Luck is not a system: Why I founded Exponential Scholars

I grew up in rural North Carolina in the 1990s. My hometown had 2,000 residents and more churches than stoplights. One elementary school. A few hours a week, that school pulled me out of my regular class for its “academically gifted” program. I made posters about the fifty states. I learned about the planets. Thirty years later, I can still tell you how those hours with Ms. Bradley and a few classmates in a trailer lit me up inside.

My brother was five school years ahead of me, so my parents knew what our local middle and high schools could offer, and determined they weren’t going to challenge me enough. They looked for another path, which was far from easy to navigate. I got admitted to an independent school 45 minutes from home and received a full financial aid scholarship. For seven years, I navigated carpooling 30 miles, plus all the small expenses that weren’t small for us. Classmates got cars on their 16th birthdays. On mine, my parents were unemployed.

A lot of things had to go right for my story to happen: a teacher who noticed me and took action, invested and capable parents who knew the default path wasn’t enough and could find another, and an incredible school with a scholarship that welcomed me.

My experience at the school changed me for the better. I learned to love learning, believe in my own capability, question the status quo, and dream big about my future. Next came Harvard College on a full merit scholarship, a business career in San Francisco, and a decision to return to North Carolina when we had our first child during the COVID pandemic. I believe good fortune comes with a duty to pay it forward. My husband Travis and I are thankful for our good luck and success, and this foundation is how we’re paying it forward.

I started as a quiet philanthropist

In 2019, in a full-circle moment, I quietly funded a scholarship at Cary Academy, the school that removed the ceiling on my own journey. I challenged them to find students with more ability than opportunity: promise in academics, character, and community engagement, and qualifying for full financial aid. And they did.

I never met or evaluated the students. Once a year, the school sent updates with the names removed. Reading them gave me happy chills. In 2025, I deepened that partnership to launch Charger Promise, which makes this leading private school free to admitted families who earn less than $100,000. Another step to connect talented students from overlooked communities with real opportunity to change the arc of their lives.

And still, I kept running into the same wall. Scholarships pay for access to the programs and schools we already have, the ones with an engaged adult who challenges young minds and people close enough that you can see what they did and think: I could do that too. North Carolina has some incredible programs and schools already. There are far too few seats in them, and finding your way to one still comes down to luck.

It did for me. Luck is not a system.

Why Exponential Scholars

I still believe in the American Dream. Mine came true: work hard, use your gifts, and it pays off…and you leave your kids more room for ambition and optimism than you had. But mine needed several lucky breaks to get to the starting line.

My dream is for this series of programs to identify talented, motivated, highly capable students across the state, and especially in our overlooked communities, and empower them to climb inflection points in their lives. They’ll redefine what they think is possible for themselves and their communities.

I’m building this in North Carolina for two reasons. Personally, it’s my home. My husband and I both grew up here, and now we’re choosing to raise our young family here. Second, if you shrink America down to ~10 million people, you get something a lot like North Carolina: booming cities and emptying small towns, red counties and blue ones, hog farms, military bases, gated suburban neighborhoods, steel high-rises and everything in between. If we can find the overlooked-yet-talented kids here, we can find them anywhere.

Our first move is a door that’s open to everyone. The NC Idea Challenge invites every North Carolina student in grades 5 through 12, plus the educators who spark them, to submit an idea that will improve their community. Submissions open July 15 and close October 4, 2026 at ideachallengenc.org, and up to 500 people will win $1,000 to start their projects. We plan to expand programs for students and educators to continue to build a curated community of avid learners across the state with in-person and virtual programs. The best is ahead of us!