Young Entrepreneurs Academy Celebrates 12th Graduating Class and Names Winner
Apr 29, 2026 09:22PM ● By MB News Staff
(The YEA! graduating class, from left to right: Front row: Ryan Lee, Evan Yuan, Shaun Ibatuan, Jeremy Nagatani, Sahar Karwa-Moricca, Mason Trieu, Riya Dhillon, Lauren Tran, Calista Yun. Back row: James Zeelmaekers, Sophia Zandpour, Annie Padnos, Julia Fetters, Matthew Lynas, Lucas Levens, Marek Kessler and Jack Fair.)
The Manhattan Beach Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!), the popular business start-up course for local students, this month celebrated its 12th graduating class and named a winner who will go on to the National YEA! Business Competition in June.
Yun will represent Manhattan Beach in the Saunders Competition in
Frisco, Texas, on June 12, where she will be competing against 20
other student businesses from other YEA! chapters nationwide. The event
will be live-streamed.
YEA! MB awarded 11 student
businesses with Investment Awards chose the business TuffCookie.co, created by Mira Costa junior Calista Yun, for the prestigious Saunders Award. TuffCookie.co makes
“Homemade Horse Treats."
This year’s investors and supporters included Latrice
McGlothin of Kinecta, Manhattan Beach Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin, Jessica
Vincent of Chevron, and Cedric Tuck-Sherman of the Manhattan Beach Rotary. Manhattan Repro has also been a
sponsor since the onset of the program in 2015.
YEA!, founded in 2004 and operating in partnership with Chambers of Commerce
across the U.S, is open to students in grades 6-12. The program is a
rigorous 24-week curriculum where students conceive, plan, and launch
their own businesses. Classes are open to all students in the South Bay
and are held at Mira Costa High School in the evenings, taught by Rachel
Thomas and Program Manager Ro Schreiner.
Each student is paired with a local business mentor to guide them
through the business planning and development process. The business plans
are reviewed by professionals, and the program culminates in a formal
Investor Panel event, where students pitch their businesses to local
investors to compete for real start-up funding.
Past Manhattan Beach winners have made a national impact. In 2024, Maia Rocha,
a current senior at Mira Costa, earned national top six recognition for
her productivity app Doing Done (DoingDone.fun) and is the second YEA!
grad to receive a $50,000 scholarship from Southern California Edison.
In 2023, then-freshman Lila Mokhtari
won first place nationally with her social impact soap business Maji
(Majisoap.com), securing a cash prize and a $30,000 scholarship to
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Founded
at the University of Rochester, YEA! is a national nonprofit program
that empowers young people to take their first steps in business
ownership. The program has helped launch thousands of student-run
businesses and is supported by the E. Philip Saunders College of
Business at RIT, a major national sponsor.
More information about how to apply to, volunteer with, or support the Manhattan Beach chapter of YEA! can be found here.
