Jessica Swanson

Artist, Business leader, Student

I am an American National currently studying in Birmingham, England for an Undergraduate Degree in Business and International Relations at Aston University. I previously attended The Boston Conservatory at Berklee for Contemporary Theatre. My passions lay in team management and the arts. I am currently the Director of TedXAstonUniversity and President of the Drama Society. I aim to continue combining my business and theatrical experience to go into program and degree development in higher education.

Team Management, Theatre, Travel

I attended The Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of music in Boston, Massachusetts to study Contemporary theatre. There, they teach you how to be a great actor, but not a great entrepreneur. I wanted to learn how to make the arts sustainable through funding. I wanted to take time out to travel and expand my mindset, and to see how theatres around the world managed to stay afloat. Growing up in the bubble of the United States, I wanted to take time out to travel and expand my mindset, and to see how theatres around the world managed to stay afloat. After saving for a handful of months, I planned a two-month solo backpacking trip. Two months turned into a full year, and I bought a one-way ticket to Prague and began to volunteer at hostels to be able to afford food to eat and a bed to sleep in at night. Through my solo travel, I made $3000 last a full year through working at hostels and scrubbing toilets across Europe and Africa and was able to see 34 countries, write 3 plays, and meet thousands of people during my year. Through a happy coincidence, I made friends who lived in Birmingham and found out about Aston University. I decided to enrol in Aston’s Business School in order to teach myself the skills necessary to make a career in the arts work. When at Aston, I realized there was no existing arts community. It killed me going from a community that thrived off of the arts, to one where I felt displaced existing among the STEM world. I also saw so many business students stuck in a rut, unable to think creatively or find outlets to express and try out their ideas. My first year, I applied to join TEDxAstonUniversity. I began my first year as the creative designer and at the end of my first year, was promoted to the Director of the organization. I was the youngest director in TEDxAstonUni history and took on a job traditionally done by two individuals on my own. Through TEDx, I managed to plan large scale TEDx Conferences and TED-like events at Aston University in order to bring an Arts presence to the university. I have lead a team in budgeting and securing funds through corporate sponsorships and partnerships, lead the recruitment and training of yearly TEDx teams, and have helped give a platform to voices that otherwise would have never been heard. During my time at Aston, I also started the Aston Drama society, and we are currently producing our third play in two years. We again had no funding to start with, and through grant proposals, crowdfunding, and ticket sales, we have managed to develop sustainable funding to produce two shows annually. The first play we performed was one I wrote during my travels called “Belonging” that showcased the struggles young people face when trying to find their place in the world. We are currently working on a silent interpretation of “A Midsummer Nights Dream” in order to make Shakespeare’s plays accessible to young audiences.

Budget Traveling. When I was 19 I set off on a solo backpacking trip I estimated to last two months that extended into a year. Through budgeting hacks and creative solutions, I managed to make the money for two months last for over a year, and see 34 countries along the way.