15 Business Internships for Girls in High School
If you’re a high school girl thinking about studying business in college or even starting something of your own one day, starting early can make a big difference. A business internship gives you a way to learn what business looks like in real life while you are still in high school.
What do business internships in high school involve?
Most internships at this level are designed to be beginner-friendly. You might support a marketing team, help with research, assist with organizing data, contribute to operations work, or help track progress on projects. You learn what deadlines feel like, how teams divide responsibilities, and what professional communication looks like.
Why should you do a business internship as a high school girl?
A business internship gives you something hard to get elsewhere: early exposure to how work actually happens, and apply this knowledge to your own business. It can help you decide what direction you want to take in business, whether that is management, finance, marketing, or entrepreneurship. It also strengthens college applications by showing that you took initiative and gained experience outside of school.
To build the skills necessary for business internships, you might be interested in participating in business programs for girls in high school.
With that, here are 15 business internships for girls in high school!
15 Business Internships for Girls in High School
1. Athena Summer Innovation Institute (ASII)
Location: New York City
Cost: Residential: $10,771, Commuter: $8,160
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Monday, June 29 – Friday, July 17
Application Deadline: Varies by year
Eligibility: High school girls
Athena Summer Innovation Institute (ASII) runs like a three-week startup lab where you spend most of your time building one idea with a team and getting pushed to make it clearer. You start with a problem, then move into customer research, product planning, branding, and how you would actually market and price what you are building. The classes cover the core pieces you need to pitch something without sounding vague, including negotiation and basic startup finance. Mentorship is built into the schedule, so you are not working in a bubble, and the speaking support is practical since you have to present your venture at the end.
2. Young Founders Lab
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer, fall, winter, and spring
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students
Young Founders Lab is a virtual startup boot camp founded and run by Harvard entrepreneurs that allows you to build a real, revenue-generating startup from the ground up. During the program, you will identify a complex problem, develop a viable business solution, and work through the core stages of venture creation, from ideation to execution. You will be mentored by experienced entrepreneurs and professionals from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and X, gaining insight into real-world startup decision-making. In addition to building your startup, you will participate in interactive workshops covering business fundamentals, market research, product development, and business strategy. The program invites young, female entrepreneurs looking to develop business & entrepreneurial skills to build their ventures.
3. Invest in Her: Financial Literacy and Leadership for Women
Location: Rose Hill Campus, Bronx, NY
Cost: Paid ($1,300 total; $100 non-refundable deposit)
Acceptance Rate: Not specified
Dates: July 13 – July 17
Application Deadline: Priority registration before April 1
Eligibility: Female high school students; international students are not eligible
Invest in Her: Financial Literacy and Leadership for Women is Fordham Gabelli’s short, in-person business program built around money basics and how business decisions are made. You spend the week learning how to read financial statements, how accounting logic works, and how financial markets connect to real companies. A lot of the learning comes through group problem solving, so you will be leaving with very helpful notes. The program also puts time into professional behavior and leadership habits, like how to speak in a room, how to ask questions, and how to present yourself in business settings. Guest speakers and alumni sessions make it feel closer to a business school preview than a general summer workshop.
4. Ladder Internship Program
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies by the program
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students, undergraduates, and gap year students; must be able to commit 10–20 hours per week for 8–12 weeks.
The Ladder Internship Program is a selective startup internship that allows you to work directly with a high-growth startup on real-world projects. During the program, you will be matched with a startup operating in industries such as technology, artificial intelligence, health tech, marketing, journalism, or consulting. These startups are typically well-funded and led by experienced founders, including Y Combinator alumni and former professionals from companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. Throughout the internship, you will work closely with your startup manager and receive guidance from a dedicated Ladder Coach who helps you stay on track and reflect on your progress. As a female student, you’ll get access to useful work experience opportunities in dynamic environments and build connections that could be helpful for the rest of your professional life.
5. Kelley Women’s Leadership Institute (KWLI)
Location: Bloomington, IN or Virtual
Cost: Free (participants cover travel, housing, and personal expenses for in-person sessions)
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Multiple one-day in-person sessions in June and July; virtual sessions held across two evenings in April
Application Deadline: March 20
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a minimum 3.5 GPA
Kelley Women’s Leadership Institute (KWLI) is Indiana University Kelley’s selective leadership program that gives you a small, structured taste of how business is taught at the college level. The sessions are built around faculty-led talks and business case work, so you spend time breaking down real scenarios. You also get a clearer view of how different business areas connect, like marketing, management, finance, and entrepreneurship, and what those paths look like in college. The peer group matters here because you are working alongside other students who are serious about business, which changes the level of discussion.
6. Sadie Nash Summer Institute
Location: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Newark
Cost: Free; stipend available ($450 upon completion)
Acceptance Rate: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – August 13
Application Deadline: March 13
Eligibility: High school students who identify as young women or gender-expansive youth living in New York City or Newark; applicants must not have previously completed the program
Sadie Nash Summer Institute is a longer summer program that leans into leadership, community, and civic work, but it still gives you real practice in the skills that show up in management roles. Over six weeks, you spend time in workshops that push you to think about identity, decision-making, and how power works in everyday systems, which is useful if you care about leading teams and navigating workplaces later. The program is discussion-heavy and community-based, so you are expected to show up, speak, listen, and work through ideas with other people. Field trips and guest sessions bring in leaders from different worlds, including business owners, so you are hearing how people built careers in real life.
7. Journey to Leadership Program (BALI)
Location: Hunter College Main Campus, New York City
Cost: Free; stipend provided
Acceptance Rate: Not specified
Dates: Cohort 1: June 29 – July 10, Cohort 2: July 13 – July 24, Cohort 3: July 27 – August 7
Application Deadline: May 1
Eligibility: Youth ages 13–21 residing in or from the NYC metropolitan area; open to female-identifying and gender-expansive students (priority given to students from underserved communities)
Journey to Leadership Program (BALI) is built around debate training and leadership development, which ends up being very transferable if you care about business or management. The core of the program is learning how to think fast, organize arguments, and speak with structure. Debate labs force you to deal with pressure, disagreement, and time limits, which is basically a training ground for meetings, negotiations, and leadership roles later. Alongside debate, you have workshops and speaker sessions that focus on civic engagement and professional development. The program also has a strong community feel, so you are building relationships while you build communication skills.
8. Millie King Entrepreneurship Program (MKEP)
Location: In-person (Hunter College, New York City)
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Selective; BALI alumni only
Dates: Three-day program held annually in late July or early August
Application Deadline: Typically opens in March (applications currently closed)
Eligibility: BALI alumni who are high school seniors or current college students
Millie King Entrepreneurship Program (MKEP) is BALI’s short, three-day entrepreneurship intensive program for alumni who already have some leadership training and want to focus on building something. The workshops cover the parts of entrepreneurship that usually get skipped in casual programs, like business structure, financial planning, and how to market a venture without burning money. You work through strategy and planning with guidance from entrepreneurs and professionals, so the feedback is grounded in what small businesses and nonprofits actually deal with. The program is also shaped by the story of Kathleen King and Tate’s Bake Shop, so there is a clear focus on how real ventures grow from small beginnings into something sustainable.
9. Bossgirls – Zahn Innovation Center, City College of New York (CCNY)
Location: New York City, New York
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Selective; limited seats available
Dates: June 29 to July 30
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: High school girls and nonbinary students in grades 9–12 who live in the tri-state area and can commute to CCNY
Bossgirls is a free five-week entrepreneurship program that introduces you to the fundamentals of launching a business through hands-on, team-based learning. During the program, you will work with peers to identify a real-world problem, conduct market research, prototype solutions, and develop a brand identity. The experience culminates in a Shark Tank–style pitch presentation where you present your idea to an audience and receive feedback. Throughout the program, you will participate in interactive workshops focused on customer-first business strategies and human-centered design. You will also receive mentorship from entrepreneurs and professionals affiliated with the Zahn Innovation Center and Standard Chartered, the program’s sponsor.
10. Fidelity Boundless
Location: Boston, MA; Merrimack, New Hampshire; Westlake, TX; Durham, NC
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Varies by program (career discovery events, job shadow days, and internships)
Application Deadline: Varies by program; applications typically open in spring or early winter
Eligibility: Female high school students
Fidelity Boundless is a set of programs run by Fidelity that gives high school girls early exposure to business and financial services careers. The format depends on the specific opportunity, but it can include career discovery events, office visits, job shadowing days, and structured internships. What makes it useful is the access to real teams inside a large company, where you can see how departments like finance, technology, operations, and customer-facing roles connect. Some experiences are short, like a one-day summit, while others are longer, like a multi-week internship. Across the programs, the focus is on professional awareness: how corporate workplaces run, what entry-level work looks like, and what skills people actually use.
11. Girls With Impact 10-Week Business and Leadership Academy
Location: Virtual (live online)
Cost: Paid ($995; scholarships available)
Acceptance Rate: Not specified
Dates: 10-week program starting the week of September 9
Application Deadline: Rolling until spots are filled (program may sell out)
Eligibility: Young women ages 14–24
Girls With Impact runs like a live, online mini-MBA for students who want to learn entrepreneurship in a structured way. Over 10 weeks, you work through business basics like identifying a market, shaping an idea, planning how you would reach customers, and building a pitch. The sessions are interactive, so you’re expected to show up, participate, and keep up with the pace. A key part of the program is coaching: you get a mentor who helps you refine your idea and push it forward week by week. It’s also built for students who might want to build a nonprofit or an impact project, not only a traditional startup. The main outcome is that you leave with a clearer business plan, a stronger pitch, and a better understanding of how real founders think through decisions.
12. Girls For Business – Mentorship Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Program dates vary by cohort
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school girls interested in business, entrepreneurship, and leadership
Girls For Business is a virtual mentorship program that’s more career-focused than startup-focused. The core experience is being paired with a mentor and using that relationship to learn how business pathways work in real life. You spend time on goal-setting, career exploration, and professional skills, which can be useful if you’re still figuring out whether you’re interested in entrepreneurship, corporate roles, marketing, finance, or management. Because it’s mentorship-driven, the quality of the experience depends on how engaged you are and how active your mentor is. The structure usually includes regular meetings, guided activities, and discussion topics that keep it from becoming casual “advice chats.”
13. Technovation Girls Challenge
Location: Global, virtual with optional in-person meetups
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Not specified (open enrollment)
Dates: Season-long program (typically runs from fall to spring)
Application Deadline: Varies by region
Eligibility: Girls and gender-expansive students ages 8–18
Technovation is a season-long program where you build a real product and then build a business plan around it. Teams usually develop a mobile app or an AI-based project, but the business side is just as important as the tech. You work through problem selection, user research, market validation, and branding, then translate that into a pitch and a basic business model. The structure is step-by-step, so you don’t have to already know coding or entrepreneurship to start, but the best teams take the execution seriously. Mentors are part of the program, and you also learn how to work in a team over several months, which is closer to how real projects run.
14. NAWBO-SA High School Mentorship Program
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Six-month program (annual cycle)
Application Deadline: Varies by year
Eligibility: High school girls in the San Antonio region
The NAWBO-SA program is run through the San Antonio chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and it’s built around real mentorship from local entrepreneurs. Over six months, you meet women who run businesses in the region and learn how business ownership works on the ground. The program includes workshops on business planning, financial literacy, and leadership, with a strong focus on how entrepreneurs actually make decisions and manage growth. Because it is long-term, you get time to develop an idea and refine it instead of rushing through a one-week program. The experience ends with a business plan competition, which adds structure and accountability.
15. Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP) – Kansas City
Location: Kansas City, Missouri area (hybrid; some internships remote, most in-person with Friday company visits)
Cost: Free; paid $12/hour with a $2,500 completion bonus
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Summer (exact dates vary by company placement)
Application Deadline: Typically February 1
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors in the Kansas City metropolitan area
Young Entrepreneurs Program matches you with a Kansas City-based company for a paid internship that focuses on building entrepreneurial and business skills. You work directly with business owners and professionals in real workplace environments, contributing to projects that require problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking. The program includes Friday company visits and networking events that expose you to different industries and career paths. Unlike general summer jobs, YEP is structured around skill development, with workshops on leadership, financial literacy, and business operations.