Nicole E. Jackson
MS creativity and innovation ’19
Head of Digital Transformation, Catalyst (New York City)
Age 39
My Greatest Accomplishment
Scaling the impact of STEM mentoring with the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s IF/THEN Ambassadorship program highlighting 125 U.S. women in STEM. I volunteered in this role from 2019–23 as the chief technology officer of Duet Health in the middle of COVID response while supporting large hospitals across the country. Mentoring gave me space to be vulnerable and honest with myself and led to supporting over 28 sessions with the college and career exploration platform Pathful (formally Nepris) including, as of 2021, reaching over 1,090 students in 26 states. While my mentoring continues today, I’ve now pivoted to innovation and scaling work to support issues of innovation, women, intersectionality and product/technical development to achieve equitable outcomes in the nonprofit space. The women of IF/THEN were recognized at the Smithsonian in 2022 for Women’s History Month, and mentoring these professionals in person will be one of the greatest highlights of my life.
How Drexel Helped Me
The creativity and innovation program helped me reimagine my approach to technical product development. It allowed me to observe and understand the innovation process and the role creativity plays in how we take solutions to market by assessment first, really outlining the science of design thinking, human-centered design, andragogy and pedagogy. These concepts are especially crucial today. We are experiencing deep disruption by external forces of change that range from geopolitical conflict to AI-led technological revolution. Workplaces must now reimagine entire teams as lifelong learners in need of adaptability to support creative and innovative thinking in the midst of disruption.
Where I Hope to Be in Five Years
I want to lead think tank initiatives that address the scale of problems we are actively running into headfirst and work with deep thinking partners to consider the cause and effect while building infrastructure and capabilities to help stakeholders with shared governance make soft landings.
How I Pay It Forward
I’ve paid it forward by incorporating creativity and innovation into what I teach and how I am mentoring and I’ve extended this into instruction in product management at Columbia University and Georgia Tech.