Erica Swallow Joins Noble Impact Team
IA has partnered with Little Rock's Noble Impact on many things including the first-ever High School Startup Weekend held last year at the Clinton School of Public Service and the Innovate 2 Educate events.
Its mission to introduce social entrepreneurship to high-school students makes it a perfect IA partner, and Noble certainly has played a big role in the growth of a bona fide tech startup ecosystem in the state.
Helping it do that moving forward will be Paragould native Erica Swallow, who just completed the MBA program at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Erica, who left Arkansas to pursue degrees at NYU and MIT, is a tech writer and entrepreneur who's been a contributor to pubs such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Entrepreneur. And she was a judge at the High School Startup Weekend.
Erica recently worked with Noble on an independent study about high school career development programs, and that partnership led to a job offer.
Here's her blog about the experience, and here's an excerpt:
My research, it turns out, was a great career path test. During the time I spent interviewing stakeholders and collaborating with Noble Impact, I became more familiar with how I could contribute to the industry and the particular team I was working with.
This past week, I spent time in Little Rock, Arkansas — where my collaborators are based — discussing my study findings and getting to know their team and the students they serve. Most importantly and excitingly, I got to hear from students about what they liked and wanted more from Noble Impact’s programming...
...Getting insights from students, along with the research I had been doing, absolutely sealed the deal for me. I really enjoyed working with the Noble Impact team, and I was inspired by the students I met and their passions for learning and doing. When the trip came to an end, I was excited that the Noble Impact team asked me to join their efforts post-Sloan. Luckily, it was a no-brainer — the independent study had enabled me to get to know everyone and their work. It was easy to imagine how I could contribute and what we could build together.
Good stuff. Stay tuned...