Walton full-time MBA ’22 student John Gaiters serves as a community organizer as the president of the Trendsetters Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering youth through a motivational speaker series. Through the Trendsetters Foundation, high school juniors and seniors as well as college students preparing to enter the workforce can hear from panelists through speaker sessions and online interviews focused on inspiring action and educating youth on life lessons.
The speaker series allow participants the opportunity to hear about a variety of topics including trending subjects such as tech, fashion, sports and politics. “This initiative offers participants the opportunity to hear, learn from and interact with professionals who are willing to share their journey, their successes, their mistakes and how they corrected those mistakes – all, in an effort to help youth’s journeys easier and more successful,” the organization’s website states.
The Trendsetters Foundation’s audience includes diverse and cross-cultural individuals, and the organization aspires to have sponsors that focus on promoting educational equity.
“My constant goal is to bring people together even among differences,” Gaiters said. “My outcome or hope is that we learn how to have different ideologies but still serve the same purpose in making our community a better place.”
Before joining the Walton MBA program, Gaiters received a bachelor’s degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Central Arkansas. He chose the Walton MBA Program “not only to expand [his] network but to have an in-depth knowledge about retail supply chain considering that the program is #1 according to Gartner.”
Gaiters enjoys how the Walton MBA Program has given him the tools and resources to be a successful speaker and gain networking experience. Outside of the Walton MBA, he learns and generates ideas for the Trendsetters Foundation by reading books and engaging in his community, as well as working with a team of advisors.
As a leader in the Trendsetters Foundation, Gaiters encourages his staff by asking the following questions: “What are your dreams? How can I help? How do you think we move forward?”
Gaiters expressed gratitude for the many people who he looks to for inspiration and mentorship, including Dean Matt Waller, his Uncle Jim Hensley, his mother Endalynn Seals, Aunt Denise Gaiters, Hank Broyles, Bob Nash and Janis Kearney.
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