Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur, Teacher, Mother, and 4x WGU Graduate (Jessica Shelley)

Meet Jessica Shelley, a WGU alumna who's revolutionizing education and entrepreneurship while balancing family life with five children and supporting her husband's academic journey at WGU. Explore her journey from elementary teacher to Forbes' 30 under 30 powerhouse and discover her groundbreaking educational platform, Dailies, disrupting pre-K through 12th-grade learning. Delve into the integration of technology into education, where Jessica unveils Dailies' connection to WGU's competency-based learning model, emphasizing personalized educational pathways. This conversation offers insights into empowering learners and parents, reshaping education paradigms, and the joy of tech industry recognition.

Takeaways:

• How Jessica's educational platform, Dailies, is reshaping pre-K through 12th-grade learning by integrating technology and personalized pathways.
• Ways the integration of technology into education offers opportunities for empowering both learners and parents.
• The transformative power of lifelong learning.

Jessica Shelley Bio:

Oregon Native Jessica Shelley is a wife, mother of five small children, a former elementary school teacher, a Forbes 30 under 30 lister, an entrepreneur and business owner, and three-time WGU graduate, about to be four.   

In 2020, Jessica co-founded and launched Dailies, an innovative educational platform that provides gamification and personalized learning for pre-K through 12th grade learners.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to the WGU Alumni Podcast. Here you'll learn more about our alumni network, the amazing things our graduates are accomplishing, and you'll find ways to make the most of being a part of this ever-expanding WGU community.

Speaker 2: 0:21

Hey everyone, welcome back to the WGU Alumni Podcast. We're thrilled to have you join us yet again. This is your host, Jeff Burton, joined by co-host Robert Sullivan.

Speaker 3: 0:32

Hi Robert, I always love you calling me co-host because Jeff does all the work and I get the privilege of talking about our amazing alums with him. But thanks for calling me a co-host, Jeff.

Speaker 2: 0:42

Co-host and boss, can I call you that too? Only at work.

Speaker 3: 0:47

And friend. Yeah, that's better. There you go.

Speaker 2: 0:49

Well, Robert, thank you for joining yet again. We've got another exciting episode and we've commented in the past couple, but these are so fun to interview our graduates and to see the impact that they're having. And today we have Jessica Shelby on and she has a fantastic story and is doing great work.

Speaker 3: 1:10

Yeah, and Jessica's, like many of our alums all of our alums very impressive. She just made a 30 under 30 list, so we'll get to hear a little bit about that. But, as you look at her bio, something that we'll talk a little bit about but like so many other grads, she has a lot going on besides school and being an entrepreneur. She's a mother of five. I have five kids. I barely get them to bed every night with my wife, but here she is, mother of five, going back to school. For her. How many degrees?

Speaker 2: 1:40

now she's earned three from WGU, and this is her fourth that she's about to finish.

Speaker 3: 1:45

Her fourth degree and starting her own business and being a teacher. I mean very impressive that we get to hear from her, but not unlike all the great alums we get to talk to, because that's what WGU is about. Right Like is allowing access to more education to people in less traditional places to be able to come back to education, and WGU offers that to people like Jessica.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Absolutely and, robert, I think the interesting thing that you'll find in this interview and that our audience will find is that she aligns her business that she's created aligns very, very nicely with WGU in that, exactly like you said, it's expanding access, it's providing opportunity to those in the pre-K through 12th grade space and she's doing really, really well. One of the reasons I think she was recognized by Forbes and her company is growing and it's so awesome to see one of our graduates like all of them, as you mentioned succeed and to be able to have a big impact in the space.

Speaker 3: 2:50

Yeah, and again, just a great representative of WGU. One of WGU's core beliefs, right, is advancing equity, and this can be seen a lot of times in like a D&I lens. Unfortunately, sometimes it gets pulled into the political, but the truth is, when we talk about equity, we're talking about giving opportunity to everyone in all circumstances and a lot of people that don't have the opportunity or don't know they have the opportunity to get that education. That's part of WGU's mission, part of Jessica's mission. So just a great representative absolutely what do you say?

Speaker 2: 3:27

we jump over to that interview now. Yeah, let's hear more about it. All right, oregon native, jessica Shelley is a wife, mother of five small children, a former elementary school teacher, a Forbes 30 under 30 lister, an entrepreneur and business owner, and three-time WGU graduate. About to be four In 2020,. Jessica co-founded and launched Dailies, an innovative educational platform that provides gamification and personalized learning for pre-K through 12th grade learners. Welcome to the WGU Alumni Podcast, jessica.

Speaker 4: 4:02

Thank you so much for having me, Jeff.

Speaker 2: 4:04

Absolutely. I'm thrilled to catch up with you today. You've obviously, from this bio, you've accomplished a lot in a short period of time and I'm anxious for you to share your story with our audience.

Speaker 4: 4:14

I'm excited to share more and get into it.

Speaker 2: 4:17

Well, I guess a general question off the bat how do you do it all, Jessica? That was quite an impressive and exhaustive bio, Jessica.

Speaker 4: 4:25

That was quite an impressive and exhaustive bio. I would say I don't do it all. I have a partner in my business and in life and so they kind of help pick up the different pieces based on different priorities at different times. I am very grateful for my support system.

Speaker 2: 4:41

Well, very good, and again we're going to dive into this here in the interview. I've got a lot of questions. A Forbes 30 under 30 is quite impressive. And then again a business owner, entrepreneur, and you're about to be a four-time WGU graduate. So we want to hear all about that. But before we begin, jessica, as you know, we're a national university. We have students living and studying in all 50 states, and so the question we like to start with knowing this is what is your favorite thing about your hometown? You are from the Beaverton Oregon area, which is a suburb of Portland, is that correct?

Speaker 4: 5:18

Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 2: 5:20

So tell us what is the best thing about Beaverton Oregon.

Speaker 4: 5:25

I think the best thing about Beaverton is, honestly, location and like proximity to both the beach and the mountains and you have a little bit of the city there. Growing up there was incredible. However, you know we're not there now, but I think that there's a lot of great places to see and visit in Oregon in general and Beaverton is being right there in the middle near Portland.

Speaker 2: 5:44

I love it. It definitely is a beautiful, beautiful part of the country and so definitely good that you're giving it a plug and you'd welcome people to come visit then, correct?

Speaker 4: 5:53

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 5:55

I love it. Now you're not currently in Oregon that's your hometown and Beaverton but whereabouts do you live now?

Speaker 4: 6:01

We are currently in Gulfport, mississippi, so about 15 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, and a very touristy sort of retirement town with some up and coming families.

Speaker 2: 6:14

So kind of coast to coast, if we can call the Gulf coast and consider that a coast. But which beach is better? Is that a fair question?

Speaker 4: 6:24

So which beach is better? Is that a fair question? Oh, I I don't know. If we can, we can judge that. Beaverton, oregon, I mean the Oregon coast, is beautiful but very cold, and then the Gulf where we're at is, um, you can't really go in the water because there's uh, some stuff in there. But if you go a little bit farther over to Alabama, beautiful beaches, warm water. So yeah, gulf is definitely better, but not necessarily in my location.

Speaker 2: 6:50

Gotcha Makes total sense. Well, I want to dive into the interview and again have you share a little bit about your story, your journey and the good work that you're doing. So to kind of start off talking about WGU, as I mentioned just a second ago, you're about to complete your fourth master's degree from WGU. Wow, is it safe to say that this has been a good model for you, jessica?

Speaker 4: 7:10

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Tell us which degree you're earning now.

Speaker 4: 7:14

I'm currently wrapping up my MBA program Okay, and what are the other three's in special education with licensure? And then I got my master's in business management and leadership.

Speaker 2: 7:33

I love this. You know a good breadth of experience here at WGU. Why do you keep coming back?

Speaker 4: 7:40

Honestly I think it is the model. I know that I've justified the degrees to a few of my close friends and colleagues about how I'm going to be doing the learning anyway. So might as well just have a little bit more structure and connection with cohorts and mentors along the way to kind of help further propel me into the different areas of my career.

Speaker 2: 8:00

And I understand you've referred people to WGU as well. Tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 4: 8:19

I feel like I talk about WGU all the time. Yeah, my husband is actually completing his bachelor's program in business right now and I've had someone on our internship team for our curriculum development team and I referred her to WGU and she completed her degree in six months. So I feel like I'm always talking about and raving about WGU.

Speaker 2: 8:35

Well, we appreciate the support and again, glad it's been so good for you in helping you to obtain these four degrees and glad to have your husband soon to be a member of our alumni ranks as well. Has he had a good time?

Speaker 4: 8:50

He has. Yeah, the model is great when you have five kids running around at home.

Speaker 2: 8:55

Yeah, I would imagine. So Ages, what for your children?

Speaker 4: 9:00

Yeah, my oldest actually just turned eight and my youngest is one, so she just had her birthday in March.

Speaker 2: 9:07

Okay, any twins in the batch?

Speaker 4: 9:09

No, nope, all singletons.

Speaker 2: 9:13

Yeah, the model provides flexibility and, as parents of you know two parents of young kids I'm sure it's been good for you guys to be able to study kind of on your own pace and in your own time. Absolutely, and it's good for you guys to be able to study kind of on your own pace and on your own time. Absolutely Well, jessica, from your LinkedIn profile you state that you seek to revolutionize education through technology. That's exciting and something that obviously we believe very strongly here at WGU. What have you learned from this experience?

Speaker 4: 9:45

Yeah, I think in general, the accessibility that technology provides across the board, but especially when it comes to education. You know, my teaching experience was in a rural school district in Oregon and there wasn't a lot of access. It was like pre, you know, technology being one-on-one with students and there was ways that I was able to leverage technology to connect my students to the broader world. And I think that now that I'm in a role as an educational entrepreneur, the idea that the world is limitless and learning is limitless is something that is really exciting and intriguing to kind of bring to the K-12 space too.

Speaker 2: 10:20

Yeah, definitely so there's been a big focus on technology.

Speaker 4: 10:23

you're saying oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 10:26

Why did you create Dailies? What was the purpose and objective in the first place?

Speaker 4: 10:30

Yes, originally, with Dailies it was a way to understand what children were learning, and more from, like, the familial sense. So my role as an educator was, you know, overseeing education for 25 to 30 students at a time within my classroom. But Dailies was really born out of the necessity and need to be engaged in my child's learning at home. My co-founder is a very proud uncle, and so he kind of brought that experience into his like. I wish that I would have had an opportunity to help my nieces and nephews when they were younger, because I just didn't know, though, what they were needing help with, and that's what Daley's is kind of. That's where Daly's was born from. Was this kind of need to understand what children are understanding, and then also, what is my role and how can I help propel them forward?

Speaker 2: 11:18

So thank you for sharing all of that. I wanted to ask you what you think the similarities you share with WGU in terms of disrupting and improving education.

Speaker 4: 11:29

Yeah, I think the very clear similarity is this idea of competency-based learning and that each learner really has their own sort of path forward. You know, as someone who's completed almost four degrees at WGU, there's been courses that I've finished in a day and some that have taken me months to complete, Whereas if you ask someone else about their experience, you know they may have had something very different, you know. And so this idea that there's competencies, there's criterion that are outlined for what we should know and parameters for how we can demonstrate that mastery, but then, at the same time, our path to get there is all very unique and so kind of a similar idea for what we have with dailies, with this kind of personalized learning path more focused on like the pre-K through fifth grade, pre-K through 12 learning journey, so to speak.

Speaker 2: 12:24

Yeah, competency-based education, really pioneered by WGU, has been something that a lot of people have looked at, and it's exciting to know that you're implementing that within dailies, which it sounds like you've had some success doing that.

Speaker 4: 12:40

Yes, absolutely, and I think it also was even further solidified in my experience as a classroom teacher. We actually did standards-based grading, which is very similar to competency-based education, with the criterion, of course, being the educational standards that are adopted by the state and the district, but absolutely holistic view of you know this kind of understanding and getting away from proficiency, as in you know, 70 percent, 90 percent and much more towards. Do you understand this? Can you demonstrate your understanding based on the exhibited criterion?

Speaker 2: 13:12

Yeah, for sure. Okay Now, Jessica, would you say there's any correlation to what you're doing there at Daly's from pre-K to 12th grade, to that of higher education?

Speaker 4: 13:22

Yeah, I think the comparison here really is who's in charge of the individual learners, information, data, learning path, all of those things that the learner really takes over as they get into higher education, but something that seems very gated and closed off in the traditional like pre-K through 12 space. You know you don't really have access to your own records or notes or anything like that outside of potential progress reports that are shared with your parents, and so really, what DALYS is aiming to do is put the learning back in the hands of the learner and the parent. Who's going to be that consistent sort of model for proficiency as the child moves from pre-K all the way through 12th grade, versus keeping the information kind of hidden behind closed walls. Or you know you have a different teacher for every single year of your child's career. What if you move? Where is this, all this information kind of being stored? Or is information being lost, kind of in translation between year to year, school to school?

Speaker 2: 14:24

And so that's really what.

Speaker 4: 14:25

Bailey's aims to do is put the learning back on the family and the child, which is what higher education does really well.

Speaker 2: 14:32

Yeah, how important is the support or the mentoring component in what you've seen?

Speaker 4: 14:37

I think it's vital. I mean, we see that at WGU when you have a course mentor, but you also have a program mentor. Carrying over to the pre-K-12 space, you know, we see this relationship between the teacher, the parent and the child, where the teacher and the parent are both kind of serving to mentor the child and so really, with dailies, this kind of idea, again similar to WGU, where they have a support system to rely on as they're navigating their educational journey. Similar to the space in WGU where you have, you know, mentors, cohorts that you can rely on to help continue your progress and help propel you forward.

Speaker 2: 15:15

Yeah, okay, very good, I want to give you a little bit of space to tell us a little bit more about DALYs and specifically interested to learn of the outcomes and really the impact that DALYs has had to date. So start there, tell us a little bit more about Dailies. You've kind of alluded to some of the things, but kind of give us the overall pitch and understanding of Dailies and then what your impact has been to date.

Speaker 4: 15:38

Yeah, so Dailies is a personalized education platform. We do have a micro learning app, and then we also have a live class sort of marketplace structure where families are matched with certified educators, and then what we do is really unique because we actually customize every lesson and session to the students that are actually signed up for that specific time block, and so we're integrating reading, writing and math objectives into every interaction that we have with the children and then providing reports after every interaction as well to the family so that they can feel engaged and understand what their child is learning. And then the next steps. As far as our impact has been, we've been able to support over 15,000 families since we originally started, over a million class minutes and students from over 30 countries, and we're just getting started. We're at the tip of the iceberg there, so to speak, and we're really excited about the future of our impact.

Speaker 2: 16:34

That's fantastic, so I was going to ask if it's. You know across the country, but it's in more than 30 countries as well.

Speaker 4: 16:41

Yes, we've had students join us from over 30 countries.

Speaker 2: 16:43

Wow, that's fantastic to hear Spell Dailies and provide a website for people that want to go check this out.

Speaker 4: 16:50

Yeah, so Dailies is D-A-I-L-I-E-S and you can check us out at dailiespodscom D-A-I-L-I-E-S, p-o-d-scom.

Speaker 2: 17:02

Okay, so if there are parents in our audience and we know that to be the case, many of our WGU students right are working parents with families of their own tell me a little bit about you know how, how this can help them, help their students, succeed yeah, I mean especially for wg parents.

Speaker 4: 17:20

You know you understand the feedback that you get when you submit an assessment or performance task and that's really what we aim to provide you about your child, except we're not having them submit papers or, you know, do an objective assessment or anything like that, but we're actually providing the interaction with a certified educator. So if you're curious about how your child is doing, or maybe you know that they're struggling with math or reading but not sure what that actually means, you know we help. We help parents kind of navigate this educational journey, whether they're in traditional school, homeschooling, want to help their child accelerate or maybe they need a little bit more support. We're very much more of a holistic sort of family support system to provide that information to families.

Speaker 2: 18:06

Nice. Now I'm curious what students are saying about their experience with dailies. Do you have feedback from those that are encountering it firsthand?

Speaker 4: 18:17

I could speak about my own children's experience. They've actually been in the program from the very beginning and I feel like I hear about it endlessly every day, multiple times a day. Oh, we have school today. No, it's a Saturday, but they have absolutely enjoyed their time with dailies and the ability that they've, or the opportunity that they've had to connect with students from across the country. They have friends in Florida and Pennsylvania and Oregon, washington, new Jersey. Like it's so cool to see the impact and the spread of this sort of global community that we've been able to foster through dailies, very nice.

Speaker 4: 18:57

So you have how many kids that are in the program I have two and then one more that'll join us this fall okay, well, and like you say, that that's uh, you know instant feedback.

Speaker 2: 19:08

you know, as a mom, to hear if somebody's complaining or it's not working. Well, I don't know, do you ever, you know, take feedback from them and make changes? Or, you know, look at procedures and policies that you have?

Speaker 4: 19:21

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think, especially when it comes to kind of general quality control. If they're, if I'm reading with them and I see gaps in maybe what they're understanding, then okay, we need to take a look at our curriculum maps that we're sharing with educators. I feel like it's been an all too common question that I'll plop them into an onboarding session with one of our new teachers and be like oh, tell me about how that teacher was. Did you like them? Do you want to take another class with them? Just to make sure that the teacher is, you know, warm and inviting as well for new students that they're interacting with.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Yeah, now this is really interesting to me Again, you're a mom as well as a teacher and now a business owner and so, almost from these three different perspectives, you certainly have opinions on, maybe, improvements that are needed to enhance learning for young students. Have you seen things that definitely stand out to you that need to be improved upon or enhanced for students to be successful?

Speaker 4: 20:15

Oh, I think, across the board, the number one thing that is glaring in my face is this idea of, you know student data ownership. As a mom, you know, if my child was in traditional school it would be very hard for me to know what my child learned that day or what I could, you know, refresh with them that evening or this kind of continuous progress or process of moving them forward. I have the benefit that I've been an educator and so I kind of understand curriculum and lessons and you know pedagogy and all of those things. But a lot of parents don't have that background and so I think it's even more complicated and complex when you don't have that kind of background supporting. You know your experience with your children.

Speaker 4: 20:59

And then I think as a business owner, you know the idea of having and creating a successful business is that you're solving a problem for a certain population. And we see that this is an issue in the traditional school system because you know data is lost from year to year. You have a different group of kids second grade and third grade and then you know, as the parent side, how do you engage 30 parents on a daily or even weekly basis, letting them know what their children have been learning in the classroom? Not that teachers don't want to, it's just the system isn't necessarily set up for that kind of frequent and that frequency of needed communication to make sure that everyone's on the same page.

Speaker 2: 21:39

What would you say is the biggest lesson you've learned from creating an education technology company?

Speaker 4: 21:45

I think the biggest lesson is around the power of people and connections. Lesson is around the power of people and connections. You know, I never really set off to to start a company or lead a company and I was more, you know, excited about the idea of kind of creating a curriculum that was based on best practices and the research and my education at WGU. But really through this process it's been about how, when you're focused on your customer, when you're focused on the people that you're trying to help and make an impact with, the roadmap of the company changes and shifts further than what you maybe originally anticipated. You can review so much information, you can do all of the user research, everything, but until you're actually having those conversations with your customers, those people that are trusting you with their children, you don't really realize the true breadth of impact that you have on their child's life but also their life as a whole.

Speaker 2: 22:44

Yeah, very interesting. What would you say? The future holds for you and the company?

Speaker 4: 22:52

I'd say for me definitely still in the education and making an impact space. I'm very much an impact driven person and so I would hope that that kind of comes through with the company as well as we continue to grow and scale. And then, as far as the company goes, you know we're exploring school partnerships on how we can support more teachers that have rising class rates or or may not have the the background or experience to kind of cater to individualized needs and and personalized learning at scale within the traditional system. So I would say the future is open, limitless maybe, for kind of where we're headed.

Speaker 2: 23:35

Oh, that is great. Well, we appreciate your time today. It's been really great to kind of take a deep dive into what you've created and the success that you've had. But before we end the interview, though, I want to ask you about the accolades. Let you brag a little bit. So tell us a little about the Forbes 30 under 30. Was there a gala recognition? What did that look like and what did that mean to you to be recognized with such an impressive cohort?

Speaker 4: 24:02

Wow, well, it's a great story. It was a normal like Thursday morning, I think, and I was having breakfast with my kiddos. I just got them yogurt and some granola and scrolling through my inbox, getting ready for my my work day, and saw the Forbes, the Forbes email. It was completely unexpected. There was an event, I think towards the end of last year I wasn't able to attend in New York because I've got five kiddos at home. But overall, I feel incredibly honored and humbled to be part of such a prestigious sort of group of people that are making an impact across a multitude of different sectors across the world. And, of course, the work that we've done with dailies as well, to have that recognition for the company and just gave us that extra boost of confidence that we're really making a difference.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Well, I love that. I want to speak for all of us on the alumni team here employed at the university, but also of our nationwide footprint, of NIDAL nation, the WGU graduates, now more than 300,000 strong. I just want to say thank you, jessica, for representing us so well and for making us proud in all that you've accomplished. It's absolutely outstanding.

Speaker 4: 25:24

Well, thank you so much. I appreciate all the support through all of the degrees and everything, so I am so appreciative. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with WGU.

Speaker 2: 25:34

Awesome. Thank you. Well, as we conclude the interview, I'd love to give you the final words. So any final words of wisdom or parting comments, anything that you want to share.

Speaker 4: 25:45

I'd say more final words along the lines of for those parents out there that are, you know, going through your program, or maybe you've wrapped up your program and are kind of navigating. You know work, life balance with your kiddos, know that there's a whole ecosystem of us out there supporting you and cheering you on and that there's a community of resources available to you as well. If you ever have questions and regarding your child's education, know that there's resources and people out there that are always willing to jump in and help.

Speaker 2: 26:13

Love that. Thank you, Jessica.

Speaker 4: 26:15

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 26:16

Thank you for listening to the WGU Alumni Podcast. To learn more about the WGU alumni community, visit wguedu backslash alumni. Thank you to our alumni, now 300,000 strong and growing WGU a new kind of you.