Grace Brusky

At 17, Grace Brusky Is Rebuilding the Future of Student Guidance

While most high school students are focused on coursework and college applications, Grace Brusky is focused on something far bigger: redesigning the system students rely on to make those decisions in the first place.

Grace Brusky is an American entrepreneur, public speaker, and national advocate focused on transforming how students navigate education and career pathways. As the co-founder of Pathly, she is building an AI-powered platform designed to address what she defines as the “guidance gap” — a widespread breakdown in how students receive support when planning life after high school.

After experiencing firsthand how fragmented and overwhelming that process can be, Brusky set out to build a more effective, student-first solution.

Pathly is designed to move beyond static guidance models. The platform connects students to nearly 100,000 college, certification, and training programs across approximately 5,000 institutions and over 1,000 career pathways. Through adaptive interest profiling and personalized exploration tools, Pathly enables students to navigate options based on their goals, strengths, and evolving interests — not outdated, one-size-fits-all expectations.

Students can explore opportunities at institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, and Yale University, alongside trade programs, certifications, and entrepreneurial pathways. This reflects Pathly’s core philosophy: success is not linear, and guidance systems should reflect that reality.

Beyond the product, Brusky is quickly establishing herself as a voice in the future of education and workforce development. She has contributed to national conversations at events such as SXSW and TEDx, where she speaks on student-centered design, education reform, and the role of artificial intelligence in personalized learning.

In 2026, she was selected for the Harvard Business School Foundry Program, a competitive venture-building program supporting high-potential founders. The experience positioned Pathly for accelerated growth and deeper engagement with investors, advisors, and leaders in the education technology space.

Her work has also reached state leadership. In South Carolina, Brusky has spoken at the State House alongside Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette and presented in front of Governor Henry McMaster. She has engaged directly with State Superintendent Ellen Weaver, contributing to conversations around modernizing student guidance and strengthening career readiness pipelines.

What sets Brusky apart is not just her age, but her approach. She represents a new generation of founders who are systems-aware, execution-focused, and unwilling to accept legacy structures as permanent. Her work sits at the intersection of AI in education, career readiness, and student empowerment — areas increasingly recognized as critical to the future of the global workforce.

At 17, Grace Brusky is not waiting to navigate the system.

She is building what comes next.