Maya Gobert

The Leadership and Innovation Lab, or LIL, is a highly selective, hands-on startup incubator for middle and high school students interested in developing leadership skills through entrepreneurship. Our entrepreneurship programs help students execute, elevate, and expand their businesses, organizations, or other ventures from ideation to sustainability.

For 9 to 15 weeks, our seasoned instructors mentor LIL participants year-round on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, including the different leadership styles, how to navigate shared ownership, various business formations to consider, marketing, and so much more. We also help them discover and develop their inner leader as they conduct market research, seek project funding, draft business plans, and ultimately bring their venture to life.

We offer various programs to suit various needs, and Leadership and Innovation Lab students can access an entire ecosystem of resources designed to support their bright ideas. Through lectures, workshops, fundraisers, networking events, and more, our entrepreneurship programs equip young leaders with the tools they need to succeed beyond high school. And with our expert add-on option, LIL participants can receive even more in-depth, technical support from scholars, researchers, and industry experts–like Google programmers and Oxford University professors–who work with us to provide priceless insight to those who need it.

Our students walk away from their cohorts with tangible results in the form of signature projects. These projects act as the cornerstones of their college applications and help them stand out among other impressive applicants, thus improving admissions results. Over the years, LIL alums have earned acceptance letters from top colleges and universities like Harvard, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, UT Austin, and UCLA, just to name a few.

The Leadership and Innovation Lab's primary mission is to support future entrepreneurs' ambitions with hands-on mentorship and ongoing support from LIL instructors and industry experts. Launching a successful initiative requires vision, creativity, project management skills, and hard work — all necessities for aspiring leaders and high-value quality in competitive school admissions. We know the most innovative ideas often come from the youth, and we’re here to make those ideas a reality.

Maya Gobert is our Director of Student Innovation. She is also the Founder and Director of the Leadership & Innovation Lab.

Maya attended Cornell University on a full expenses paid scholarship where she double majored in Economics and Political Science and graduated with top honors. Maya has worked across three continents and industries - finance, marketing and educational consulting. Maya has led a team of consultants and worked personally with students across the world (more than 14 countries and counting!), mentoring them in candidacy building and extracurricular pursuits. Her students have gained admission into all the Ivy League colleges and many other Top 20 US universities.