Shawn Bernstein, Founder

As a child, the founder and CEO of C2E2, Shawn Bernstein's parents always instilled in her the importance of education. Throughout her childhood, their favorite saying to her was, “You have a date with education. Pick a college and go get your degree.”

She started reading newspapers as early as 4 years old, and every year, her parents placed Shawnte and her sister into reading academies at the local library. Although she was a great reader, she was more interested in math and science. She distinctly remembers one of her elementary teachers taking them to the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in Pasadena, California. It was awesome, and so her first dream job was to be an aerospace engineer. Of course, her dream job changed over the years, but her interest in math and science remained.

As a sophomore and junior in high school, she attended a summer program at a local university that focused on SAT/ACT preparation and Computer Science skills. She was extremely lucky that this program was available, and believed that it helped her perform well on all standardized tests and it boosted her confidence. Shawnte’s high school academic achievements coupled with great test-taking skills are the main reasons why she was accepted into all the colleges she applied. But she knew some are not so lucky, especially Black American children.