Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is a club that aims to link business and education through leadership and career development programs.

“At FBLA we look at business ventures and we have guest speakers who talk about their businesses and what they do,” junior Tarun Singh said. “Basically we just try and teach everyone about business practices.”

FBLA also helps students develop skills they might need in the future.

“Although finance is not the career path I intend to pursue, there is so much from this club that will help me down the road,” sophomore Abhishek Mullapudi, publicist of FBLA, said. “Be it publicizing events, networking within the community, interacting with staff, organizing events, and just in general improve my personality. I know that my experiences form FBLA will helps me in my future endeavors and that’s a major reason why I love this club.”

On May 25, FBLA worked with other business clubs at TJ to hold an annual event, VentureTJ.

“VentureTJ is kind of like Shark Tank,” Singh said. “There are a few investors, who are the judges, and everyone pitches an idea. They talk about how they thought of the idea, what the idea is, who it’s going to impact, how they’re going to sell the idea, and in the end the judges decide whose idea is the best.”

VentureTJ helps students learn more about the technical side of business and allows for students to have a hand-on-experience with presenting a business proposal.

“I’ve learned many things from the past two years of VentureTJ, including how to make a successful pitch as well coming up with an idea that fits customer needs rather than wants, has demand, and has room for further innovation and improvement,” Mullapudi said.

Not only does VentureTJ allow students to explore different facets of business, but it can also help students in the future.

“I’m sure later on in life you’ll have to present to someone or give a presentation about something, or try to sell an idea or a product,” Singh said. “Also, you might sometimes might have to convince someone to do something, so these social skills and presentation skills are definitely something VentureTJ has helped me develop.”