Nicolette Rankin was born in Steamboat, Colorado but spent her formative years in the Midwest surrounded by horses, goats, 4H projects, and the sawdust of her family’s homebuilding business. She has always been goal-oriented and driven to constantly seek achievements that would expand her life experience so that she could benefit others. This included leaving her small town in Illinois to attend Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, studying abroad in Florence, Italy and sailing around the world on Semester at Sea. After graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Fine Arts, she sought to build on her commitment to the culture of the Pepperdine experience and decided to invest her career in Starbucks, impressed by that organization’s commitment to providing part-time workers with healthcare coverage. Nicolette was accepted into Starbucks' fast-track leadership program. While working with Starbucks, she made a big impression on a daily customer named William H. Doheny, who happened to run one of the largest asset management firms on the west coast. Mr. Doheny eventually recruited Nicolette to join his firm and learn how financial markets work. She was fortunate to be mentored by the best, as she received years of first-hand financial training in macro-market economics and managing high net-worth portfolios.

After working in that high-pressure environment for several years, and realizing that her true calling would always be improving the lives of others, Nicolette changed careers and took a position as head of international missions for Bel Air Presbyterian Church. She recruited and mobilized teams of volunteers to dozens of international locations, including Germany, Venezuela, Brazil, and India, to teach English, provide medical and social services, and participate in building projects. In addition, after experiencing and evaluating the complex landscape of non-profit international aid organizations, she chose to become an apprentice in the Micro-Enterprise Division of World Vision International in Monrovia, CA. Here, she co-authored the first comprehensive business plan utilizing carbon credits in Ethiopia with Christopher Shore. She spent substantial time on the ground in Ethiopia surveying land and negotiating fair payments to farmers to participate. Funding for the payments was made possible with donations from those looking to offset their own carbon footprints.

It was on one of the international service trips to Caracas, Venezuela, that Nicolette met Andres Moreno, a Venezuelan entrepreneur with a local English language tutoring company that he was attempting to migrate online. The two fell in love, were married, and eventually co-founded Open English in 2007, which sought to teach English to native Spanish speakers through online live instruction subscriptions. Nicolette and Andres became the stars in their own cross-continental television marketing campaign in South America. Nicolette played the “English teacher” and Andres played the “English student” in the ads, while in real life, Nicolette ran the online school and Andres ran the company. The team championed the “English as a second language” market in Latin America for almost a decade.

Open English became an EdTech darling, attracting more than $120 Million in investments from Flybridge Capital, Redpoint Capital, and Insight Venture Partners. In 2014, Harvard Business School featured Nicolette Rankin as the protagonist in the business case titled “Finding Product Market Fit,” written by Professor Jeff Bussgang. In that article, Jon Karlan is quoted saying, “Nicolette is a force of nature.” Nicolette left Open English to start Next University to provide expanded opportunities for learning beyond language acquisition. In 2013, at the time of her departure, the Wall Street Journal had just quoted the company value at $350 Million dollars. Unfortunately, in 2014, after seven intense years of building the company together, Nicolette and Andres divorced, and she ultimately sold all of her interest in Next University, Open English, and Open Education.

Nicolette moved back to California and focused on developing online educational and health-oriented self-improvement programs for women. Working with adult learners gave her new insights into the deficiencies of public education in actually preparing young people to navigate the world of work. She remains committed to finding a sustainable solution to the crisis in education that the world faces today as a result of teacher shortages, as well as addressing learning deficits that exist at an alarming level.

After her son was born in 2021, she has been re-inspired to seek a solution to the need for more personalized learning optimization and has developed learning systems aimed at reaching those who could benefit from positive, engaging learning experiences through the use of AI-generated lessons.