The summer of 2020 was a time of transition for many reasons – our founder, Liz McGlennen had gone through a major career transition and was trying to find her path, a global pandemic was causing fear and economic disruptions, and in her home city of Minneapolis Minnesota racial disparities were front and center of national news after the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed. Liz’s involvement in the protests helped crystalize that her passion wasn’t purely in tech consulting, but in providing a larger, more community-based impast.

Liz wanted to use her expertise to help others. Her first opportunity came through connection to the Power Platform School, an initiative started in the UK by some talented Microsoft MVPs focused on increasing diversity within the Microsoft consulting space. She was able to help lead the US-based version of the program in early 2021 and once she experienced how fulfilling it was to help people start a new career, she new she had found her calling!

Liz decided to take The Power Platform School to the next level and began organizing TechFluent Academy as a standalone non-profit organization dedicated to reduce income inequality in under-resourced communities across the United States by providing mentorship and training on critical business applications and connecting those learners to jobs in the technology industry.