On Amanda Beaudoin
Rethink Education’s Senior Associate, Amanda Beaudoin got an up-close view into educational inequities at an early age. In high school, Amanda volunteered at the elementary school next door whose art program had been recently cut due to budget shortages (a problem we all know too well in the American public education system). Teaching a first-grade class once a week, Amanda came up with curriculum and brought art supplies, all while gathering a group of volunteers from her own school next door. Eventually, the program had 20 volunteers, serving 250 kids. The experience taught her two major lessons that she brings to her job at Rethink Education. The first is that two schools, even across the street from one another, can differ vastly in quality. The second, and most crucial lesson, is that education at all levels has the power to wholistically impact someone’s life — a core tenant of Rethink Education’s mission.
Amanda came to Rethink Education from the traditional finance world, motivated to use her training and experience for good. After three years at Goldman Sachs, Amanda decided to lean into the education passion her high school art teaching days taught her and join the team at Rethink.
“After investment banking, I felt like I had the skills and resources to make a difference in the world of education — where I believe you can have the most impactful change on a human’s life.”
Amanda cites venture capital as one of the most direct ways to help make a social impact, after having experience in both the finance and the non-profit/philanthropic world.
“What makes VC — specifically in technology — so exciting is the great potential for scale. That is how you make a real difference.”
Amanda’s passion for social impact through VC and education is reflected in her recent promotion to Senior Associate where she says she looks forward to being able to build out her network further, support portfolio companies in more depth, and build her expertise as an investor. When asked about her promotion to Senior Associate and her time at Rethink Education so far, Amanda was clear:
“I have really enjoyed being at Rethink so far. I feel like this is what I want for my career and I feel very connected to the work personally.”
“When Amanda worked at Goldman Sachs, she became fascinated by their training programs and ended up taking responsibility for a significant portion of their education program for interns. Before that, in high school, she built a program that brought Amanda herself and two dozen of her classmates to a neighboring elementary school to do arts education for hundreds of low-income children each year. Amanda has a big heart as well as a powerful mind,” said Matt Greenfield.
When asked about what she is most excited about in our industry, Amanda was vibrant:
“The whole world is fully focused on edtech now and it’s not going away. It’s our moment at Rethink Education to really push ourselves and continue to be the frontrunners in the industry. When there is so much focus on education, there becomes even more opportunity to be creative and innovative in the space. As we take our next steps at Rethink Education, there are so many ways we can lean into the evolution of education so our work and our portfolio can be even better and more impactful.”
Amanda is originally from Boston, Massachusetts but now lives in New York City. In her free time, she enjoys baking but hates following recipes (if that isn’t a testament to the true innovator in her, we don’t know what is) and loves listening to Jazz and playing the Bass.
We are so excited to see Amanda thrive in her new role, and we look forward to seeing Rethink Education progress even further with her on our team.
