Some know Michelle Gannon as an engaging English teacher; others recognize her as the face of the Pinewood Scholars Program. Regardless, Gannon’s path from a childhood in New Jersey to attending Princeton University to leading Pinewood’s entrepreneurship program has been an unconventional one.
Gannon began her college career as an archaeology major at Princeton. Her connection with archaeology stems from trips to the city with her mother and exploring the arts of New York.
“[Visiting museums every weekend is where my interest in art came from,” Gannon said.
Other than museums, Gannon also attended poetry readings with notable figures such as Tony Morrison. She attributes her weekends traveling to New York, in particular, Harlem, as major factors in enabling her to delve into arts and archeology.
While at Princeton, Gannon tried out various career paths. As an archeology major, she went on various expeditions, ranging from digs in Cyprus to working with the Ojibwe tribe on a Native American reservation. Outside of archeology, Gannon experimented more with the arts, working at an art gallery in New York City.
Gannon shifted from archeology to consulting after realizing the field wasn’t quite the right fit for her long-term goals.
After landing a job with Anderson Consulting, now known as Accenture, Gannon spent a month in Chicago where she learned business skills that served as her first venture into the entrepreneurial world.
“What was amazing about working with Anderson is that they invest a lot in you,” Gannon said. “I learned business terms, how to make presentations, how to present in front of clients, [and] how to interact with clients.”
These skills would later serve as the foundation of the Pinewood Scholars Program, also known as PSP, which is an honors program Gannon started at Pinewood that guides students through the creation of their own passion projects and teaches students about social entrepreneurship and business frameworks. It was also around this time with her consulting firm when Gannon realized that her true passion was in teaching.
“I found that I gravitated a lot to the opportunities of teaching that Anderson offered, like teaching clients about how to use a particular software program or teaching internal employees about how to present in front of a client,” Gannon said. “And I realized that I really love teaching.”
As a result, Gannon shifted to pursue a masters in education at Columbia University. She took a few teaching jobs in New Jersey and even taught abroad for Temple University in Japan.
It wasn’t until she moved to California with her family when Gannon returned to the business world. Inspired by her son’s ability to speak Japanese from attending a Japanese preschool, Gannon created a business to help other parents teach their children new languages.
“I started a business based on this experience of being a mom who doesn’t speak a language but their kids are fluent,” Gannon said. “How do you get kids who are fluent in the language when you don’t speak it yourself?”
Another business that Gannon founded along with three other Princeton alums is the Princeton Alumni Angels.
“[It’s] an organization that [partners] Princeton companies that are just launching [to] people who are interested in investing as their ‘angels,’” Gannon said.
These rounds of investing were the catalyst to what would eventually become PSP, what Gannon refers to as a “mini” version of her organization.
Gannon’s nonlinear journey highlights all the different paths of life that so many high school students don’t realize exist.
“That’s part of why I share my background with [students],” Gannon said. “It’s for you to realize that even though right now it seems as if it’s so important to pick [the] best major or the best school, the reality is that what you choose right now is probably going to be very different from what you end up being.”
