Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anna London, Founder, and CEO of Chrysallis.AI, Inc., located in Falls Church, VA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Chrysallis.AI Metaversity is a patent pending SaaS AI Personalized Learning Platform with Real-Time Behavior Analytics and Adaptive Learning, mixed reality, and gamification. Our ideal customer niche is the Big 4 organizations that have a large training budget and have expressed the need for prebuilt labs in which employee progress and ability to grasp those technical concepts can be measured.
Adult-upskilling and K-12 in the area of STEM/STEAM and Cyber Security.
Tell us about yourself
I am Anna London, Founder, and CEO of Chrysallis.AI, Inc., I am a Cancer Survivor and US Army Disabled Veteran with values rooted in service to my country and my community. As a woman in the cyber security/technology industry with 28 years of experience, I noticed a huge gender and racial diversity gap. I found myself as the only woman on an all-male team frequently in my career, so I wanted to do something about it by encouraging other females and people of color to join the ranks in STEAM and cybersecurity-related careers, so I began teaching as an adjunct professor at NC State University and Flatiron School where I could be a part of the solution.
I pivoted from cyber security consulting to having mentored and taught over 500 adult students in the area of cyber security engineering and analytics and helped them transition from minimum wage jobs to now working for companies like Deloitte, Amazon, Microsoft, and others, making six figures.
As a licensed teacher, and with my access to education SaaS learning platforms in use at these institutions like Instructure Canvas, Google Classroom, and others, I started to realize significant gaps existed in the technology used by trade schools and universities. Tools like Instructure Canvas which claim to have intuitive dashboards are very limited and are very cumbersome to learn, stand up, and manage.
In addition, the lack of BIPOC and women representation in cyber security engineering classrooms in which I teach cause more imposter syndrome, where students that are struggling are afraid or embarrassed to raise their hand and ask questions, so they end up failing out of the course or dropping out altogether. In one example, an adult student named Michelle was falling behind in assignments and was given extensions to turn them in. One-on-one sessions were scheduled with her, and I consistently asked if she had questions during lectures along with the entire class. This student failed to speak up because she was embarrassed, which is common in the highly technical course curriculum, so to address this problem, Chrysallis.AI Metaversity was born.
I recently added a cofounder to the team, Mikini Williams, with an equally impressive background in cyber security and education. Our core team is military veterans with a passion for technology, cyber security, and education.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our biggest accomplishment is the ability to inspire and empower the next generation of brilliant minds to carry the torch forward in scientific, technological, environmental, and mathematic advancements across the globe.
Our core values are demonstrated in the community through our support for
Women and Kids in STEAM, Diversity in Tech, CEO Kids, and our Wounded
Warriors.
Our team is passionate about improving the quality of education for all children and adult students across the globe and closing the gender and racial diversity gap in STEAM and Cyber-related careers.
Education is a right, not a privilege. No child or adult student should be left behind.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Not giving up even when the struggle gets tough and you are told because you are a female, the odds are stacked against you. However, we are turning limiting beliefs into limitless dreams because your biggest threat is your mind, and if you can overcome that, anything is possible.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be hungry to learn.
- Turn your passion into your fuel to continue on even when times get tough.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
For technical careers like cyber security, being able to demonstrate an understanding of concepts is critical to the organization's success in securing its data. New hires from schools and universities are unable to demonstrate hands-on capabilities in high-demand jobs like cyber.
Currently, employers are having to establish a 9 - 12 month training program as part of their onboarding process as recent college and trade school graduates are not able to demonstrate an understanding of hands-on concepts.
The solution is a personalized learning platform that can measure the student's ability to demonstrate understanding of concepts through fluid analytics and adaptive learning. We have a prebuilt virtual lab environment with interactive labs and assessments with advanced patent-pending immersive and intuitive features like gamification and mixed reality.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://chrysallis.ai/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrysallis.ai/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/chrysallisai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/🌟anna-london-2691a13b/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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