By Raci Levine, Executive Features Editor
& Sophia Alvarez, Staff Writer
Senior Luka Zaric launched his website, Work Safari, in June of 2022, using wordpress. He created this app to help South Bay teens fulfill their need for jobs. During his sophomore year at Costa, Zaric took a course with YA Entrepreneurs to help organize his ideas and make his website public.
“I used a platform called WordPress, as well as professional help with parts that are harder to do to create the website,” Zaric said. “I finished the website this summer, but the actual business was finished a year ago.”
Zaric took his own problems into account and decided to make a plan to help others with the struggles he faced to get a job. According to Zaric, his main goal was to help his friends and other teenagers get access to jobs and other opportunities to make money.
“The main goal is to help highschoolers give back to their community, gain valuable job experience and be self-sufficient to make their own money,” Zaric said. “We have had an estimate of 15 to 20 students since we launched this two months ago. We have a lot more parents than students, so we need to focus on getting more students in the program.”
While brainstorming names and logos with his parents, Danijela and Dragan Zaric, they wanted to create a name that was kid-friendly but also exciting to teenagers. He eventually came up with the name Work Safari, which fit all his needs. The logo, an elephant holding a wrench, matched the name of the business and was appropriate for all ages.
“I was thinking of names that would be kid-friendly but also cool for teenagers,” Zaric said. “I came up with Word Safari while discussing it with my parents, and the elephant logo came naturally because it worked for all age groups and matched the name.”
Zaric recently created a website that helps his business gain more popularity and support. According to Zaric, he has been promoting the program at local events here at Costa, such as TedX. He also went door-to-door with his friends in Manhattan Beach to promote the business.
“We have been promoting our website and program by creating social media sites like Instagram and TikTok,” Zaric said. “We had booths at TedX, and we talked to a lot of people at that event. We also went door to door in Manhattan Beach to promote our business.”
The program offers a wide variety of job opportunities for a wide range of people. Jobs that Work Safari provides include tutoring, babysitting, car washing, trash can cleaning, swimming lessons, sports lessons and helping the elderly. Teens involved in the program can help move furniture or other necessities for those who need it.
“We offer a wide range of jobs that each student can choose from,” Zaric said. “We want to allow easy job opportunities for students that also accommodate local South Bay adults.”
Zaric wants to continue to grow Work Safari in the future. According to Zaric, he plans on bringing this program to college and expanding it there. Zaric wants to major in business and use the skills he gains in college to expand the program and eventually be able to make profit from it. According to Zaric, he hopes to inspire students attempting to create their own business to persevere through challenges and take the initiative to start their own endeavors.
“I want to get this to a point where it’s relatively large when I leave for high school so that I can bring this to my college life as well,” Zaric said. “ [My advice for Costa students is to] find motivation to create a business; this is really important because a lot of kids have great ideas, but it’s a lot harder to see through your ideas and actually create a business.”
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