South Florida Alumni Profiles

PopsyCakes [1] was founded by Jessica Cervantes when she decided to create an innovative cupcake on an edible stick in 2006 at the age of 16. Ever since her grandmother taught her how to bake, Jessica has loved measuring and tasting different ingredients - and mixing them up to see how her culinary creations would turn out. But it wasn't until Jessica became a part of the International Business and Finance Academy at John A. Ferguson Senior High school, that baking and business came together in a brand new recipe for success.

[1]Jessica is now a student at the University of Miami, managing both her business and studies. She is currently majoring in Biomedical Engineering. She has hired a management team to continue to grow the company, and 5% of our profits are donated to NFTE so other students can get the same support that Jessica received.

At age 14, Andres Cardona recognized the lack of affordable options for youth to improve their basketball skills in South Miami. Andres loved the game so much he decided to start South Miami Basketball academy, where he teaches the fundamentals of the game of basketball. It all began when Andres joined the NFTE program after his mother lost her job, and decided he was going to help the family financially. After a lot of hard work and with support from NFTE, Andres’s academy’s launch was so successful a competitor quickly wanted to buy it! Andres, however, had no interest in selling his business, as he wants to continue to let kids who have had trauma in their lives have an accessible outlet.

Currently, he attends Florida International University double majoring in finance and marketing.  Andres recently launched his second business, PublicizeUs.com [2], to help small businesses develop websites and eCommerce.