Program Launched

BUILD launches programming in Oakland
2021

Los Angeles Program Launched

BUILD launches in Los Angeles through partnership with LAUSD CTE pathways

Yazmin

Yazmin, an Oakland BUILD alum shares her experiences on how she is preserving, maintains her hope, and emotional balance through COVID-19.

 

watch her story

Team Connect

Meet Team Connect, formerly known as Berry Inc., a group of brilliant young women creating ways for family members to stay connected with one another during the pandemic.

watch their story

Ises Roopnarine

Ises Roopnarine, a 2018 BUILD Oakland graduate, shares how BUILD inspired her to seek change and dream big: “We have the power and strength to do whatever we desire.”

watch her story

Thank You to Our Partners

  • All
  • Angel $10K+
  • Bay Area
  • Boston
  • Catalyst $100K+
  • Incubator $50K+
  • Regions
  • Visionary $20K+

updates & events.

BUILD.org Hosts Youth Entrepreneurship Competitions Nationwide to Celebrate 25 Years of Empowering Youth and Educators

As BUILD.org embarks on its 25th year, it proudly showcases the next generation of entrepreneurial changemakers through its innovative BUILDFest events in Bay Area, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Boston, and New York City over the next month. BUILD, a national nonprofit organization, is on a mission to use entrepreneurship to ignite the potential of youth from under-resourced communities, enabling them to build career success, entrepreneurial mindsets, and opportunity. BUILDFest events serve as vibrant celebrations of the transformational power of youth entrepreneurship, redefining education and creating opportunities for middle and high school students in under-resourced communities.
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BUILD’s 5th Annual Huddle Up 2024

BUILD's 5th Annual Huddle Up 2024 event, held on March 5th at the SVB Experience Center in San Francisco, was a huge success thanks to our generous sponsor, SVB/First Citizen Bank! The event raised $25,000 in support of our mission to ignite the power of youth in under-resourced communities to build Career success, Entrepreneurial mindsets and Opportunity. Thanks to all our generous supporters.
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Celebrating Mentorship: Leigh Mason’s Journey with BUILD.org

In celebration of National Entrepreneurship Week, we’re thrilled to shine a spotlight on Leigh Mason, BUILD California mentor for the last eight years. Leigh’s journey with BUILD exemplifies the transformative […]
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EY Connect Day x BUILD

BUILD is proud to be a partner of EY and one of the signature initiatives for its global corporate responsibility program, EY Connect Day. On November 3, EY employees from […]
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BUILD.org Announces The Winning Team of the Inaugural BUILDFest Los Angeles Youth Pitch Challenge

Los Angeles, CA – May 26, 2023 – BUILD.org declared the winning high school team, Maje Studios, from STEM Academy of Hollywood, as the first place winner of the 2023 […]
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BUILD.org and Roku Partner to Showcase The First BUILDFest LA Youth Pitch Challenge

Partnership Ignites the Power of Youth Entrepreneurship in Under-resourced Communities to Create Opportunities for Future Success Los Angeles (May 18, 2023) – BUILD.org is excited to announce their partnership with […]
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the build greater california team.

Regional Teams
Associate Board
Advisory Board
Ryan Oliver
Regional Director
California

Ryan Oliver

Position: Regional Director, California
Email: rOliver@build.org
Ryan Oliver serves as Regional Executive Director for BUILD Bay Area and Los Angeles, holding primary responsibility for leading growth initiatives and directing strategy. Ryan brings twenty years of experience as an innovative educator, leader, and program designer in urban schools, from Boston and Pittsburgh to Los Angeles and East Oakland. Previously, Ryan served as Founding Program Director for BUILD Boston. A Bay Area native, Ryan has lived, learned, and worked on both coasts. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University, a Master of Arts in Education from California State University Monterey Bay, and Principal Certification from University of Pittsburgh.
Michael Arellano
Program Director
Los Angeles

Michael Arellano

Position: Program Director, Los Angeles

Michael holds the Senior Program Manager role for the Los Angeles region.  He brings with him over 15 years of experience working for nonprofit organizations dedicated to youth development.  Having grown up in a Boys & Girls Club, he understands the importance of empowering young people through quality programs and engaging mentors.  His personal mission is to support the creation of collaborative communities that generate opportunities for youth to thrive.

Born and raised in Southern California Michael is excited to expand BUILD’s programs in the Los Angeles area and to bring Spark Skills to the area’s diverse student population.
Grace Karr
Senior Community Engagement Manager
Bay Area

Grace Karr

Position: Senior Community Engagement Manager, Bay Area
Email: gkarr@build.org
Grace Karr joins BUILD Bay Area with years of experience leading programs across K12 and higher education, and teaching in K-8 bilingual classrooms. She has worked on private sector corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects and led community engagement initiatives to bring more public art to the Bay Area. Her favorite aspect of past roles is creating meaningful partnerships and collaborations between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in order to strengthen education programs.
At Stanford University, she oversaw education programs in partnership with urban school districts, served as a STEM Education Program Director at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, and worked on CSR projects for Billtrust and Cisco. She is looking forward to building a dynamic and high performing volunteer workforce to serve BUILD students!
Grace loves spending time with her family and three dogs, building a habitat-friendly garden, hiking, and travel. Grace holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MA in Education and a teaching credential from San Francisco State University.
Jasmine Ochoa
Program Director
Bay Area

Jasmine Ochoa

Position: Program Director, Bay Area
Raised in East Oakland, Jasmine graduated from Lionel Wilson Prep High School as a BUILD student. Throughout high school, Jasmine spent a lot of her time volunteering at a variety of organizations, such as OUSD and The Red Cross. Jasmine attended Holy Names University, where she received her Bachelor’s in Business Marketing in 2018 and her Master’s in business administration in 2019. Throughout her college experience, she continued volunteering with different organizations and often remembered BUILD for the knowledge and benefits it brought her. As an alum, Jasmine greatly believes in the BUILD program and the doors it can open for students, which is why she decided to come back to the organization and work with high school freshmen and sophomores. As the Bay Area Program Manager, Jasmine is regularly visiting our partner schools. She attends class sessions to work directly with our 9th and 10th grade students preparing them for showcases and ensuring they are receiving the most from the BUILD program. Jasmine strives to provide students with the same benefits BUILD provided for her. She loves to get to know our BUILD students closely and aspires to be a positive influence in their lives.
Anthony Walker
Senior Program Manager
Bay Area

Anthony Walker

Position: Senior Program Manager, Bay Area
Email: awalker@build.org
Anthony Walker is an entrepreneur from San Diego, CA. He is a Licensed Life Insurance Agent based in Oakland, CA and the founder of Finance Friday, a financial literacy platform. Anthony has been an educator, as well as the Founder and Director of National Elite LLC, an organization focused on summer football camps for youth in Oakland and San Diego. Anthony received a bachelor's degree from Whittier College and a master's from Saint Mary’s College in Sports Management.
Stephanie Calderon
Senior Program Manager
LA

Stephanie Calderon

Position: Senior Program Manager, LA
Email: scalderon@build.org
Stephanie comes to BUILD with almost a decade of experience as a college access and success practitioner across several schools in her hometown of Los Angeles. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and is the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants. As a college success practitioner, she helped develop programs to support predominantly first-generation BIPOC youth in Los Angeles to prepare for their postsecondary education and careers. She is excited to join the LA team to support teachers and students in becoming the CEO of their own life. Stephanie is also an entrepreneur supporting digital media and the operations of her family business. She enjoys traveling, dancing, and event planning in her free time. She holds a bachelor's degree from UCLA in Women's Studies with a Minor in Education Studies and a master's from California State University, Long Beach.
Felipe Duran
Community Engagement Manager
LA

Felipe Duran

Position: Community Engagement Manager, LA
Email: forozco@build.org
Felipe Duran is excited to join BUILD Los Angeles as the Community Engagement Manager. Felipe is an experienced non-profit professional having worked with disconnected youth and youth experiencing homelessness in the Los Angeles area. In his prior experience designing and leading holistic youth programs, Felipe has applied research-based mentoring tools and developed various community partnerships to support youth in their personal and professional development. Having grown up and still currently living in Northeast Los Angeles, it is his mission to support youth in his community. He looks forward to leveraging his experience to support a network of mentors for student entrepreneurs. In his spare time, Felipe enjoys watching professional football, playing golf, and going on walks with his wife and daughter.
Mariana Lopez-Sutherland
Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator
Bay Area

Mariana Lopez-Sutherland

Position: Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator, Bay Area
Email: mlopezsutherland@build.org
Mariana Lopez-Sutherland joins the BUILD Bay Area team with experience working in the education sector, primarily in economically disadvantaged communities. Through her work as a tutor and substitute teacher Mariana has helped several students reach their academic goals. As a first-generation immigrant from Venezuela, she is very passionate about social justice and education equity. She is excited to join BUILD Bay Area to start her career in the nonprofit sector, and to further her work helping the youth thrive. Mariana also loves arts and crafts, being a dog parent to a little Chiweenie called Maya, travelling, and finding new spots to eat. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Economics from UC San Diego.
Kate Applegate
Senior Program Manager
Bay Area

Kate Applegate

Position: Senior Program Manager, Bay Area
Kate’s BUILD journey began in 2013 as an intern on the Boston team, catalyzing her pursuit of educational equity initiatives. She then spent nine years as a teacher who specialized in the support of immigrant and refugee multilingual students. Continuing to chase transformative learning, community empowerment, and collective liberation, Kate proudly returns to BUILD on the Bay Area team as Senior Program Manager. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University and a Master’s of Education from University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Catherine Lee *Chair*
Senior Network Engineer
Okta

Catherine Lee *Chair*

Position: Senior Network Engineer, Okta
Joseph Chang
Senior Program Manager
Cisco

Joseph Chang

Position: Senior Program Manager, Cisco
Jose Gallo Alvarado
Coordinator
Santa Clara Law

Jose Gallo Alvarado

Position: Coordinator, Santa Clara Law
JP Giannini
Vice President of Early Stage Practices
Silicon Valley Bank

JP Giannini

Position: Vice President of Early Stage Practices, Silicon Valley Bank
Katie Hurley
VP of Marketing
unitQ

Katie Hurley

Position: VP of Marketing, unitQ
Wanda Lee
Assistant Vice President
Temasek

Wanda Lee

Position: Assistant Vice President, Temasek
Magaly Perez
Enterprise Security Architect
Intel Corporation

Magaly Perez

Position: Enterprise Security Architect, Intel Corporation
Dan Siegel
Head of Customer Success
Paladin Cyber

Dan Siegel

Position: Head of Customer Success, Paladin Cyber
Shannon Sloss
Assistant Director
EY

Shannon Sloss

Position: Assistant Director, EY
Cameron Van
Chief Legal Counsel
Dahlia Collective and Founder
Victory Athletics Network

Cameron Van

Position: Chief Legal Counsel, Dahlia Collective and Founder, Victory Athletics Network
Brian Wei
Analyst
BMW i Ventures

Brian Wei

Position: Analyst, BMW i Ventures
Peter Evans
Entrepreneur
Guest Lecturer/Course Advisor
UC Berkeley

Peter Evans

Position: Entrepreneur, Guest Lecturer/Course Advisor, UC Berkeley
Samantha Klingelhofer
Investor
Infinity Ventures

Samantha Klingelhofer

Position: Investor, Infinity Ventures
Michael Farb *Co-Chair*
CEO
Boatsetter

Michael Farb

Position: CEO, Boatsetter
Michael has over 15 years of experience building, running and scaling technology companies and organizations across a wide range of industries. Leading the organization of Neon One brought together Michael’s skills and experience in growing entrepreneurial technology companies with his passion of supporting non-profit organizations to increase their impact in the world. In addition to now serving as CEO at Boatsetter, Michael serves as Board Chair for Build.org, a national education-based nonprofit that leverage entrepreneurship to empower students in underserved communities. Michael has a Computer Science Degree from UPenn, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. After starting a career at Accenture where he built global technology systems in New York, London, Singapore, & Seoul, he co-founded CaptainU. Acting as President, he and his team scaled this sports technology platform to millions of customers and organizations. After CaptainU was acquired by Blue Star Sports, Michael joined the Blue Star team as Chief Revenue Office and GM of the Enterprise Software and Payments group, helping scale the organization and combining products to build a product suite for organizations to excel and flourish. Michael is now proud to leverage his background to help nonprofits and other mission-driven organizations drive impact and help them reach their goals more quickly.
David Li *Co-Chair*
Managing Partner
Arenova

David Li

Position: Managing Partner, Arenova
Sabira Alloo
Head of Private Equity Partnerships
Google

Sabira Alloo

Position: Head of Private Equity Partnerships, Google
Alvina Antar
Advisor
Olakai

Alvina Antar

Position: Advisor, Olakai
LaMar Bunts
Chief Transformation Officer
Dartmouth College

LaMar Bunts

Position: Chief Transformation Officer, Dartmouth College
Louis Chang
Founder and Managing Partner
Gavilan Investment Partners

Louis Chang

Position: Founder and Managing Partner, Gavilan Investment Partners
Aaron Cline
Finance Operations
Office of the CEO

Aaron Cline

Position: Finance Operations, Office of the CEO
Danielle Conkling
Director
Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG at Silicon Valley Bank

Danielle Conkling

Position: Director, Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG at Silicon Valley Bank
Joshua Cook
Partner
Goodwin

Joshua Cook

Position: Partner, Goodwin
Lars Hens
Executive Vice President
California Bank & Trust

Lars Hens

Position: Executive Vice President, California Bank & Trust
Charisse Jacques
GM and COO Customer & Category Management Solutions
SymphonyAI Retail

Charisse Jacques

Position: GM and COO Customer & Category Management Solutions, SymphonyAI Retail
Paul King
Director
Silicon Valley Bank

Paul King

Position: Director, Silicon Valley Bank
Steven Mack
Partner
PwC

Steven Mack

Position: Partner, PwC
Jan McAdoo
Co-Founder/CEO
MacPac Entertainment

Jan McAdoo

Position: Co-Founder/CEO, MacPac Entertainment
Kanika Mediratta
Senior Director- Foundation
General Atlantic

Kanika Mediratta

Position: Senior Director- Foundation, General Atlantic
Ay’Anna Moody
Senior Director
Social Impact at Golden State Warriors

Ay’Anna Moody

Position: Senior Director, Social Impact at Golden State Warriors
Aaron Ow-Yeang
Partner
EY

Aaron Ow-Yeang

Position: Partner, EY
Sara Ponzio
Chief Commercial Counsel
County of Santa Clara

Sara Ponzio

Position: Chief Commercial Counsel, County of Santa Clara
Esau Sanchez-Diaz
Regional VP of Customer Success
Amplify

Esau Sanchez-Diaz

Position: Regional VP of Customer Success, Amplify
Ramon Simms
CFO Partner
Managing Director
CFO Practice
Burkland

Ramon Simms

Position: CFO Partner, Managing Director, CFO Practice, Burkland
Lindsay Simonds
Managing Director and Principal
Lindsay Simonds Consulting

Lindsay Simonds

Position: Managing Director and Principal, Lindsay Simonds Consulting
Rollins Stallworth
Investor
Nava Ventures

Rollins Stallworth

Position: Investor, Nava Ventures
Candice Tang
VP
Developer Experience & Runtime Platform
Expedia

Candice Tang

Position: VP, Developer Experience & Runtime Platform, Expedia
Vivan Tran
VP Kids and Family Marketing
NBC Universal

Vivan Tran

Position: VP Kids and Family Marketing, NBC Universal
Matthew Zehner
Startup Founder

Matthew Zehner

Position: Startup Founder
Crystal Matson
Senior Counsel
Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Crystal Matson

Position: Senior Counsel, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Lior Klisman
3x Founder
Tech Entrepreneur and Investor

Lior Klisman

Position: 3x Founder, Tech Entrepreneur and Investor

california.

headquarters

1111 Broadway, Oakland CA 94607

mailing address

PO Box 3316
Redwood City, CA 94064-3316

Contact

bayarea@build.org

Storytelling

STORYTELLING.

Download a Sample of Our Curriculum

Fill out this form to receive a free sample of our curriculum and to receive occasional email updates on how to bring BUILD to your community.

VIDEO PREPARATION GUIDELINES

HOW TO RECORD

1. iPhone, iPad, Zoom and Loom are all choices of recording tools for their video presentation 
2. Record with both students and their presentation in view
3. Record horizontally for the best view of the students and their presentation
4. Follow Presentation Diagram to the Right

PRESENTATION TIPS.

- Make eye contact with the camera
- Notecards may be used as cue cards
•Pro Tip: Notecards should avoid having a full script
- Even when you are not speaking, don’t forget the camera is still recording!
•Be aware of your body language while you and your business partners are speaking
- Everyone has an opportunity to speak
- Professional dress is encouraged
- Practice makes perfect
•Practice how you will transition from each speaker
•Project your voice when you speak​

Follow positioning format Above

Download a Sample of Our Curriculum

Fill out this form to receive a free sample of our curriculum and to receive occasional email updates on how to bring BUILD to your community.