#FollowLearningMe
Meet Nicole O'Connor, the co-founder of Learning Me, a platform dedicated to providing flexible professional learning packages for educators and accessible classroom tools for learners. As a fellow professional educator, Nicole understands the challenges faced by teachers in delivering the curriculum while also addressing the diverse needs of their students.
With Learning Me, Nicole and her team aim to provide a solution to these challenges by offering a range of customizable professional learning packages designed to meet the development needs of schools in areas such as learning, strategic planning, and emotional health and wellbeing. The platform also offers classroom tools that make learning more accessible and engaging for students.
Nicole is one of our SheGenerate2.0 graduates and our SheGenerate2.0 showcase pitcher winner.
SheGenerate 3.0 EOI are open! You can find out more here.
To get us started - how would you describe yourself in 6 words or less?
Ambivert millennial nurturing wellbeing through technology.
What prompted you to start your business?
This business idea started after recognising that special and additional needs were continually increasing year-on-year in schools. In particular, in a post-lockdown society, we were finding that Social, Behavioural, Emotional, Wellbeing (SBEW) needs were noticeably on the rise and it was impacting pupil attainment and teacher workload. During the pandemic, we all had a heightened appreciation for teachers. Our company believes in the power of schools and seeks to support them in the tremendous work that they do through providing consultancy services and in the very near future...a wellbeing app for primary school pupils!
Tell us a little bit more about you?
I am an eternal optimist and strive to surround myself with people who have a positive influence on my life. I am a proud care-experienced, adopted adult. I'm blessed with an incredibly supportive family, who have been beyond encouraging throughout every career decision I have made. As a child, I had quite a "bossy" streak that I now recognise was my early attempt at developing leadership skills!
I never considered entrepreneurship as a career direction because I always wanted to be a teacher. After graduating with my PGCE in Primary Education I started to become interested in the use of ICT and digital technology to enhance teaching and learning. Early in my teaching career, I began developing a reputation for tech skills and "epedagogy". During the Covid-19 lockdowns, I co-founded a voluntary group that would go on to deliver Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) with nearly 10,000 total event registrations for our sessions.
Upon the return to full-time classroom teaching, many teachers and schools started asking us for more TPL and support - so eventually I said "yes"! I left my permanent teaching post in August 2022 and took the big leap of faith to pursue 'Learning Me' with my phenomenal co-founder, Bernard Noble.
Fill us in on your female founder journey?
At the start of this journey, when 'Learning Me' was barely an idea, I didn't really know just how passionate I am about pupil wellbeing. I needed to step out of the bubble I was in at school to learn about what truly drives me. I thought ICT would always be my main focus in a founding journey but through collaborating and reflecting, I learned that I care just as much about pupil wellbeing as I do about educational technology. Well...what about combining the two!? Now that would definitely get me out of bed in the morning!
I'm a different type of busy now, compared to when I was teaching. I have a lot of learning to do and a whole new set of acronyms to get acquainted with e.g. CRM, ROI, API, AWS etc. There are many times when I have felt overwhelmed by the risk I took and the workload in front of me but I'm very fortunate to have a superb co-founder, a powerful network of fellow female founders and amazing family and friends who encourage me over every bump in the road!
How did you hear about AwakenHub and what prompted you to apply for SheGenerate?
My fellow PGCE colleague, Katrina Bradley, was a part of SheGenerate 1.0 and when I saw the applications open up for this year, I gave her a call and told her that I was thinking of applying and asked about her experience on this accelerator. I always want to learn from and work with the best. It was really clear to me that this programme was going to upskill me rapidly and provide me with vital tools and strategies to help make my business a success.
What have you gotten out of the SheGenerate process?
I meant it when I said I surround myself with people who have a positive influence on my life! This programme is no exception. I have met many inspiring innovators and brilliant businesswomen through this programme. There is a feeling you get on Workshop Days that is so hard for me to articulate but it lights a fire inside me! My ambition and confidence levels grow each session and I deeply value the respectful accountability that is instilled within this community. The workshop quality has been to such a high standard too. I have now implemented several tools and strategies I hadn't heard of before the process. I'm beyond grateful for the support from the community on Slack. I've never had a question someone hasn't been able to help me with!
What does success look like to you - in 12 months and in 5 years?
Within a year, success would be having our 'Understanding Me' wellbeing app accessible to all primary school learners in NI, following a hugely positive pilot and securement of necessary funding.
Within five years, I'd love to be in the financial and strategic position to have our company scaling sustainably across the world. A "full-circle" moment I want to achieve is seeing Social, Behavioural, Emotional, Wellbeing (SBEW) statistics improve for NI children.
SheGenerate is only a small part of AwakenHub - now that you have the community's attention - what can we/they do for you?
'Learning Me' will soon be piloting our pupil wellbeing app in primary schools across NI. I would love to hear from primary teachers who would like to pilot our web-based app and give us some feedback on the impact it is having on the classroom. Please tell your teacher friends about us and connect with us to stay tuned for Expression of Interest posts coming soon!
We're always happy to speak at events or to the media and would welcome any invitations to do so!
As a founder - what are your non-negotiables?
On many occasions in my founder journey, I have heard statistics about the high percentage of businesses that fail for this, that and the other - or the low percentage of female-led companies that achieve x, y or z etc. I have always flipped statistics into a challenge to overcome. When I was applying to university, only 6% of adopted children went to university. Even fewer made it past their second year.
Be the exception to the rule.
#FollowLearningMe
https://learningme.org/
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