SkyHive Deep Dive: Samantha Schwab

SkyHivers come from a diversity of backgrounds, and it takes all manner of skills and experiences to design products to serve the multiplicity of challenges that today's students, employers and jobseekers face. At SkyHive, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and as part of a new series to showcase the ways in which our transferable skills make us collectively stronger, we are unpacking the unique paths that SkyHivers have travelled to become part of our mission to reskill the world.

This week, we celebrate #NationalInternDay in the U.S., a day of recognition created by WayUp in 2017 to acknowledge, appreciate, and advocate for early career talent and expand access to paid internship experiences for the young people who - quite literally - shape our future of work. In recognition of the energy and inspiration we gain from early career talent, we interviewed one of SkyHive's own summer hires to learn more about her journey:

SkyHive: You have an intriguing background, Samantha – tell us a bit about your professional journey prior to joining SkyHive. ?

Samantha: After graduating from Stanford University as an economics major in 2018, I had an opportunity to go work in the White House. I never expected to end up there, but I had a passion for public service and I wanted to learn more about how the government operated. I worked for a year in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA), working on issues such as the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) and judicial nominations and confirmations. The White House OLA serves as the liaison between the White House and Members of Congress, so I learned a great deal about how our government operates at the highest level. ?

After serving in OLA, I took a job working for the Office of the Vice President (OVP). I began as a Director of Specialty Media for Vice President Pence and worked up to my role as his Deputy Press Secretary. The role evolved a great deal over the course of 2019 and 2020 as Vice President Pence took on the role as Head of the Coronavirus Task Force. In 2020, my role not only encompassed press and communications for the Vice President, but also for the Members of the 2020 Coronavirus Task Force.?

SkyHive: What sparked your interest in joining a skillstech / AI startup??

Samantha: At the start of 2020 while I was still in my role at the White House,?I decided I wanted to go back to school to pursue an MBA. I had worked in D.C. for a few years and was ready for a change to the private sector, but I wanted to learn more as well. ?

When I began school in the fall of 2021, I knew I wanted to pivot to the private side. In conjunction with my MBA courses, I began taking classes at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and realized I had a deep passion for education and edtech. I realized though, through various conversations I had in my first year, that people didn’t understand the skills I had gained from my work in the government. It was obvious I had the educational background in economics and now in business school, but it was not clear from my?professional experience what I had learned.?I was often asked how my background?translated to other industries and careers, and that’s when I realized I had a passion for the reskilling and upskilling sector of edtech. ?

People would often see that I worked in government, but they wouldn’t easily understand how my professional background translated to the tech sector. I learned a great deal in my years at the White House; for one, I gained the skill of thinking fast on my feet,?evolving quickly in high pressure environments, and synthesizing large amounts of information. I gained the skills of?communicating and storytelling effectively,?speaking up in times of disagreement, and maintaining good relationships. Finally, I believe in never making the same mistake twice. In my role, a small mistake could turn into a massive blunder, so learning from past mistakes, and staying calm while doing so, was critical.?

When I discovered SkyHive, I felt it perfectly encompassed my passion for economics, labor market analytics, technology and edtech,?while also highlighting the struggle I have endured with explaining to others the skills I have learned. ?

SkyHive: What have you focused on in your work this summer, and are there any highlights you’d?like to share? ?

Samantha: SkyHive is the first startup I have worked for in my professional life, and I have really enjoyed the experience. My first impression of SkyHive’s employees was that everyone who works here is extremely talented and passionate about the mission to reskill the world. I have been working with the Marketing team on projects aimed around the messaging and PR?strategy for SkyHive. My belief is that if everyone knew what SkyHive did, everyone would want to know more.

Thus, the highlight so far of my experience with SkyHive has been working on finding ways to share publicly the incredible things that SkyHive is doing, namely, partnerships with leading global organizations and governments, their growing list of offerings and products in the pipeline, and?their recently secured Job Descriptions Generator Patent. ?

SkyHive: What’s next for you this fall? Are there any new skills you’ve?gained this summer that you'll take with you into future opportunities??

Samantha: I am going back to my second and final year at Stanford Graduate School of Business this fall to finish up my MBA. I plan to focus my second-year courses?at the GSB on areas of EdTech and broader-based technology innovations. I’ll graduate in June of 2023, and as for what is next professionally for me, time will tell! I do know that I have a passion for disruptive innovations, entrepreneurship, skillstech, EdTech and artificial intelligence. ?

SkyHive has allowed me to lean into areas and skills I already had in messaging and media, while also gaining new ones such as?analyzing data. I’ve always been passionate about data but have not spent a lot of time using data to story-tell. Moreover, I have gained a much better?understanding of how artificial intelligence can be used to improve human decision-making and have realized how valuable AI will continue to be for future industries, especially as it evolves. It is truly so exciting to see what we have the capacity to?accomplish with the right technology, AI, and data! ?

SkyHive: What?advice would you give?other students who might be contemplating working in the future of work / skills / corporate communications space??

Samantha: My advice to students unsure of where they want to go professionally is to look at the company’s mission statement and their employees. ?SkyHive’s mission is to “democratize labor opportunities so we can all benefit from a more capable workforce and a more efficient global economy.” Ask yourself whether the mission resonates with you, if their employees are passionate about the mission,?and think about how you can contribute to a company that thinks big, on a global scale.

Finally, don’t sell yourself short on how your skills and background can translate to industries you find compelling?– you probably have more skills that translate to the industry you are interested in than you think, and if you need to gain new skills, you absolutely have the capacity to do so.?

SkyHive is on a mission to reskill the global workforce - by leveraging the power of big data to cognify the world’s skills base, we create products that allow workers to understand and showcase their skills and empower companies to truly harness the abilities of their workforce. In doing so, we aim to unleash human potential at scale and support equitable access to opportunity, thus contributing to a more sustainable future for us all.