Year Up is a non-profit that focuses on closing the opportunity divide in both the academic and professional realms. They work to leverage untapped talent by providing learning and work opportunities to motivated young adults who, due to social or economic injustice, have been unable to access higher education or high-paying jobs.

Salesforce is one of Year Up’s strongest partners, and this year we excitedly welcomed another class of interns into our #SalesforceOhana. After the application process, program participants dive into a six-month Learning & Development crash course, where they are taught technical and professional skills for the workplace. After the training, they’re placed into a six-month internship with one of Year Up’s corporate partners for real-world professional experience.

In 2008, when Year Up was hosting its first class of 23 students, Salesforce was one of the first corporations to raise its hand and ask for interns. Executive Director of Year Up Bay Area, Emily Schaffer, said Year Up quite literally would not be where it is today without Salesforce’s ongoing support. Over nine years, 263 Year Up interns have launched their careers at Salesforce.

To celebrate the graduation of Salesforce’s Year Up class of 2017, Year Up alum and Salesforce employee Jose Mora hosted a competition for Year Up interns to showcase their contributions to the Salesforce community.

“As a Year Up alum, I know how hard the interns work throughout their internship experience, and I wanted to highlight their work to all of Salesforce,” said Jose.

The Competition

The competition showcased the hard work of thirteen Year Up interns who were given three minutes to share their Year Up stories and the projects they worked on during their internships. It was incredible to see the impact they were able to have on their teams in such a short period of time.

• The competition’s third place winner, Andrea Perez Medrano, earned her Salesforce Admin certification during her internship.

• Second place winner Sebastian Hernandez used his film production skills to create instructional videos for his team.

• First place winner Marcus Stevenson happened to meet, and hit it off with, Chief Equality Officer Tony Prophet at last year’s Dreamforce. After developing his relationship with Tony, Marcus earned an internship in the Office of Equality, where he worked on the Proudly Me campaign. He is transitioning to full-time now that his internship is over, and describes his experience in Year Up as nothing short of life-changing.

“It’s been like an earthquake,” Marcus said. “It’s shaken up my foundation in the best way possible. Six months ago I was working at Whole Foods, so it really goes to show that perseverance and hunger win out every time. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, it doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you’re hungry, and you’re willing to wake up early and leave late, you can succeed.”

He believes the most important thing Year Up offers is simply a chance for participants to prove themselves.

“Year Up put me in the position to swing the bat,” he said. “I feel like I’ve always been capable and ready, but I’ve never had an opportunity to show it. Nothing that Year Up offers is more valuable than just a seat at the table. Your experience is whatever you make of it.”

The Future

The competitors were impressive, and their Year Up stories were inspiring. Each intern’s story is unique, but the refrain of “Year Up seems too good to be true” was the thread that wove throughout the competition. Luckily it is true; the smiles on the interns’ faces, and the conviction with which alumni speak about the program and its impact on their lives, are just about as real as it gets.

Salesforce will continue to partner with Year Up to develop future generations of talent. Hopefully this competition was the first of many more to come.

Jose concurs, saying, “Year Up changed my life and the lives of many other graduates. My goal is to grow the program at Salesforce in any way, shape, or form.”

Learn more about Salesforce culture and values at salesforce.com/careers.