Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School junior Brittney Westbrook participated in the 24Hour Generator: Girl Edition.Young entrepreneurs Brittney Westbrook and Chasity McWhorter, both juniors at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, were the sole students selected from Catoosa County to attend a recent brainstorming session with area businesses.
Forty girls were chosen to participate in 24Hour Generator: Girl Edition, part of the Mad, Bad and Dangerous Women’s Conference held at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga. Those selected for the honor through an application process got to meet Lori Greiner of ABC’s reality show “Shark Tank.”
The students helped businesses come up with ways to market themselves to the younger generation through tackling real world problems the businesses face. They spent 24 hours collaborating and planning before pitching their ideas onstage.
Westbrook worked with a team assisting Lamp Post Properties, which is building a “Tomorrow” apartment complex in the former “Yesterdays” building in downtown Chattanooga. The space will target single business people without families.
“It consists of 39 apartments and a communal living area,” said Westbrook. “They want everyone to communicate and know each other. My team came up with events to hold in the area. We came up with a potluck dinner and going to a baseball outing together and stuff like that. I learned how the planning process for a business works out. I learned about working as a team and listening to other people.”
She said she wants to be a computer programmer.
“The main goal of the event is to empower women in the business world,” said Westbrook, who wrote in her application that her grandmother inspires her. “She always taught me that I needed to do my best.”
McWhorter won first place in the competition for her team’s work with Rezli, a gaming website. Her team virtually connected employers with future employees.
“The business needed help getting younger people to connect with older people,” she explained. “You get to click on each face on the website to see their answer. We came up with the cube idea where each person gets a different cube. You ask six questions and get someone to answer them. One question was ‘What’s your passion and interest?’ There were questions about your future.”
McWhorter, who wants to be an emergency room nurse, said the business is thinking about using the idea her group pitched.