my future america my future america

My Future America is the digital platform of the National Talent Alliance. Part of the League for Innovation, a national network of over 650 community colleges, the alliance brings together leaders from industry, education, workforce, philanthropy and government to link learners to careers, employers to talent and communities to economic growth.

Most career tools stop at a quiz or a job board. This one starts with what a student loves, shows them the careers growing close to home and lays out the fastest, most affordable path to get there. I sat on the leadership team deciding how to build it, helping shape the business processes and functions behind the platform, then designed the brand and the product: the identity and voice, the design system, the UX/UI of the student mobile app and the desktop tools for employers and advisors.

Industry is short on talent, and the jobs opening up rarely need a four-year degree. Kids don’t hear that. A career name means little to a 14-year-old, and the usual tools point everyone toward the same few college majors. The alliance’s answer is collaboration over competition: employers, K–12 schools, community colleges and workforce leaders working from the same map. The experience had to inspire a kid, earn a parent’s trust and give every one of those partners a reason to show up.

It comes down to three words: inspire, prepare, employ. Students come first, but they aren’t the only audience. Employers want job-ready talent, community colleges want students enrolled and advisors need to show progress. One system had to serve all of them.

So the brand talks to kids in bright purple and sunny yellow, with real faces of people doing real work, while the product underneath stays clear and practical for the adults who use it every day.

INSPIRE

Start with what a kid loves, then show them where it leads. Interests first, always.

PREPARE

Show the fastest path: the training, certificates and local programs that make them job ready.

EMPLOY

Connect students to employers hiring nearby, and show advisors where every student stands.

The core audience is students 12 to 19 and their families. The growth audience is employers, community colleges and schools. What ties them together is direction: a clear heading from what a student loves to a career that pays, with as little time and debt in between as possible.

Students meet Sage first. They start with their state, then answer a short, friendly set of questions about what they like to do and how they like to work. The answers become a plan: the worlds of work that fit, the industries hiring near them and the careers they’ve saved.

Nothing is locked in. The plan is theirs to keep, and they can come back and change any of it as they learn more about themselves.

Explore turns 14 industry clusters into something a kid actually wants to browse. Worlds of work group them by purpose, like building and making or caring for communities, and every industry shows how closely it matches the student.

Each one carries the facts that make a career name mean something: median pay, the outlook and how many roles are open nearby.

A career page answers the questions kids actually ask: what does this job do, why did it match me, what does it pay and how long until I’m earning? Pathways put community college certificates and short diplomas side by side, with cost and length, so the fastest route is easy to see.

Act closes the loop from interest to income. Students search jobs by industry and distance, see the top companies hiring nearby and pick up where they left off with recently viewed roles.

Because the profile already knows their interests and training, the results start relevant instead of starting from a blank search box.

Employers are partners in the alliance, not just advertisers, so the employer tools had to feel just as considered: a dashboard to post jobs, track candidates and report hires. Advisors and case managers get each student’s story with questions to ask and suggested next steps, plus program dashboards for engagement and outcomes.