Prudential’s 2023 Emerging Visionaries include NJ student film fest founder

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A Mahwah teen is one of 25 selected by Prudential Financial Inc. for its 2023 Prudential Emerging Visionaries initiative.

As a winner, Mark Leschinsky, 16, will receive a $5,000 award, along with an all-expenses-paid trip with a parent or guardian to the financial services firm’s Newark headquarters for a three-day summit.

The April gathering will offer Emerging Visionaries coaching, skills development and networking opportunities with Prudential employees and other young leaders.

The program – now in its second year – recognizes young people age 14-18 for their fresh takes on how to address financial and societal challenges in their communities. According to Prudential, five of the awards went to projects focused on financial inclusion while 20 deal with societal issues.

The remaining 24 winners hail from Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, New York, Texas, Colorado, Ohio, Maryland, North Carolina, Hawaii, Minnesota, Kentucky, Georgia, Delaware, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Washington and Puerto Rico.

“The goals of our Emerging Visionaries program reflect Prudential’s overarching purpose: to make lives better by solving the financial challenges of our changing world,” said Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey. “We applaud all of our honorees for their commitment to improving the lives of others and creating inclusive and thriving communities.”

Ready for his closeup

Leschinsky is the founder of “Student World Impact Film Festival.”

The competition was established to create a more equitable filmmaking community, helping to eliminate and ease barriers – high submission fees and discrimination, among them – that young people often run into when trying to break into the film festival circuit. As a result, SWIF helps to offer a platform for young storytellers from underserved communities.

That’s particularly useful here in New Jersey, as Gov. Phil Murphy continues to champion efforts to establish a film and TV production sector in the state.

According to Leschinsky, “A story can’t exist without a storyteller. And to pave the way for a more inclusive, culturally accepting and equitable society, we need to hear more of the perspectives and viewpoints of storytellers from historically marginalized communities, especially youth.”

Emerging Visionaries is a collaboration between Prudential Financial and Ashoka, a leading social impact organization, with support from the Financial Health Network, an authority on financial health and longtime partner of The Prudential Foundation.

Winners were selected based on four main criteria:

• The solution is innovative
• It will create meaningful impact and can grow beyond the student’s community
• It demonstrates a deep understanding of the issue it addresses
• The student is passionate about making a change and inspiring others to take action

Since launching, Prudential said the initiative has grown to include more than 8,000 submissions. Applications for this latest round opened last September.

During the summit in Newark, taking place April 22-25, five winners will also have the change to present their ideas in a pitch-off. The grand prize winner of the event will win an additional $10,000 in funding, according to Prudential. The company’s employees will vote to choose the Employees’ Choice Award winner, who will receive an extra $5,000.