Sylwia Brzozowska's journey to building TY Future, an award-winning platform connecting teenagers with real-world career opportunities, didn't follow a typical path. It required something most business success stories leave out: a partner willing to rearrange his entire life so hers could grow.
For more than a decade, Sylwia has been fascinated by how knowledge can open doors. With a Master’s in Strategic Management with Marketing from DIT and experience across marketing, technology, and education, including time as Chief Education Officer in an AI and machine learning company, she’s always been curious about how learning connects to possibility.
But for her, work has never just been about business. It’s about impact. It’s about making opportunities fair and accessible, especially for those who might not see themselves reflected in traditional career paths.
The Part We Don't Talk About Enough
Behind the platform and the recognition is a story that's profoundly personal.
After the birth of their second child, Sylwia’s husband made a decision to support her dream the best way he could. He stayed home so she could focus on her career. Years later, when she launched TY Future, he worked night shifts so she could dedicate her days to building it.
It was hard. Exhausting at times. But it gave her the space and support she needed to grow something she believed in.
“I’ll never take that for granted,” she says. “His support taught me that gender balance isn’t something women can achieve on their own. It requires men as allies, advocates, and active participants.”
That experience changed the way she sees equality. It’s why she speaks so often about the role of men in creating balance.
"Too often, we talk about gender equality as a women’s issue,” she says. “But progress happens faster when men step forward too, when they share the load and see themselves as part of the solution.”
Her belief in shared progress is also what led her to join PWN Dublin. A space where women and men come together to challenge old systems, share real stories, and create pathways that make inclusion part of how business gets done. As Programme Coordinator, she supports both the Engaging Men initiative and the Mentoring Programme, continuing the work she deeply believes in, creating real spaces for dialogue, allyship, and personal growth.
What She’s Creating
TY Future connects teenagers with the working world, giving them hands-on career experiences that make different paths real and tangible. At the same time, it helps companies find diverse talent early, before traditional hiring patterns narrow the field.
"It's about kids seeing themselves in roles they never imagined.” Sylwia explains. “And breaking the cycles that keep opportunity locked in the same hands. And having the chance to build something innovative that serves people."
When she mentors young founders, she brings the same energy. She remembers being at the start, unsure, overwhelmed, stubborn enough to keep going anyway.
"You don't need all the answers, you just need to take the next step."