Michelle Jackson Empowers Young Entrepreneurs Through Tulane Innovation Programs

As a child growing up in a small town in Alabama, Michelle Jackson watched entrepreneurship play out in everyday life. Her father ran a television repair business, and down the road, a local couple operated a neighborhood grocery store that served not only as a place to buy necessities, but as a gathering place for the community. Those early experiences showed her how small businesses could create opportunities, stability, and economic impact.

At the same time, Jackson watched her mother pursue her passion for education as an early-childhood teacher. That example stayed with her, eventually leading Jackson toward teaching and mentorship alongside her work in entrepreneurship and economic development. Today, she has combined those influences — business-building and education — to help young people see themselves as founders capable of building companies.

Jackson has served as a lead instructor for the Tulane Innovation Institute’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy for two cohorts, and this June, she will teach "Entrepreneurship in the Big Easy," a Tulane pre-college course developed in collaboration with the Innovation Institute. Through both programs, she works with teenagers as they develop business ideas, pitch concepts, and learn how entrepreneurship can become a pathway to success.

Jackson was once a teen entrepreneur herself. At 18, while attending the University of Alabama, she launched her own public relations firm, PR Solutions, which continues to operate today. Her first client was the Tuscaloosa Times, and her client roster expanded from there.

After graduating from college, Jackson worked in shopping mall management as a marketing director, where she worked with local and national businesses. She later transitioned to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), where her work focused on startup growth, innovation policy, and entrepreneurship initiatives at the state and national levels.

During her tenure, she served as executive director of the InvestMaryland Challenge International Business Competition and led an innovative legislative initiative that generated $84 million in tax credits to support seed and early-stage companies. The competition attracted startups from around the world and became part of Maryland's effort to position itself as a destination for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Driven by years of experience and data showing that entrepreneurship can be a sustainable career path for young people, Jackson and her husband, Scottie Jackson, founded i.Invest in Pittsburgh, a national youth entrepreneurship pitch competition, and web-based educational platform for students ages 13 to 19, as well as LifeSkills Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to youth and youth entrepreneurship.

Launched in 2016, i.Invest connected students with mentors from major corporations, including Google, The Coca-Cola Company, and Microsoft. Pitch competition winners received cash and in-kind support, and several participants went on to build successful ventures. One student developed an anonymous mental-health reporting platform. Another later earned recognition on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list before their fintech company was acquired by a major financial institution.

Jackson, an award-winning author with three published books, also combined her passion for youth entrepreneurship with storytelling to create the i.Invest graphic novel series, designed to teach young readers how to start businesses in a fun, engaging, and easy-to-understand way. The first book in the series, Poppi Makes Cajun Popcorn Magic, follows 18-year-old Poppi as she launches a popcorn seasoning company in New Orleans, inspiring young entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into successful businesses.

When her husband’s work brought the couple to New Orleans in 2016, Jackson relocated her businesses—PR Solutions and Direct2Author.com—along with i.Invest, and eventually joined Tulane as an adjunct professor at the School of Professional Advancement.  

Recognizing that early-stage funding can benefit young founders by providing idea validation and covering expenses, i.Invest has evolved into a grant-making organization. Some funding comes from former participants who have built and exited successful companies and want to invest in the next generation.

Jackson has now awarded six i.Invest grants to graduates of Tulane's Young Entrepreneurs Academy, where she guides high school students from across New Orleans through the process of developing ideas into operating businesses during the academy's intensive 30-week curriculum.

In 2025, Jackson deepened her own teaching practice in entrepreneurship by participating in the Tulane Innovation Institute’s Entrepreneur Faculty Development Course (Re)Design Summer Institute, where she learned to redesign her graduate-level Economic Development and Urban Transformation course. Students in her course are challenged to find solutions to real problems facing New Orleans, and Jackson encourages them to consider how ideas designed for this city could eventually scale to other cities. 

Whether launching multimillion-dollar state innovation initiatives to support startups or mentoring high-school and university students as they develop and pitch business ideas and solutions to societal challenges, Jackson remains focused on ensuring young people have the skills and support to create change in their own lives and communities. 

As she prepares to teach another group of aspiring teen founders this summer and in the fall, Jackson offers six pieces of advice:

1.    Build solutions around challenges you see in New Orleans, then think about how those ideas could scale to other cities facing similar issues.

2.    Create a support team comprising family, friends and mentors who will provide moral and financial support to you and your business venture.

3.    Surround yourself with people who are innovative and entrepreneurial by attending local events like the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, where you can meet founders, investors, and other students interested in startups.

4.    Get passionate about your business ideas. Don’t just hustle; INNOVATE!

5.    Know what the customer wants. Immerse yourself in the culture and creativity of the people you want to serve.

6.    Apply to YEA!, i.Invest, and local programs that are geared towards helping you nurture your business venture.