United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will participate in a “fireside chat” interview at 10 a.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 17, as part of the 2nd Annual Briefing on “Business Challenges and Youth Entrepreneurship Opportunities.” The briefing, which is being co-hosted by Gallup http://www.gallup.com and the Lemonade Day national youth entrepreneurship non-profit organization, will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. EST at Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004.

Admission to the event is complimentary and includes meals and coffee breaks. Elected officials, leaders of youth organizations, educators, students, business owners and executives, media representatives and others who support youth entrepreneurship are invited to attend. Reservations for all attendees, including media with credentials, are requested. For more information and to register, please see https://lemonadeday.org/nationalevents.

Joe Daly, a Gallup partner and member of the board of directors of Lemonade Day, will conduct the “Question and Answer” style interview with Secretary DeVos as a special component of this day-long event. Organized in a “think tank” format, the event will include a series of presentations and breakout discussions focused on igniting the sparks of entrepreneurship in young kids today that will influence them to start businesses and create jobs of tomorrow.

“Lemonade Day and Gallup leaders are honored that Secretary DeVos has agreed to join us for this event. She has been a champion of education for decades. We look forward to hearing her insights regarding the U.S. education system and ways that adults can equip kids to be meaningful contributors to our nation and to society as a whole,” commented Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President.

Other featured speakers include Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup; Dr. Ronald Beghetto, PhD, professor of educational psychology and director of the University of Connecticut’s Innovation House; Megan Hernandez, senior brand manager of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers® (a national Lemonade Day sponsor), Amanda Roman, chief strategy officer of Conscious Capitalism, Inc.; Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council; Charlie Hamilton, chairman of Lemonade Day’s national board of directors; Luis Fortuño, former governor of Puerto Rico; and Hailey Hertzman and Katie Vonder Haar, who founded Ooh La Lemon online store at age 12 based on their positive Lemonade Day experiences.

More about Secretary Betsy DeVos

Betsy DeVos is the 11th and current United States Secretary of Education, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017. She is a proven leader, innovator, advocate and pioneer fighting to remove barriers and enact change that creates environments where people have the opportunity to thrive. Secretary DeVos has been involved in education policy for nearly three decades and is especially passionate about reforms that help underserved children gain access to a quality education. Her interest in education was sparked by her mother, a public school teacher. When her own children attended school, she was confronted with the reality that not every child in America is granted an equal opportunity to receive a great education. DeVos saw firsthand the work business and political leaders were doing to increase educational opportunities, and she has been involved in the fight to provide better educational options across the nation ever since. For 15 years, DeVos served as an in-school mentor for at-risk children in the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Schools. Her interactions there with students, families and teachers, according to DeVos, "changed my life and my perspective about education forever." A leader in the movement to empower parents, DeVos has worked to support the creation of new educational choices for students in 25 states and the District of Columbia. DeVos is a graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. She is married to entrepreneur, philanthropist and community activist Dick DeVos, and together they have four children and seven grandchildren.