Brett Cooper

When I was, I think, 14 years old, based on my timeline, I was a sophomore, maybe junior in high school.

I know that that will sound crazy.

I graduated early.

Anyway, I was involved in an organization called Ann Power.

And Ann Power was this initiative that was put together by Ann Inc.

So that's the company that owns Ann Taylor, Loft, all of the women clothing brands, that sort of thing.

And an organization called the Vital Voices Global Partnership, which was, in fact, Hillary Clinton's women's leadership organization.

She founded it back in the 90s with...

Adeline Albright.

They do a ton of work here in the United States, but primarily abroad, empowering female leaders from all of these different underdeveloped countries to start different programs to help bolster their communities.

It was a great program when I was involved in it.

Again, I cannot endorse or know what they are doing now, but at the time, I had a really great experience.

And Ann Power was a high school program, and every year, they went out to find the top 50 female leaders in high school in the United States, Canada, and Portugal.

And in the 2016 year, I was one of the young women that was selected.

And through that program, they flew you to New York City and you met with all of these different entrepreneurs and people who worked in social entrepreneurship.

So in the nonprofit space, in corporate America, they gave us training in public speaking and how to put together business pitches.

And they had classes on applying for college.

And let me tell you, I loved it.

I ate it up.

I thought it was the coolest thing ever.