While she was at Westlake Girls' High School, Charlotte had two companies: Jeezcakes and Cane.

Jeezcakes produced sustainable, reusable jars filled with layered cheesecake desserts, which customers could return for reuse and receive a discount on their next purchase. Cane aimed to help blind, low vision, and vision-impaired (BLV) people navigate their environments with wearable devices that detected obstacles and provided navigational instructions.

Participating in YES developed Charlotte's entrepreneurial mindset and confidence, which empowered her to become a problem solver and innovator. Charlotte discovered that innovation can change communities for the better and became part of New Zealand's entrepreneurial community, where she met many inspiring people.

Charlotte's YES experience allowed her to apply the skills and knowledge she learned to her current role as the CEO of Velocity. Velocity inspires the University of Auckland community to join the start-up space and bring their ideas to life. Her YES experience led her to co-found Kairos, a venture that aims to bridge the gap between low-decile high schools and universities through workshops and mentorship.

Charlotte's favourite memory of her YES experience was working with her Cane team, investing countless hours and late nights designing their product. Through their market validation process, the team discovered that some of their assumptions about the BLV community were incorrect and had to change their product to reflect the real needs of the community.

One of the most important lessons Charlotte learned from YES was the amount of work that goes into creating a start-up. She gained a greater appreciation for the entrepreneurial community and the efforts it takes to turn an idea into a reality. YES also taught her not to be afraid to try new things and encouraged her to become a jack of all trades; be it the accountant, product designer, marketer, or all of the above.

“Never be afraid to try something new - you might just create the next big thing!”

Charlotte has this advice for students: “Take this perfect opportunity to become a young changemaker and soak up all the knowledge you can! You will get out of the YES programme what you put into it - so give it your all, keep going and keep growing!”

Charlotte's dream job is to become a film director because it is a beautiful art form that allows her to share a piece of her soul with the world. As the CEO of Velocity, she is passionate about helping others bring their ideas to life and transform their communities for the better.

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