Why we exist.
Some people change your life simply by believing in you. buildUP exists to create more of those moments — opening pathways to the trades and betting on people's potential to change their lives.
Our Mission
buildUP exists for adults ready to leave dead-end jobs behind and build a real career. We provide the funding, community, and direct pathway into the skilled trades — where you reach mastery, earn strong wages, build stability, and take pride in real work.
Show up. Skill up. Rise up.
Build for yourself. Build for the future. buildUP.
Leadership
Inga Johnson
Co-Founder / Executive Director
Driven by a desire to help others find lasting success, Inga left the tech world to dive deep into Utah's trade ecosystem. Leveraging lessons learned across everything from nimble startups to Fortune 500 companies, her mission is rooted in a simple, powerful conviction: when you truly believe in an individual and back their potential, you change the entire trajectory of their life.
Leslie Keener
Head of Community
From leading top consumer brands and professional racing circuits to launching her own non-profits, Leslie knows how to build communities that thrive. She brings that exact expertise to buildUP, ensuring our network isn't just a system of logistics, but a tight-knit ecosystem where every student, mentor, and employer partner feels genuinely backed and supported.
Craig Sherman
Co-Founder / Board Chair
Craig has spent decades building companies like Ancestry and backing the founders behind industry leaders such as Roblox, GoFundMe, and Aledade. Yet his most meaningful work has been investing in people who just needed someone to believe in them first. That passion was born from personally funding a single individual's path into the skilled trades—the very experience that became the seed for buildUP.
Our Story
buildUP started when our founder personally funded and mentored an individual into the skilled trades. That single experience changed them both. It proved what happens when you open the door to the skilled trades—it unlocks a level of independence, purpose, and financial security that changes a life forever.
Today, the gap between a low-wage job and a high-paying career can feel like an ocean. The traditional system expects adults to stop working, pay for school, and figure out the industry completely on their own. For someone with a family or bills to pay, that is an impossible ask.
buildUP was built to tear down those exact walls. We connect adults who are ready for a major change with the funding, mentorship, and direct access to paid apprenticeships they need to succeed. We build new pathways so that anyone with the work ethic can achieve the stability, wages, and respect of a licensed journeyman.
Mentor/Volunteer.
Join buildUP as a mentor, volunteer, or hiring partner. Working or retired journeymen, electricians, community members, and employers — your involvement changes lives.
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