WeBuild: A Creative Digital Art Agency and Talent Incubator

Income Inequality

County of Los Angeles

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

I grew up in South Central Los Angeles, raised by a single mother of four. Despite her limited income and education, my mother created a safe, stable and loving environment that shielded us from the persistent dangers which plague our communities to date. Miraculously, I have survived to see the age of 34, I possess a B.A. in Psychology and have achieved 90% completion towards my M.A. in User Experience Design, culminating Fall 2023. However, in spite of countless efforts to gain education, exposure and experience needed to "break into" the creative career industry, I find myself in a spastic trudge still seeking to land a career opportunity that will create economic stability for myself and future family. Therefore, the quest towards economic stability and income equality has become communal, knowing there are millions of BIPOC individuals who share a similar narrative.

Wrkz Incorporated began as a mentoring program enabling us to learn about the specific needs that our members face outside of our own lived experiences. We have since grown to launch our first initiative, WeBuild: A creative digital art agency that serves as a talent incubator for entry-level BIPOC creatives 17-30 y.o. Members are granted scholarships in the form of bi-weekly disbursements based on the completion of assigned tasks during the duration of our 1 year program. Our services to the community include pro bono digital and entrepreneurial consulting for start-up BIPOC owned businesses who qualify. Members are grouped into teams of diverse talent and paired with a creative director. The director guides the scope of work, relationship and communication between the team and their clients. Each team goes through two cycles of developing and executing on their project roadmaps. The results yield high quality digital deliverables in the form of videography, photography, web design, creative writing, graphic design and more. These deliverables have been launched on major consumer and social platforms. Also stored in dropbox and will culminate into each member's portfolio and resume. The goals of WeBuild are to increase self awareness and resilience amongst our members while in pursuit of their professional creative careers. Also, to increase visibility to our clients brands and elevate their digital landscape.

Our plan includes the design and development of the Wrkz Mobile App. Our software will cultivate transformative change within the creative and entrepreneurial landscape of Los Angeles. We project to reach thousands of BIPOC young adults and start-up businesses at the touch of their fingertips. The app features mood and emotions tracking via a digital journal, peer and mentor collaboration, milestone tracking, and integration with Snapchat's map feature to broaden the reach of our members work and our clients businesses. In five years, the BIPOC community in LA County will have generated over a billion dollars in revenue, career salaries, and grant funding through the Wrkz Mobile App.

The quality of our members and clients' experiences is paramount to our work. Here's what they have to say: 'Wrkz keeps me focused on staying consistent in creating and working on projects' - Veshon Spann, 'Being connected to Wrkz showed me that my goals are attainable' - Tiffany Smith, 'If someone is giving you the opportunity to show off your work, why wouldn't you take advantage of that' - Semaj Harbin, and 'Working with y'all has done way more than I imagined. Business has literally been booming' - Cali Als. In addition to these testimonials, our members have produced over 400 digital artifacts, leading to a remarkable 247% increase in our clients' revenue over four months. Moreover, our members have achieved an impressive 80% attendance record. Moving forward, our key metrics include job placements, job retention, clients acquired, projects completed, app downloads, and funds raised as we continue to drive success for the BIPOC community.