Katie Anderson and Emily Pfaff
Staff Writers
Maia Rocha holds her winning Youth Entrepreneur Academy app, “Doing Done.” Photo credit: first photo from Emily Pfaff, second photo from Maia Rocha.
Maia Rocha found her love for coding in elementary school, when she was first introduced to “Scratch”, a youth programming app. Rocha spent all of her free time learning about the different aspects of coding, using her knowledge to create her own app “Doing Done”.
“Doing Done” is an app where users organize their to-do list into different categories, therefore increasing productivity. Rocha says the name, “Doing Done”, stems from the KanBan Board method that uses separating tasks into to-do, doing, and done in order to maintain peak productivity, which she feels embodies the ideals of her app. After months of hardwork and intricate coding since mid 2023, Rocha’s app is now a useful tool in order to stay on top of overwhelming tasks.
“Doing Done is at this point a necessity for me, I have all of my tasks there, from my AP practice to my laundry. It means the world to me to be able to take control of my life like this.” Rocha said. “To keep the app running I pay for database and web hosting, along with API gateway costs. The app is completely free to use and I currently pay for these costs with invested funds. Soon however I plan to release the premium version which will hopefully help cover the costs in the long run!”
Rocha’s app, “Doing Done”, was recognized by the Youth Entrepreneur Academy! (YEA!), where she was given a $1,700 investment. YEA! is a program offering young entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn and initiate their companies. Through this program, Rocha presented her business to a panel of investors, where they chose to invest in her company, therefore letting her grow “Doing Done” with the investment and experiences gained. Rocha was keen to be a part of the program as a way to grow her app in a sandbox environment.
“YEA does not have ownership of Doing Done, it’s really amazing how YEA! helps students build their very own business!” Rocha said. “My sister and friend had done YEA! last year so when I had the business idea over the summer, I knew that I wanted to take YEA! to bring Doing Done to life! Despite being a competition at its core, I’ve found that our YEA! chapter really creates its own community!”
With the YEA! program consisting of middle and high school students, all with unique business ambitions, young entrepreneurs are able to collaborate weekly. After an in person interview leading to her acceptance into the program, Rocha says it was one of, if not the best programs she has ever been a part of.
“We each had personal mentors, in professions similar to our individual businesses, with which we would work with for roughly an hour every week,” Rocha said. “On top of that we would frequently have business owners and business experts come in and present on their own expertise.”
Rocha’s presentation highlighted her experience dealing with ADHD and how her app helped her to combat being unproductive and feeling inefficient with her time. Rocha proved how her app helped her in many ways, one of which was getting an A in her AP Calculus class.
“When I won the regional YEA! I was absolutely thrilled!” Rocha said. “I had gotten really nervous and had not presented as well as I had practiced so it was incredible to hear my name announced. Similarly at the nationals, having gotten nervous again, I almost didn’t hear the MC call my name up, it honestly felt a bit surreal! (Somehow I wasn’t nervous presenting in the finals
Rocha created the app in the hopes that anyone can use it to help them be successful in school and life. It is important to her that she can give back and help others around her who are aspiring to be successful individuals.
“I hope Doing Done can reach anyone who needs a bit of help with their productivity or needs that motivation to keep going,” Rocha said. “It’s my goal for Doing Done to help people stop stressing so much and ultimately enjoy the journey! One of my most important goals for Doing Done is to create a community of people who care about productivity (not just academic) and can inspire each other!”
Rocha is a dedicated and hard working student who finds joy in coding and helping others navigate life. She continues to use her special talent by planning on continuing to achieve new goals and successes in coding.
“I plan to take coding with me for the rest of my life, whether that be in my job or just passion projects!” Rocha said. “Coding is honestly just another tool to help you build whatever you want, and as someone who lives to create, it has become an indispensable tool!”
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