About me
Hi, I'm Justin Smith
Employment specialist, mentor, teacher and program manager with 25+ years of experience in business development, sales and marketing strategies including recent oversight in designing, implementing, and scaling cohort-based entrepreneurship and career development programs for students and adult populations.
Advocate of building inclusive learning environments, developing practical curriculum, mentoring students and early-career professionals, and supporting underrepresented community-based programs and initiatives.
Career Specialist for The Knowledge House and actively volunteering as a SCORE Mentor, Director of Digital Learning Programs for Mentor A Promise, and as a Job Search Council moderator. Starting the Innovation Fellowship? → Fellowship Prep Guide
Why ask for help?
Job searching is hard and isolating, especially today. Getting free support is easy and asking someone for help honors them. The research doesn't lie:
- "Surprisingly Happy to Have Helped: Underestimating Prosociality Creates a Misplaced Barrier to Asking for Help" — Psychological Science (2022)
- "I Study Successful People. They Have One Habit in Common." — Angela Duckworth, The New York Times (August 2026)
- "Do Accelerators Work? If So, How?" — Organization Science (2020)
- "Academic help-seeking and achievement of postsecondary students: A meta-analytic investigation" — Journal of Educational Psychology (2023)
My career journey
- 1995–2002
Learning to work
Early work in retail, restaurant, hospitality, and janitorial work that shaped my customer service and sales skills — and taught me to genuinely appreciate the value of manual labor.
- 1999–2001
Finding my voice on stage
Writer, educator, and performer for Planned Parenthood's Breakthrough Theater — my first taste of educating students through entertaining performances and relatable, digestible content.
- 2003–2006
Selling on deadline
Classified ad sales — my first foray into the deadline-driven news industry, and the early signs of the impact of digitization, a theme that would recur throughout my career.
- 2007–2019
On the ground floor of disruption
Content licensing and acquisition — the bulk of my early career, working with print and digital publishers around the world and overseeing every aspect of photo and video journalism, contracts, and copyright law. The impact of social media and digitization on journalism and copyright infringement was swift and devastating, and I was on the ground floor to witness it — foreshadowing the exact issues playing out with AI frontier labs today.
- 2020–2022
Representing the leading voices
Speakers bureau management and booking — the fascinating world of representing public keynote speakers, the leading voices across resiliency and mental health, disability advocacy, diversity, equity and inclusion, and technology futurism. I witnessed firsthand the impact of COVID on the speaking and event industry, and the pivot to virtual keynotes, breakouts, and roundtable discussions.
- 2024–PresentCurrent
The most rewarding chapter
Career development and entrepreneurship coaching and facilitation — leveraging two decades of professional experience and driven by a desire to help people navigate their own careers and small business strategies, in both professional and volunteer capacities. This new chapter is the most rewarding work of my life, and has renewed my sense of passion and purpose to help anyone in need of mentorship, advocacy, and support.
How I coach
Start with what's true
No inflated titles, no invented achievements. We find the real story and say it clearly.
One next step at a time
Big plans stall. We pick the smallest useful action you can take this week and do it.
Free before paid
Government programs, community centers, and free tools first. Spend money only when it buys you real time.
Affiliated organizations
The places I work with, mentor through, or volunteer for that have informed my career and entrepreneurship coaching strategy
The Knowledge House
Tech training and career pathways for young adults in underserved communities.
SCORE
Volunteer mentor to small business owners and founders through the national SCORE network.
Mentor a Promise
Mentorship programming connecting students and early-career talent with working professionals.
Never Search Alone
Job Search Council facilitation — peer-powered, structured job searching.
Innovation Incubator, CSU Dominguez Hills
Entrepreneurship hub in the South Bay offering mentorship, education-based programming, and startup support, with a strong track record helping historically underserved founders and small businesses.
Who this site is for
Early-career job seekers
You have some experience and no idea how to make it sound like enough. We'll fix the story before we fix the formatting.
Mid-career professionals & changers
You're good at something you may not want to do forever. We'll map what transfers and test a new direction without burning your income. That includes making sense of AI — what it's actually changing in your field, which tools are worth learning, and how to talk about it in an interview — without needing a technical background to get there.
Aspiring & early-stage entrepreneurs
You have an idea, a side project, or a first customer. We'll find the free help you're entitled to and the next small, useful step.
Want a second set of eyes?
Send a note — bring a resume, a job posting, a business idea, or just a question you're tired of googling.