Empowered to Launch
A hands-on entrepreneurship experience for high school students ready to explore ideas, build confidence, and develop real-world business skills.
Founding Carlsbad Cohort | January 2027 | Saturdays | Limited to 25 Students
What if we gave young people the tools earlier?
Young people have ideas. They question how things work. They notice problems adults may overlook. And many already care deeply about creating a more sustainable, equitable, and innovative future.
Empowered to Launch was created to give high school students a place to explore those ideas while the stakes are still low.
A place to experiment. To test. To get something wrong. To adjust. To try again.
Because entrepreneurship is about much more than starting a business. It teaches young people how to think, communicate, solve problems, make decisions, and turn ideas into action.
Learning by Doing
Explore an Idea
Identify problems and opportunities worth solving.
Understand the Customer
Learn how to ask questions and discover what people actually need.
Build the Business
Explore pricing, costs, marketing, sales, and business models.
Test & Adapt
Learn that feedback and failure are part of building something better.
Communicate the Idea
Build confidence through storytelling, presentations, and pitching.
Work Together
Practice collaboration, leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving.
Meet Diana
Diana Barbiani is a business advisor, entrepreneur, and educator with more than 25 years of real-world business experience.
She has coached thousands of small business owners and facilitated hundreds of workshops focused on entrepreneurship, sales, and business growth.
After spending decades helping adults build and grow businesses, Diana created Empowered to Launch around a simple idea: what if young people had access to these tools earlier?
As the mom of a current high school student and a recent high school graduate, she is especially passionate about creating opportunities for young people to build confidence, explore their strengths, and discover what they are capable of.
