It's Time to Move On... Sad but Ready ... All at the Same Time

This Friday I end my tenure as Noodle's Inaugural Vice President for Student Support and Engagement. I soon will begin a new journey in learning and development in a fortune 500 company and rated as Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. More to come on that in a subsequent post. That said, this is a time of reflection and this seems as good as any place to share.

Five years ago I embarked on a new adventure after deciding to leave campus-based higher ed roles to move into the world of EdTech. My colleague from USC (who would later become my amazing supervisor), Melora Sundt, asked me if wanted to join this company called Noodle Partners. My role would be to launch student support for the company; a function that was to be defined and created. I was something like the 17th employee to join the company. I didn’t have a job description… in fact… I wrote it in February of this year… 4.5 years after stating ex. I had no clue how the business sector would be different from education but I was to try something new. I was excited about the chance to be innovative and see where this led. There’s so much that I have to share about what I have learned and how I’ve grown. But today I’m focusing on my thanks and achievements.

Women tend not to feel comfortable sharing their accomplishments and I’m no exception. But I am proud and thankful and I think it’s important we do share. So here we go... here's my five years in reflection... from July or 2017 to July of 2022, I….

• Traveled 23 times in the first year at Noodle 
• Grew my team from 1 (me!) to ~45+ retaining a team employee satisfaction rate of 94%
• Worked with 24+ campuses across the nation to launch and provide student support. Initially, we had about 30 students and now we support over 5,000 students. Students are happy with their experience and have rated it NPS of over 35. More importantly, over 5,000 students will have more doors open because they advanced their education. I met and worked with some truly fantastic campus partners.

• If you were to measure a student experience, how would you go about doing that? Seems like an impossible feat/vision but I co-led the process of creating a rubric, called the RISE rubic, that takes into account 35+ variables that define a high-quality experience for online learners. 
• Created competencies for each of the positions on my team that are used to measure performance. These competencies are also embedded in job descriptions, training, quarterly assessments, and bonus calculations. 
• Created a competency-based hybrid onboarding experience for my new team members that allowed me to ensure they received key information while optimizing for scale.
• Wrote and created a graduate student orientation/onboarding course that has been customized to our partners and receives a learner satisfaction of at least 4 out of 5. I also created a version of our course for undergraduates. 
• Worked with campuses across the UMN system to help them migrate their orientation and week of welcome online during COVID.
• Delivered 15+ presentations about supporting online students alongside campus partners.

• Evaluated, managed, and partnered with multiple coaching vendors, instructional design and video firms, tutoring, and mental health support companies. 
• Created and documented launch and maintenance project plans to establish repeatable steps and capture lessons learned for each new account. Many of the documents or processes I created were used as templates across the company.
• Partnered closely with enrollment team leadership to create a seamless hand-off process for students.
• Worked with our product leads to create a CRM that not only allows for tracking of student information but also leverages predictive analytics to direct higher level support to those students who need it most.
• Created a metrics-driven student support coaching program grounded in research with an amazing team of coaches who consistently score an average of 4.25 out of 5. 
• Built a team culture that allows for team members to engage, teach and support each other. Most specifically achieved through virtual and location-based staff retreats and establishing a professional development committee and a recognition committee.
• Created our first Virtual Student Union and documented scalable social engagement initiatives. 
• Created a scalable staffing structure based on a growth formula.
• Learned .... SO..... SO.... much.
• So much.
• Went through 4 big bottles of turquoise glitter to spread sparkly crafting love to other Noodlers. 

• Survived the pandemic with homeschooling, a huge fire in my hometown, and a new home purchase thanks to the very gracious and people-oriented policies implemented by my company. My kids few up at Noodle- my youngest daughter went from being an bald little chubby infant to a full grown first grader. My eldest daughter went from preschool to third grade. I can no longer spell words to keep secrets from them. I got three dogs (two doodles and a maltipoo) over the last five years — which my daughter credits to Noodle; They too, are sad my time at Noodle has come to an end.

• Took on the role of PTA President at my daughters’ school (yes, I’m crazy).
• Worked my butt off to become a Body Combat instructor and quickly quit after realizing I have a TERRIBLE memory for choreography.

• Co-edited six books — four about international perspectives on diversity and equity in higher ed and two about online learning.

• Started 2 podcasts including one (Pivoting Out of Edu) that continues on successfully and has led to a coaching side hustle which is my passion project.
• I didn’t do all of this alone. I worked with more rad people than I can count….I had over 45 people on my list to give a personal goodbye to a few weeks ago. Amazing and brilliant team members with whom my relationship will extend beyond Noodle. A quirky, direct, funny, personable, and amazing visionary of CEO. A powerhouse of a businesswoman as a COO. A caring, candid, family-oriented, driver of excellence and committed to equity Chief Program Officer. A Chief Academic Officer and supervisor who empowers, challenges, and coaches others. A VP of Learning (and a bunch of other words that make her title long) who has become one of my closest friends and confidants. And so many others… I could go on for days. Off sites and retreats that allowed us to connect in person like we were long lost friends - karaoke bars in NYC, hot air balloon rides, tours of cities, dinner in the dessert, a New Kid on the Block sighting in JFK, heads of cotton candy, New Orleans memories I can’t mention here and so so much more. 

Noodle wasn’t always perfect but for these five years of my life, it was perfect for me.  

My heart is full and sad but also ready to move on to the next adventure.