Ben and Ryan Hoffman bring Talenthood to the Hills community

Jordana Brief and Madison Saks, Staff Writers|January 31, 2022

Talenthood is a way for high school students to be more involved in their community, by doing what they love. The initial goal of this was to give back and teach younger kids TALENTS in their neighborHOOD. Bringing this organization to our area, Ryan and Ben Hoffman took the initiative and are now the directors of the Woodcliff Lake and Montvale chapter.

They started a chapter in the Hills community because they saw potential in the students. They both agree, “There are so many talented students in the area who can be great role models for younger students”.

Every day, a parent posts on Facebook looking for a babysitter, a tutor, someone to teach their kid basketball, and Talenthood is a way to condense those posts into one app. It is now easier to find students to help those families and connect them. That’s what Talenthood is all about, connecting families to students, and Ben and Ryan saw greatness in our community.

Talenthood was created in 2018 when a high-school senior from Westchester named Cooper Cohen was asked to give soccer lessons to kids, and he saw a more efficient way to go about it. There spawned the idea of Talenthood. He invited other students to join and help these families for a set price. By the end of his senior year he had 25 chapters nationally, and even two chapters in France and Sweden.

Ben and Ryan Hoffman became involved in Talenthood when they reached out to Cohen through a mutual friend. Not only did they see the way it would help the community, but also the way they could better themselves.

“We’re learning a lot about business, marketing, communications, and tech.”

What is unique about the Woodcliff Lake and Montvale chapter is that, “in addition to the 20% charitable donations, we secured permission from Mrs. Scorese, the Pascack Hills National Honor Society advisor, to offer Hills students the opportunity to forfeit their entire (one-hour) lesson fee(s) and donate the entire amount to one of the local charities in exchange for one hour of National Honor Society community service.”

In other words, any student instructor who needs hours to fulfill the National Honors Society community service hours minimum can utilize Talenthood if they give up all profits to charity. This could allow Talenthood to reach an entirely different audience at Pascack Hills, as they continue to grow from the 23 instructors that have already signed up.

“Our goal is to create an inclusive chapter that brings a great group of people together for learning and fun,” they agree on. In such a tight-knit community, both Hoffman’s emphasize that there is a constant and consistent need for high school mentors for younger children.

Talenthood is the direct source that can provide that. “We are also excited about Talenthood’s philanthropic model. 25% of all payments go to local charities chosen by the booking family. We have some suggestions on our social media pages of local organizations that are meaningful to us but will also support other charities. We hope to launch our chapter in the next few weeks and we can’t wait to get started!”