About

Early in the 20th century before college became a big business, if you wanted to become a professional, you could participate in an apprenticeship. In the apprenticeship, over a period of years you would learn from and be mentored by someone in your area of interest. That model really worked for people that were passionate and open to mentoring. It still works today.

At the Duplessy Foundation, we create apprenticeship relationships mentoring leaders at the margin, 18-24 year olds who are not enrolled in a four-year college and young professionals born and raised in the city of Boston. We focus on helping them navigate careers in the arts and entrepreneurship. Our model asks our participants, or fellows, to engage in a fellowship in their area and create a ten-year goal with two-year milestones. Then our job is to mentor them towards the milestones for up to 10 years.

We live by our mantra “pursue your purpose.” We ask our fellows to do it in their journey. We encourage you to do it as well. While we focus on our target population, we also want to be a resource to professionals looking to find purpose in their work. Check out our Outreach section for more information. If you would like to help us with our mission, please check out the ‘Get Involved‘ section of our website.