Erica Mackey
Co-Founder & CEO
MyVillage
Bozeman, MT USA
“Follow your gut intuition. If something feels like you’re being uniquely useful and motivated and passionate...lean into it with courage.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationErica Mackey
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
Growing up, I split my time between living with my mother in California and my father in South Africa.
My first experiences in South Africa coincided with the end of apartheid, which sparked my passion for social justice and change.
Attended UCLA where I received a bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology.
While in college, I got the opportunity to go to Tanzania to work with an organization that was helping people living with HIV.
After graduation, I returned to Tanzania to run that organization—and for the next seven years, built it into an organization that made government health services accessible to rural communities.
Wanted to further develop and refine my business skills, so I pursued an MBA at Oxford University.
While at Oxford, I met my co-founder and started Zola Electric, which delivers clean, renewable energy to communities in Africa.
After giving birth to my daughter and dealing with the struggles of becoming a working mom, I was inspired to start MyVillage, a community of high-quality in-home childcare programs.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Co-Founder & CEO
I work to harness the power of the community to provide exceptional care for every child.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Entrepreneurship
Helping People
Day to Day
It is all about prioritization and problem-solving. I wake up and think - what are the three most important things I can do to move my business mission forward and then I organize my day around those things. This involves working with our Educators (going and sitting in their businesses), building relationships with policymakers and local child advocates, building operating systems for our business to scale with, talking to investors, communicating our learnings, motivating our team...etc.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
Build a solution to a problem you have. Even if it is small, go through the process of creating something out of nothing.
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"This problem is too big, too complex and too broken to fix. The economics will never work. A for-profit business is the wrong approach with which to tackle the childcare crisis."
Challenges I Overcame
Gender Discrimination
Working Parent
Interviewed By
Venture Forward
Tech entrepreneurship’s next generation
