FUTURE ME is an innovative, personalized career prep program for middle to higher ed students, based on interviews and research into 1000's of people who found work they love that supports them.
Who Do We Work With?
We've helped thousands of students bridge the gap between education and meaningful work, partnering with public and private schools, from middle school through higher education, and youth development and FirstGen programs that focus on youth from underrepresented communities. We also offer private sessions for individual students and groups.
To find out if FUTURE ME is right for your students
What Will FUTURE ME Do For Your School or Organization? The FUTURE ME Advantage:
- Middle Schools, public & independent: Future Me helps middle school students discover career identities and explore possible career paths.
- High Schools, public & independent: Future Me helps high school students become more focused, motivated, effective students; as well as standout college applicants or early job candidates through their strategic educational choices—the courses, clubs, internships, mentorships, and DIY projects they pursue.
- College & Universities: Future Me helps higher ed students become more confident, career-ready, self-advocates prepared for their transition to the work world through opportunities that they seek out and take advantage of.
- Programs for Underrepresented Groups: Future Me helps young people from historically underrepresented groups envision a positive future, and gives them the confidence and tools to make that happen.
What are some FUTURE ME Outcomes?
96% of FUTURE ME students find the program “useful” to “very useful”; 95% feel “more optimistic” to “a lot more optimistic” about their future; 97% say this topic is "important" to "very important" to them.
What's The Big Idea Behind FUTURE ME?
In FUTURE ME students identify what they are genuinely interested in—their talents, values and curiosities—and figure out real-world careers that express those interests. Then they learn how to explore those target careers to take steps toward meaningful work that will support them.
STUDENTS' GENUINE INTERESTS + REAL WORLD CAREERS =
TARGET CAREERS TO EXPLORE
To find out more about FUTURE ME
What's the FUTURE ME origin story?
We've always been unapologetically fascinated by people of all kinds—who they are, what they do and how they got there. A book! We wrote a book about it, “The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do & How They Do It So Well.” When our book came out, we were invited to do a lot of media and speaking engagements. What we heard from audiences was this—so many people were frustrated their work.* They were willing to put in the effort to change that, but the problem was they had no system to do it. Lightbulb! What if we took our research into 1000's of people who love their work, and came up with a system to help young people get started on the process of finding work they'll love from the get go? That’s what we do in FUTURE ME.
*According to a recent Gallup study, 85% of people report being disengaged from their work.
Why Students Fall in Love with Future Me?
Although our work is grounded in reality, FUTURE ME is surprising, fun and engaging with provocative self-assessments, lively discussions, lightning round responses, special guests, contests, even prizes as students learn more about themselves, the work world and the process of how to choose and effectively explore target careers. We've had students explore careers from astrophysics to zoology, and everything in between. As one college professor described FUTURE ME, “My students came alive! They were so grateful for the insight and investment in their interests and skills.”
Who Are We?
We are Camille Sweeney, author, speaker, contributor to The New York Times, and Josh Gosfield, author, award-winning artist, former art director of New York Magazine. Together we are co-authors of “The Art of Doing,” and co-creators of the FUTURE ME career prep program, working with thousands of students from middle school through higher ed and young professionals. Our mission is to teach young people how to understand themselves and the work world better so they can bring their unique ideas, skills and perspective to work that works for them.
To book a call about FUTURE ME
Share This Video With Your Students!
Take a look at this 2-min video that shows you how FUTURE ME helps students go from career confusion to career clarity to explore their future with confidence.
The foundation of FUTURE ME is two 90-minute workshop modules: “What I Want” & “How to Explore a Career.” We also offer a third bonus 90-minute workshop, “How to Win over a Mentor?” We work closely with our school and organization partners to make sure the timing works for your students. Workshops can be held on the same day, different days, weekdays or weekends.
Online or in person.
Workshops are priced per module. Pricing is available on request. Contact us.
We work with public and independent schools, such as Stuyvesant High School, Avenues: The World School and Loyola High School; colleges and universities such as St. Mary’s, CUNY, SUNY, ; as well as with programs that serve students from underrepresented communities such as NY State STEP & CSTEP program, First in Family JH, CityKidsDC. FUTURE ME is also available for private individuals and groups.
We believe that every student, no matter where they’re from or their circumstances, has unique curiosities, values and talents that can be identified and explored in FUTURE ME. We challenge every FUTURE ME student to envision a future for themselves in which they thrive. As one of our FUTURE ME students from CITY KIDS DC program told us, “I appreciate you, two. You see me not just for who I am but for who I can become.”
Workshop size can range from groups of 15 to 50+ participants. We group participants by similar age or educational year. Contact us about accommodating larger groups.
FUTURE ME students range from 8th grade through all levels of high school and higher education, and into professional development. (Note: Some students come in with a strong idea of what they want already and learn something. Others don’t have a clue yet, and get a much clearer sense of direction.)
Educators and program directors we work with tell us this: Because FUTURE ME students have a much better sense of careers they want to explore, they make much better use of resources at their school or organization, including college and career readiness programs, alumni, mentor and leadership programs, clubs and other extracurriculars. This makes for a stronger community.
To find out about our in-person or virtual group FUTURE ME Bootcamps, Contact Us.
One of the biggest obstacles to offering a career prep program for schools and organizations is the issue of time. We get it, everyone’s busy. If timing is an issue for your school or organization, we do offer an introductory FUTURE ME session (25-minutes) in person or virtual for educators and/or students to get a taste of the program. It’s perfect for a faculty meeting or student assembly. Contact us to learn more.
Contact us here.