Eliza Combines Tech and Entrepreneurship to Create Impact

Meet Our Fellows Blog Series: Eliza Vardanyan

At around six years old, my cousins and I started our own retail outlet on the street corner of our small neighborhood—nothing but a chewing gum display, some chocolate bars, and a few price tags. It was neither sustainable nor profitable, but it was our first little business initiative.

Thirteen years later, when I started my undergraduate degree in business at Earlham College, I joined a group of young entrepreneurs that were relatively inexperienced yet very passionate about combining entrepreneurship and social change into one. It was among this group of people that I began to realize that entrepreneurship can make an incredible impact on our communities.

Eliza (far right) accepts her first entrepreneurship competition victory. Eliza's team won the Earlham Prize for Creative Capitalism for their work with the Mashinani Farmers Initiative.

During my studies at Earlham College, I also participated in entrepreneurship competitions that showed me how much I enjoy researching problems, proposing solutions, and bringing those solutions to life. What inspired me even more was the fact that entrepreneurs have the platform and opportunity to impact thousands of lives with the solutions they create. Since then, I have known that entrepreneurship was a calling of mine.

However, this never stopped me from exploring other fields, such as technology. Once I started studying computer science, I was inspired. So inspired that I worked to encourage more women to choose careers in tech fields. I began by joining college chapters of Women in Computing and Girls Who Code and continued by working with non-profits like CodePath.org as a Tech Fellow. I was even able to teach my peers through a student-led iOS development course at Earlham College.

As graduation approached, I looked for opportunities that would allow me to bring together technology and entrepreneurship. Additionally, I hoped to find an opportunity that would help me develop a wide range of skills including project management, execution, and technical systems.

enFocus was the perfect fit.

At enFocus, I am impacting the South Bend-Elkhart region by innovating across projects in diverse organizations and fields. I get to think entrepreneurially, apply my technology background, and create community impact with numerous partners in varied fields. This unique combination of opportunities differentiates enFocus from others and makes my day-to-day work really exciting.

Learn more about the 2021 enFocus Fellows weekly in our Meet Our Fellows Blog Series.