GAINESVILLE, Fla. – You might be surprised to learn that Marlana Armstrong is just 19 years old. After all, it’s not just any teenager that has the drive to start their own company.
Marlana, the CFO of O-Bio Inc., has done just that. At the age of 19, Marlana enrolled in Startup Quest® with a STEM Ready scholarshipgrant from CareerSource NCFL.
“My entire life I’ve been in school… I step into Startup Quest and I’m introduced to an entirely different world,” she says.
With the resources she found at Startup Quest, Marlana was able to talk with professionals who have actually lived many of the experiences she was learning about through her research. Through the support from the staff, the trained researchers, and her team, O-Bio Inc. was born.
“What 19-year-old gets to start up a company that is biomedical with all of these really smart people who are professionals? It’s just been a crazy opportunity… and all because of Startup Quest,” she says.
CareerSource NCFL gave Marlana access to an internship with STEM Ready, a program for which she has nothing but praise.
“STEM Ready is an opportunity for employers to experience subsidized… labor for months at a time, and I personally think that is so valuable for people in general,” she says.
Providing opportunities for paid, real-work work experience to those who are unemployed who are unemployed stimulates both the local and national economy, not to mention providing a mutually beneficial situation for employer and employee.
“If you’re not employed, you feel like you’re in a rut. If you’re on the employer’s side [and] you don’t have the people to do your jobs, you’re in a rut,” Marlana says. The STEM Ready program “takes businesses from level 1 to level 5” by giving employers and employees alike the chance to work together towards a common goal.
Marlana is grateful for the opportunities she has found because of her time with Startup Quest.
“Because I was introduced to it early, it’s motivated me to go and do something way bigger than I could have ever imagined myself doing,” she says. With big ideas and strong motivation like Marlana’s, we’re confident her successful career is only just beginning.