Frances Messano
CEO
NewSchools Venture Fund
Austin, TX USA
“It’s a journey and where you think you’re going is not necessarily where you end up.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationFrances Messano
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
I went to Harvard University and studied economics, which was the closest major to business that the college offered.
Every summer throughout college, I interned on Wall Street.
After graduating, I accepted an analyst role with Morgan Stanley—however, after working there for three years, I realized that it wasn’t my passion and that I needed to do some more exploring.
I decided to go to Harvard Business School.
After grad school, I decided to go into consulting because I was very interested in marketing strategy.
I started working on projects related to education and realized that I really loved education work, so I declared my focus in education.
After working in education consulting for five years, I found a job with Teach For America.
I then joined NewSchools Venture Fund as Chief of Staff and have since worked my way up to CEO.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
CEO
I raise money to make early stage investments in people with promising ideas in K-12 education.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Non-Profit Organizations
Education
Helping People
Day to Day
I spend a lot of time talking to funders about our organization to try and inspire them to give money to support our work. I also spend a lot of time setting the strategy and vision for the organization. I make sure we stay focused on what we do best. Essentially, I spend my time inspiring people to work with us, from recruiting staff members to recruiting people with ideas to join our portfolio.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
There are a lot of different ways to get into education. Try getting connected with organizations like Teach for America. I also suggest volunteering while in college—volunteering with education organizations or even tutoring younger students.
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Myself:
"I'm going to get my degree, find a job, and work at that job for the rest of my career."
