TEDxYouth@Austin Speaker Update: Sarah Hernholm

At the TEDxYouth@Austin 2016 event, Full Circle, Sarah Hernholm gave a fantastic talk on doing Whatever It Takes, and asking questions like, “Why is this happening for me?”

Doing Whatever It Takes isn’t just a TEDx Talk theme for Sarah, it’s a life motto and the title of her Social Entrepreneur and Leadership program WIT–– Whatever It Takes. WIT currently exists in San Diego and St. Louis, but Sarah is expanding that program to New York City and Austin this fall.

After being laid off from her teaching job Sarah found herself thinking about how she could do something she loved, and make a business around it. WIT was the answer. WIT was originally a TV show idea, as Sarah has a film background, but turned into an after-school program. Sarah started the program in her hometown, San Diego, opening many more WIT programs throughout the San Diego area before expanding to St. Louis and now Austin and NYC over a 6 year period.

WIT allows teens the opportunity to create a social enterprise and build it through a year long class, giving teens the tools and resources to grow a full functioning enterprise. Teens pitch to investors and mentors in order to gain funding, feedback, and experience, giving them a real-world approach to entrepreneurship.

The whole reason WIT is in Austin is thanks to Kyle Ballarta, a part of the initial team at LifeProof. Kyle was a great friend of Sarah’s. Upon moving to Austin he saw a gap in the teen entrepreneurship space in Austin that Sarah could fill. Kyle opened many doors in Austin for Sarah in order to get WIT started in the community. Sarah has now spent much of the last eight months getting WIT launched in Austin.

Sarah is truly passionate about teen entrepreneurship, and an overall kind and generous person. Having WIT in Austin is such an incredible thing and she’s extremely excited to be a part of the large entrepreneur community in Austin and bringing teens into the space.

Want to be a part of WIT Austin? Apply here.