San Antonio Teen Nikita Tejwani Helps Job Seekers Through Free Career Workshops

San Antonio teen Nikita Tejwani is helping students and job seekers prepare résumés, practice interviews and apply for work through free Caly Cares career workshops. The Brandeis High School senior began building the project after watching her mother juggle the many steps of a job search.

Today, the 17-year-old Brandeis High School student is the founder of Calyqen, a free AI-supported career tool, and the creator of Caly Cares, a community initiative bringing hands-on job-search assistance to students and other San Antonio residents.

Her inspiration was personal. Watching her mother balance résumés, applications, interview notes and follow-ups made Nikita question why job seekers had to piece together so much of the process themselves. She began asking questions, sketching ideas and testing versions of the tool with her mother. Calyqen now aims to help people identify openings, tailor résumés, practice interviews and keep track of next steps in one place.

Free career workshops in San Antonio

But Nikita wanted the technology to do more than exist online. Through Caly Cares, she began visiting community organizations to help people use the tools while working on actual job applications. Each workshop works toward three practical steps:

1. Choose a real job opening.
2. Prepare a résumé tailored to that position.
3. Submit an application during the session when possible.

In her October submission to Live From The Southside, Nikita reported that 49 young people attended two workshops with SA Youth, resulting in 31 submitted job applications. She also reported helping three participants at a BiblioTech Public Library workshop, with each submitting an application. These are application counts reported by Nikita, not confirmed job placements.

How to host a Caly Cares workshop

Her ambition is to reach 300 job seekers through free workshops by the end of 2026. Caly Cares is seeking schools, libraries, nonprofits, workforce programs and other community groups interested in hosting sessions. Workshops can address résumé writing, interview preparation, organizing applications and using AI responsibly during a job search. Organizations interested in hosting can find details and a request form on the Caly Cares website.

There is also a family entrepreneurship story behind the technology. In a personal account published on LinkedIn, Nikita explained that she began helping her older sister with Akki’s Cupcakery when she was younger. After her sister left San Antonio for college, Nikita took over much of the baking work. She later used money saved from those orders to help fund the early development of her technology projects. That experience taught her that building an idea takes both initiative and resources.

Alongside Calyqen, she has developed Meriqen, a tool focused on helping students navigate scholarships and educational opportunities. While the two projects serve different needs, they reflect the same approach: identify a complicated process and try to make it easier for someone else.

Nikita has also been candid about the challenges of developing these tools while completing her senior year, preparing for college and trying to reach the people who could benefit from her work. She has discussed the importance of listening to workshop participants, improving the technology through feedback and teaching educators to use the resources so the impact can extend past sessions she leads herself.

Her work was featured in a September 2026 conversation on The Sonny Melendrez Show, where she discussed the inspiration behind Calyqen, Meriqen and her belief that AI should support people rather than replace them.

For San Antonio families, students and residents seeking employment, the immediate opportunity is straightforward: Calyqen is available online, and Caly Cares is offering free, practical workshops through community partnerships. For Nikita, the larger goal is to keep learning from the people who use what she builds.

Learn more: Calyqen | Free Caly Cares workshops | Meriqen | Media and workshop updates.

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