Kyle Smitley '07 and Other Young Entrepreneurs Meet in Nation's Capital

July 15, 2011

July 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Kyle Smitley, founder and owner of barley & birch and 2007 graduate of DePauw University, joined more than 100 other young entrepreneurs this week in Washington, D.C., to announce a new initiative, "Buy Young." The business owners met with leaders on Capitol Hill, including U.S. Senators John McCain and Charles Schumer, to discuss the obstacles their companies face and the steps the legislature could take to help them create more jobs.

The initiative is being led by OUR TIME, a national, non-profit membership organization founded to stand up for Americans under 30. The goal of the Buy Young initiative is to encourage Americans to support companies and organizations founded by entrepreneurs under the age of 30 and offer exclusive discounts on products and services to OUR TIME's subscriber base of more than 300,000.

The entrepreneurs who attended the Washington meeting have created more than 7,000 jobs.

"This was truly the experience of a lifetime," says Smitley. “I had to pinch myself when I was sitting in the West Wing in between Aaron Battalion (co-founder and chief technical officer of LivingSocial) and Kal Penn (actor and former associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement) and among these people that I am enormous fans of, and we were coming to solutions that will likely impact future generations of entrepreneurs. I spent the day being so inspired, motivated, humbled, and slightly starstruck."

Learn more here.

Smitley's company, barley & birch, is a line of organic children's clothing. She was among Inc.'s 2009 listing of "30 Under 30: America's Coolest Entrepreneurs."You'll find further details in this recent story.

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