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the organization overview
55,000+
Students reached through
our digital programming
2,500+
Students served in-school
2,500+
Teachers trained
910+
Cities reached
BUILD.org is an entrepreneurship program for underserved high school students that teaches them how to build their own business while becoming the CEO of their own lives. BUILD was founded in 1999 in East Palo Alto, CA, by Suzanne McKechnie Klahr. Suzanne was teaching free adult entrepreneurship classes in this highly under-resourced community when, one evening, four high school students walked in. They wanted to drop out of high school and start a t-shirt company. Suzanne offered to help, but only if the four youth agreed to stay in school.
With Suzanne’s guidance, these four young men graduated high school on time, earned bachelor’s degrees, and embarked on successful careers. This chance encounter changed the trajectory of their lives, and from there, BUILD was born. Since then, has equipped over 10,000 high school students across the United States to launch more than 2,000 real businesses. Furthermore, has over 70 staff members across regional and national sites.
Thais Rezende
President
Thais comes to us from BizWorld, having formerly spent the last eight years as BizWorld’s CEO, where she grew the organization to become the largest teacher-led entrepreneurship education non-profit in the world, serving over 850,000 students worldwide. She launched BizWorld’s innovative YES! Program to support young entrepreneurs to gain access to tools, mentorship, and capital needed to make their entrepreneurial dreams a reality.
Thais holds an unwavering commitment to making economic opportunities and entrepreneurship education accessible to all students, particularly those from traditionally underserved and underrepresented backgrounds. She started her career in the non-profit world, focusing on micro-enterprise development. For eight years, she led the growth of innovative programming and the organizational expansion at Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. As the lead developer of the successful business propulsion program “SuccessLink,” she set a new national standard for entrepreneurship support services that became a national model. Thais worked for the Mexican Consulate as part of The Mexican Communities Abroad Team, where she helped implement and develop health, education, and business trade programs. Her background also includes journalism work in both TV and print, covering the tech industry. She resides with her husband and three daughters in Seattle.
Thais Rezende
Thais Rezende
President
Thais comes to us from BizWorld, having formerly spent the last eight years as BizWorld’s CEO, where she grew the organization to become the largest teacher-led entrepreneurship education non-profit in the world, serving over 850,000 students worldwide. She launched BizWorld’s innovative YES! Program to support young entrepreneurs to gain access to tools, mentorship, and capital needed to make their entrepreneurial dreams a reality.
Thais holds an unwavering commitment to making economic opportunities and entrepreneurship education accessible to all students, particularly those from traditionally underserved and underrepresented backgrounds. She started her career in the non-profit world, focusing on micro-enterprise development. For eight years, she led the growth of innovative programming and the organizational expansion at Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. As the lead developer of the successful business propulsion program “SuccessLink,” she set a new national standard for entrepreneurship support services that became a national model. Thais worked for the Mexican Consulate as part of The Mexican Communities Abroad Team, where she helped implement and develop health, education, and business trade programs. Her background also includes journalism work in both TV and print, covering the tech industry. She resides with her husband and three daughters in Seattle.
President and Interim CEO
Mission Statement
Ignite the power of youth in under-resourced communities to build Career success, Entrepreneurial mindsets, and Opportunity.
We help students become the CEO of their own lives!
our regions
BUILD California
The BUILD program was first founded in the Bay Area in 1999. As the flagship BUILD region, BUILD California showcases that dreaming big, working hard and persistence is in all of us.
In 2020, BUILD began exploring the feasibility of bringing our entrepreneurship education programming to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through the support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation (RKMF), BUILD conducted a comprehensive Landscape Analysis Study (Study).
Since its launch in 2009, BUILD Metro DC has been a critical feature for the city in engaging students from under-resourced communities through our four-year entrepreneurship, business development, and post-secondary readiness model. In partnership with DCPS and charter schools, we virtually serve 180 students at five high schools in the District of Columbia.
In our seventh year in New York, BUILD is serving over 700 students at 7 partner schools in under-resourced communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island.
Before there was BUILD in Boston, there were three big-hearted venture capitalists with a dream to make a difference in the lives of teens in their community. In 2008, Jeff Glass, Ajay Agarwal, and Scott Friend of Bain Capital connected with BUILD’s founder and then CEO, Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, and the plans to bring BUILD to Boston were born.
The BUILD story in
California
The BUILD program was first founded in the Bay Area in 1999. As the flagship BUILD region, BUILD California showcases that dreaming big, working hard and persistence is in all of us.
Awards And Recognitions
NABSE’s 2021 Hall of Fame Award
BBJ 2021 Top Corporate-Nonprofit Partnerships
Jack Dorsey’s 2020 #StartSmall Donation
Comcast NBC Universal Recognition of BUILD.org Partner on Digital Curriculum for Under-Resourced Students
News Coverage
CO- U.S Chamber of Commerce: The 9 Business Resources for Young Entrepreneurs
Comcast: Comcast NBCUniversal and BUILD.org Release Free Digital Curriculum Designed to Spark Community Solutions
K-12 Dive: BUILD, Comcast and DonorsChoose Come Together to Offer Innovative Entrepreneurship Education and Classroom Funding for Educators
PR Newswire: BUILD Launches the Pittsburgh Entrepreneurial Education Council For Youth
BizJournals: BUILD.org partners with RK Mellon Foundation to help develop region’s next generation of entrepreneurs
creative resources
featured videos
featured photos
