DEVELOPING YOUR SCHOLARSHIP BRAND
(SUMMER EDITION)

4 Weeks to Find Scholarships, Tell Your Story & Stop Leaving Money
on the Table

Your student isn't getting passed over because they're not good enough. They're getting passed over because nobody knows who they are.

THE PROBLEM

You've told your student to apply early. Apply often. Apply everywhere.

And they did. Or they will.

And still, the money feels like it belongs to someone else.

Here's what nobody told you: good grades are not a scholarship brand. A health professions major is not a scholarship brand. Being a good kid who works hard is not a scholarship brand.

A scholarship brand is the clear, focused story of who your student IS, what they're passionate about, where they're headed, and why a scholarship committee should choose them over the hundreds of other applicants in the pile.

That's the gap. This program closes it.

Without that story? Your student is spray and pray. Applying everywhere. Standing out nowhere.

And the money—$100 million in unclaimed scholarships every single year, $4.4 billion in unclaimed Pell Grants in 2024 alone, stays on the table.

Not because your student didn't qualify, but because they didn't have a strategy.

This is what Developing Your Scholarship Brand Fixes.

THE SOLUTION

Forget the generic scholarship search websites and the long lists of applications that go nowhere.

This is not a class. This is not a worksheet. This is not self-study.

This is four weeks of live, virtual coaching, in a small cohort of no more than 10 students, where your student will work directly with a storytelling strategist to define their scholarship brand, build their scholarship list, craft their story, and map the network of funding sources hiding right in your own backyard.

I did this accidentally when I was 18 years old.

I was a Mass Communications major at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC. I didn't chase need-based scholarships, everybody and their mama was in that line. Instead, I went where the line was shorter: merit scholarships tied to my major, my identity, my track.

That led me to $48,000 over four years. And I had to keep a 3.5 GPA or else the money went bye, bye.

That was my scholarship brand at work, before I even had a name for it.

I've spent years teaching students to do intentionally what I stumbled into accidentally.

This summer, your student gets the system.

WHAT'S INSIDE

WEEK 1 | WHO ARE YOU? FINDING THE BRAND

Your student will complete a brand inventory: their experiences, strengths, career track, and the moments that define their story.

✅ They'll identify the top three life experiences that make them unforgettable on paper

✅ They leave with a working Scholarship Brand Statement, one to two sentences that capture exactly who they are and where they're headed

WEEK 2 |  FIND YOUR MATCH: BUILDING THE SCHOLARSHIP FILTER

Using their brand as a filter, students learn how to find scholarships that are worth applying for, and stop wasting time on ones that aren't.

✅ Using their brand as a filter, they'll identify the scholarships worth their time, and confidently skip the ones that aren't 

✅ They leave with a targeted scholarship match list built around who they actually are, not just what they can find on Google

WEEK 3 | TELL YOUR STORY: BUILDING THE PLAYBOOK

Students learn how to write about themselves in a way that is specific, compelling, and reusable across multiple scholarship applications.

✅ They'll complete a first draft of their scholarship brand narrative with live feedback and coaching 

✅ They leave with a framework for adapting one core story to any scholarship prompt, without starting from scratch every time

WEEK 4 | WORK YOUR NETWORK: MAP YOUR BRAND

Students connect their brand to the real-world relationships and organizational ties that unlock scholarships most families never find on Google.

✅ They'll map their Favorite Five network and identify specific scholarship opportunities connected to each person 

✅ They leave with a complete Scholarship Brand Playbook, their strategy from junior year through college graduation

THE OUTCOME

By the end of four weeks, your student will walk away with:

→ A fully defined Scholarship Brand: the clear, focused story that makes a committee stop and pay attention 

→ A Scholarship Brand Statement: one to two sentences that travel from application to application, junior year through college graduation 

→ A targeted scholarship match list built around their brand, their track, and their identity 

→ A Favorite Five Network Map: the funding sources hiding in their own backyard that most families never think to ask about 

→ A first draft of their scholarship brand narrative: written, coached, and ready to adapt 

→ A complete Scholarship Brand Playbook  

One brand. Multiple applications. A system that works every semester. 

Apply with intention. Rinse and repeat.

THIS IS FOR YOUR STUDENT IF...

✅ They have good grades, a career track, and a work ethic, but no clear story that connects it all into something a scholarship committee would remember

✅ They've been applying (or plan to) but nothing is sticking because every application feels like starting from scratch

✅ You know money is out there but your student keeps getting passed over and you don't know why

✅ They have a health professions track but haven't figured out how to turn that path into a brand that travels

✅ You want them to leave this summer with a real strategy, not a list of links, not a worksheet, not a prayer

THE DETAILS

📅 4 weeks | Virtual | 90 minutes per session
👥 Small cohort, maximum 10 students, minimum 5
🗓 Start date: July 7 @ 7 pm ET
💳 $247 total | $47 deposit holds your spot

Your $47 non-refundable deposit locks in your $247 rate.
The remaining $200 is due one day before the session begins.

⚡This rate is available until July 7th at 11:59 PM.
And the session returns to its full price of $497.

ABOUT TAIIA SMART YOUNG

I'm Taiia Smart Young, a storytelling strategist, the founder of Rock Your College Essay & Developing Your Scholarship Brand and the author of Famous: How to Be the Star of Your Show, A Teen Girl's Guide to Embracing Her Fabulous Self.

I spent 20+ years in media and held senior editorial positions at ESSENCE, Juicy, Latina, XXL, and SHINE365. As an on-camera host and interviewer, I've been in conversation with Michelle Obama, Mary J. Blige, Nas, Debbie Allen, and more.

Since 2018, I've been teaching ambitious students how to tell their stories in ways that get them noticed and funded. And how to write stories that get them into their dream schools, via my Rock Your College Essay workshop.

Your student's story is already there. Let's find it, name it, and put it to work.