Empowering the next generation of leaders, innovators, scholars, & changemakers from Fort Bend & neighboring communities
Empowering the next generation of leaders, innovators, scholars, & changemakers from Fort Bend & neighboring communities
The youth & young adult leadership movement is here!
We prepare youth and young adults (ages 14 - 24) to lead with confidence, clarity, and integrity, while engaging families and community partners
who support their growth.
Elevate Fort Bend is elevating the next generation of thinkers, leaders, and changemakers. We offer personal and professional development programming, mentorships, workshops and coaching through our Center of Excellence, Fellowships and support of Scholarship Pageants that elevate mindset, confidence, life skills, and career readiness, giving youth and young adults the tools to rise, lead, and make an impact in their communities and beyond.
Elevate Fort Bend Center of Excellence
This pillar delivers the core training young leaders need to thrive communication, confidence, emotional intelligence, mindset, academic and career readiness, and real-life leadership skills.
Programs include workshops, coaching, assessments, symposiums, and experiential learning guided by research-based principles and organizational psychology
Elevate Fort Bend Fellowships
This pillar provides deep, long-term developmental journeys for ages 16–24.
Fellows advance through curated growth experiences: cohort-based learning, mentoring, performance practice, real-world application, and leadership identity development.
This is the premium path where students grow into articulate, self-aware, purpose-driven young adults.
Opportunities That Strengthen
Voice, Confidence, & Community Impact
This pillar expands confidence, communication, and community impact by offering professional and media interview training, leadership development experiences, service projects, and college/career opportunities. Participants also gain stage presence, public speaking skill
Opportunities That Strengthen
Voice, Confidence, & Community Impact
This pillar expands confidence, communication, and community impact by offering professional and media interview training, leadership development experiences, service projects, and college/career opportunities. Participants also gain stage presence, public speaking skills, and platforms to represent their communities across.
Elevate Fort Bend supports the Miss Fort Bend, Miss Missouri City, and Miss Katy Organizations through leadership preparation and skill development. These organizations are independently licensed and directed by Erica Reynolds, and benefit from the same research-informed coaching and preparation provided to all Elevate Fort Bend students.
Ages 14 - 17 | Early Foundations
This group builds the core essentials—confidence, communication, emotional intelligence, academic readiness, strengths discovery, early leadership identity. Students learn how to present themselves, manage emotions, make decisions, and step into responsibility with clarity and support.
Ages 18 - 20 | Transition & Alignment
These young adults are preparing for major transitions: college, internships, first jobs, interviews, and independent decision-making. Programming focuses on career and academic clarity, self-leadership, mindset, decision-making confidence, navigating uncertainty, presence, and real-world readiness so they enter adulthood grounded and capable.
Ages 21 - 24 | Emerging Professionals & Rising Leaders
This group shapes the next phase of their careers and personal lives. Participants strengthen leadership identity formation, executive presence, communication, emotional regulation, relationship skills, professional alignment, and long-term leadership capacity. This stage is about building a purposeful, confident, self-directed life.
✨Elevate Fort Bend Center of Excellence & Fellowships Jan. '26
Leadership, Career & Self-Development Programs
Programs begin launching in mid-January.
Enrollment & applications open soon. Join our email list to
get details and first-to-know updates.
✨ Miss Missouri City Pageant Feb. '26
We now have the opportunity to crown a Miss Missouri City and a Missouri City's Teen (a part of the Miss America Organization)
Applications open soon! (ages 14 - 28)
Volunteers, sponsors and in-kind sponsors welcome.
📧 Send inquiries to: missmissouricityorg@gmail.com
✨ Community Partnerships & Sponsorship Opportunities
We welcome collaborations with local organizations, businesses, and community leaders who want to support youth development, education, & leadership. Opportunities include:
This is the start of something powerful. We’re building leaders.
We’re building confidence. We’re building the future of Fort Bend!
The Elevate Fort Bend Center of Excellence (EFB-COE) & Fellowship programs develop the skills young leaders (ages 14–24) need now, confidence, communication, emotional intelligence, leadership, mindset, career clarity, and real-life readiness, to succeed long-term in every area of life. EFB-COE is a community-rooted leadership and scholarship initiative designed to help young people grow into who they are meant to become. What begins here does not stay here, this is the start of a lifelong trajectory of confidence, purpose, and leadership. Our programs guide young leaders through a transformational journey that meets them where they are and walks them toward the strongest, most capable version of themselves. We create environments where learning, practice, application, and growth happen in real time.
Tiered cohort programs are offered by age group, allowing participants to develop alongside peers who share similar experiences, life stages, and goals—ensuring the guidance they receive is relevant, relatable, and impactful. Every program is developed with a research-informed approach grounded in organizational psychology, human development, and real-world leadership practice for full a transformational experience.
Our programs are designed to strengthen confidence, leadership capacity, academic & career readiness, and real-life skills. Offerings include:
Each experience is research-informed, developmentally aligned, and created to help young leaders grow with clarity, confidence, and purpose.
A selective, application-only pathway for emerging leaders ages 16–24.
The Elevate Fort Bend Fellowship is our signature, multi-month leadership experience designed for students ready to stretch their identity, strengthen their skills, and develop real-world leadership capacity. Fellows move through a structured journey of self-discovery, self-leadership, leading others, and ultimately leading within a community or organization.
This program offers opportunities to earn internship hours, gain career-relevant experience, and build the competencies employers and universities look for. Fellows participate in workshops, coaching, assessments, and applied learning that develops confidence, clarity, emotional intelligence, communication, presence, and purpose. Each cohort completes a Capstone Community or Business Impact Project, where they apply their skills to create meaningful change in a real setting, preparing them for college, the workforce, and leadership roles far beyond Elevate Fort Bend.
This Fellowship is where young leaders learn who they are, what they’re capable of, and how to use their voice, influence, and strengths to lead with purpose and impact.
Platforms that elevate confidence, communication, and community impact.
This pillar gives young leaders the rare chance to step onto platforms where their voice, presence, and purpose can be seen. These experiences accelerate personal growth in ways traditional classrooms can’t, offering professional and media interview training, leadership development, public speaking practice, service projects, and college/career-building opportunities
that shape how you show up in the world.
Participants learn how to speak with clarity, hold their composure under pressure, express their ideas with confidence, and represent something bigger than themselves. They gain stage presence, communication mastery, poise, emotional intelligence, and community awareness, skills that have an immediate impact on college admissions, scholarships,
internships, and early career opportunities.
For many at this stage, this is their first real step into leadership, a moment where they realize, I can lead, I can influence, I can represent my community.
Elevate Fort Bend supports the Miss Fort Bend, Miss Missouri City, and Miss Katy Organizations by providing leadership preparation, communication coaching, and skill development that empowers participants to perform at their highest level. These organizations are independently licensed and directed by Erica Reynolds and benefit from the same research-informed coaching provided to all Elevate Fort Bend participants.
These opportunities matter because visibility builds confidence…
Confidence builds leadership…
And leadership builds a future.
This pillar ensures young people are not only developing skills, but stepping into spaces where their voice is amplified, their impact is felt,
and their leadership becomes real.
The Parent Leadership Circle (PLC) is a separate membership designed for parents who want to walk this journey alongside their teens and young adults. Members gain access to parent-only workshops, quarterly community family dinners, early program enrollment, and preferred rates on Center of Excellence programs and Fellowships.
PLC members receive exclusive development seminars designed specifically for adults, offering practical tools for communication, leadership, mindset, and supporting young adults as they navigate school, career, and identity formation. These sessions help parents strengthen their own growth, clarity, and confidence while modeling supportive leadership at home.
Members gain insight into their child’s development, VIP access to special events, and curated parent resources that foster alignment and connection. Through advisory sessions, parents have opportunities to share feedback and help shape future Elevate Fort Bend initiatives.
This membership strengthens families, deepens communication, and gives parents a meaningful role in the leadership journey, because strong families help develop strong leaders.
Explore your options inside the Parent Leadership Circle and discover the membership tier that best fits your family.
A local preliminary to Miss Texas and Miss America. Providing young women (14 - 28) with leadership development, interview & communication training, scholarship opportunities, and platforms for education & community service. Winners represent Missouri City at Miss Texas, in Dallas in June.
Elevate Fort Bend is building a leadership pipeline for the region, developing confident, capable, career-ready young adults ages 14–24. When businesses and community partners invest in Elevate Fort Bend, they’re not just sponsoring a program; they’re shaping the future of their workforce, strengthening community leadership, and aligning their brand with one of the most transformative youth initiatives in Fort Bend.
Partnerships help fund scholarships, leadership fellowships, career experiences, capstone projects, community service initiatives, and skill-building programs that directly prepare young people to excel academically, professionally, and personally.
In return, sponsors gain meaningful exposure and engagement opportunities including:
For organizations committed to community development, leadership cultivation, diversity of talent, and future workforce readiness, Elevate Fort Bend offers a high-impact platform to make a measurable difference while elevating your own brand.
This work began here, and its impact will be felt for decades.
Partner with Elevate Fort Bend and help build the leaders who will one day lead our companies, schools, community organizations, and beyond.
Professor • Organizational Psychologist • Executive Coach & Advisor • Mediator
Founder: Elevate Fort Bend
Executive Director: Miss Fort Bend County • Miss Missouri City • Miss Katy (Organizations)
Erica L. Reynolds is a globally respected executive, organizational psychologist, professor, and executive coach whose work bridges academic rigor with real-world leadership application. As the founder of Elevate Fort Bend and the Executive Director of the Miss Fort Bend, Miss Missouri City, and Miss Katy Organizations (official local preliminaries to Miss Texas and Miss America competitions), Erica is redefining what youth and young adult leadership and scholarship look like for today’s emerging generation.
Through the Elevate Fort Bend Center of Excellence and the Elevate Fort Bend Leadership Fellowship, Erica has created a premier developmental pathway for youth & young adults ages 14–24, offering transformational experiences in leadership, communication, emotional intelligence, career readiness, academic preparation, and service. Her vision is to build a new generation of purposeful, grounded, high-capacity leaders who will shape the future of Fort Bend and beyond.
