Ken Eisner
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Santa Fe, NM USA
"Take every opportunity to learn, experience, and explore as a serious opportunity for you. We make life rich when we dive into the here and now."
Career Roadmap
Ken's work combines: Education, Technology, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Blend school and work if you have the opportunity to. Take advantage of any opportunity you have to learn while you're working. Not only will you be acquiring additional knowledge, but you'll gain invaluable skills in time management and critical thinking.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Political Science and Government, General
Cornell University
Bachelor's Degree
English Language and Literature, General
Cornell University
Graduate Degree
Public Policy Analysis, General
Georgetown University
Graduate Degree
Business/Commerce, General
Georgetown University
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
I went to public school in Philadelphia, then public school in New Jersey, before completing two years at a prep school prior to college.
2.
After college, I moved to Colorado and worked on a few entrepreneurial ventures—I had moved away from New York to get out of the “rat race.”
3.
I went back to school for a master’s degree in urban policy—at this time, the internet was starting to boom, so I added an MBA degree and joined a startup company.
4.
I worked as the vice president of marketing at Varsity Books, a startup that sold textbooks online—my work in brand awareness pushed the company to the most visited site among the college demographic.
5.
Getting deeper into the technology industry, I moved onto a nonprofit that leveraged technology to provide digital adoption opportunities for children in low-income communities around the world.
6.
After spending some time in tech, I realized that working in education—as I did with Varsity Books—was what I felt most attached to and where I wanted to be.
7.
I joined Amazon Web Services when it was starting to get big—the social contribution a company makes is important to me and I saw that AWS had the capacity to make a huge impact on education at scale.
8.
I worked my way up to director of worldwide education programs at AWS—I was recognized as 2018 AWS Worldwide Public Sector “Impact Person of the Year.”
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
You should have your future planned out.
How I responded:
It's typical to think you need to have your life planned out from the time you're in high school. While it's important to be able to look ahead and realize the impact certain opportunities will make, it's also important to embrace the here and now. If I could go back and give my younger self advice, I'd urge myself to explore, experiment, and take advantage of the unexpected opportunities that make life richer.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I was working on two master's degrees and working full time. It was stressful and I know I was forsaking a little bit of attention on both sides, but intermixing school and life gave me invaluable skills in time management and critical thinking.