Asurion – 2020
Vanderbilt Accelerator
Creating partnerships and internal programs to strengthen product recruiting
Community Impact
From community opportunity to internal programs
Outside of my core product work, I looked for ways to create impact beyond the screen.
I helped connect Asurion with students, front-line employees, and graduates looking for new pathways into design and tech. This work became a natural extension of how I lead as a designer: bringing teams and leaders together, creating structure from ambiguity, and contributing to product teams in a meaningful way.
Vanderbilt Opportunity
A bridge to the Nashville community
Asurion wanted a clearer connection to future talent, and an opportunity at Vanderbilt presented itself.
At the time, I was working with the fraud and security team, and presented a behavioral economics case study to the Vanderbilt’s business school. Successfully landing the spot, I worked with a product manager to pull together resources to build the program.
I facilitated and co-led a strategic partnership with Vanderbilt’s Accelerator program, creating a fraud and security challenge for 70 business students, and exposing new graduates to product roles.
My Action
Vanderbilt’s partnership became a recruiting pathway
My role included building the syllabus, teaching a two-hour kickoff session, and coordinating executive involvement.
The program produced nine viable business ideas from the participating teams, which we added to our roadmap backlog. It gave Asurion the chance to engage in the community, and gave our recruiting team a new recruiting pipeline.
Rather than treating this program as a one-time event, I helped shape more opportunities that gave more candidates exposure to careers in tech.
Opening More Doors
New doors with Apprenticeship Programs
I launched programs that helped frontline employees transition into technical roles, including the first Engineering Apprenticeship.
After the success of the Vanderbilt partnership, I was part of a co-founding team that helped develop an accredited curriculum program and sponsor seven candidates. The engineering apprenticeship program created mentoring opportunities, and expanded into a Design Apprenticeship.
For me, the most meaningful part of the work became building programs that helped people see a future for themselves in tech.
Lasting Contribution
Design impact beyond the screen
I continue to contribute back to the design team by creating educational and mentoring programs.
Whether I am mentoring students, supporting apprenticeship programs, or speaking at universities, the goal is always the same: create meaningful connections that help the design team grow and the company increase community awareness.
