Jessica Falkenthal
About Jessica

About Jessica

Building movements since I was a teenager at 4-H.

Jessica Falkenthal headshot
The Story

Bio

I've been building communities and movements since I was a teenager. It started at 4-H, where I helped create the first online community for 4-H youth to connect and learn from each other. I got hooked on the power of bringing people together around shared purpose, and I realized that efficiency at any scale creates the biggest impact, whether you have $10K or $10M to invest.

That philosophy carried me through managing a $2.5M digital marketing budget at Indiana University, leading marketing for Startup Weekend Education worldwide (scaling from 12 programs in 3 countries to 61 programs in 22 countries in a single year), helping more than a dozen B2B SaaS companies find product-market fit, and most recently to IBM, where I managed a global community of 430,000+ technology professionals.

Here's what I learned along the way: the best growth doesn't come from expensive campaigns or ivory-tower strategy decks. It comes from deeply understanding what your customers actually need. Then finding the right approach for your scale, whether that's optimizing millions in paid media or building grassroots community movements.

After managing 430,000+ community members at IBM TechXchange, I'm now building my fractional consulting practice — providing fractional marketing and community leadership to B2B SaaS companies across edtech, parenting tech, learning & development, and general SaaS. I'm not a generic marketing consultant — I'm part of these communities and build authentic relationships, not just campaigns. I zoom from 35,000-foot strategy to boots-on-the-ground execution, bringing efficiency at any scale that delivers results from startup to enterprise. While building my fractional practice, I'm also selectively considering full-time leadership opportunities at mission-driven companies.

What drives me today? Helping mission-driven companies scale by building authentic relationships and delivering measurable business outcomes. Because when you truly understand your customers and activate people around a shared mission, you build a movement.

Featured

Building Communities in Education

From education community builder to award-winning education technology leader.

In this video, I share why I got started in education technology and how I approach building communities that create real impact.

Career Highlights

Impact by the numbers.

By the Numbers

  • ●Generated $17.5M in tuition revenue for Indiana University Kelley School of Business
  • ●Managed $2.5M digital marketing budget with 7:1 ROAS (Indiana University Kelley School of Business)
  • ●500+ events produced (hackathons, conferences, unconferences, workshops)
  • ●430,000+ community members managed at IBM TechXchange (2025)
  • ●$902,000 in new revenue generated for Prenda through community strategy
  • ●2,000,000+ youth empowered in 4-H's first online community
  • ●500% program expansion for Startup Weekend Education (12 → 61 programs globally in one year)
  • ●56% user base and revenue growth in one year at Prenda
  • ●Doubled fellowship applications in one quarter (250 → 550) for 4.0 Schools
  • ●Doubled women in computer science programs at Indiana University in 18 months
  • ●Social media growth: 4-H Facebook page 0 → 100K in one year; 4-H Alumni group 0 → 30K in one year

Notable Roles

  • ●Fractional Marketing & Community Leader, Jessica Falkenthal Consulting (2013–Present)
  • ●Early-Stage Edtech Venture Scout, Reach Capital
  • ●Community Manager, IBM TechXchange (2025)
  • ●Community Experience Director, Prenda
  • ●Global Marketing & Community Lead, UP Global / Startup Weekend Education
  • ●Associate Director of Interactive Marketing, Indiana University Kelley School of Business
  • ●Educational Technology Specialist, National 4-H Council
My Approach

How I think about the work.

Community First

Every marketing strategy I build starts with understanding the community — their needs, motivations, and how they naturally connect. Communities become growth engines, not cost centers.

Scrappy + Strategic

I find creative, high-ROI solutions that big agencies would charge 10x for. Then I zoom to 35,000 feet to ensure tactical wins ladder up to strategic vision.

Fractional Leadership That Delivers

I take on leadership, not just advisory work. In full-time roles, I've managed community and marketing teams at startups including Prenda (team of 6) and National 4-H Council (team of 8). I currently manage a client's marketing team as part of my fractional work.

Mission-Driven

I work with companies whose missions align with my values: education, youth development, equity, and access to opportunity.

Hands-On Execution

I build the strategy, then execute it myself including training teams and iterating based on results.

Additional Featured Work

Two stories worth telling in full.

Timeframe: 2004–2007

4HUSA Community Management — Building a 180K-Member Youth Community

Challenge: Launch and grow a national online community for 4-H youth on a legacy platform (PHPBB) while ensuring content quality and brand consistency across 50 states, teaching digital citizenship to teens, and balancing youth voice with organizational guidelines.

Solution: Recruited and managed 43 teenage community managers (1–3 per state, nominated by state 4-H offices). Developed training guides and hosted onboarding calls with regular check-ins. Created escalation systems and assigned moderators to specific subforums. Developed guidelines, approval processes, and frameworks that empowered teens while maintaining standards. Drove engagement through contests, discussion prompts, and featured content.

Results:
  • Grew from 0 to 180,000 members in 3 years
  • 40% monthly active users
  • 60% retention rate
  • Successfully trained 43 teenage community managers across all 50 states
  • Informed future programs including ACCESS 4-H
  • Strengthened 4-H's brand with youth nationwide
Timeframe: 2008–2009 (Platform launched 2010)

ACCESS 4-H Beta Program — From User Research to a 2M-User Platform

Challenge: Design and launch a new online community platform that would replace 4HUSA.org and serve youth, volunteers, and staff with different needs. Balance stakeholder requirements, manage technical limitations with contractors who had multiple clients, and define requirements for multiple age groups while dealing with limited UX experience.

Solution: Led comprehensive user research on teen social media and internet habits utilizing a 500+ member advisory group. Managed 160 beta users through a rigorous testing process with customer satisfaction surveys and UX testing. Designed user experience for different age groups and audience types. Drafted product requirements for the web-based infrastructure and social learning network. Tracked development progress with contractors and defined community features for engagement.

Results:
  • ACCESS 4-H successfully launched and evolved into enrollment management system
  • Onboarded 2 million 4-H youth, volunteers, and staff by 2010
  • User feedback and research directly informed product evolution
  • Key features from research: sub-groups functionality, cleaner UX, better onboarding instructions
  • Established foundation for positive youth development in online environments
  • Platform became critical infrastructure for national 4-H program
Additional Notable Win

The Conference Hack That Led to an Acquisition.

Early-stage edtech startup needed to reach hundreds of educators but had zero budget for conference sponsorships. I organized an unofficial session in the conference lobby — no tickets, minimal marketing spend. Hundreds of educators showed up. We validated product direction through real conversations and ultimately helped pivot the company to acquisition. Cost: minimal.

The first time I realized Jess was a star was when she 'hacked a conference.' It cost us basically $0. It changed the way I thought about scrappy startup growth hacking. Jess was the voice of what the market wanted and needed. We ultimately were able to pivot the company and get acquired.
Nick Chen — Product Lead at EdgeMakers
What Colleagues Say

From people I've worked with.

She has that rare talent to lead people into building things they did not know they were capable of. She was amazing in her customer advocacy/research — always willing to ask the hard questions and advocate for educators and the education entrepreneurship community we served.
Bryan Zug — Principal Design Program Manager (senior colleague at UP Global / Startup Weekend)
Her common thread has been bringing people together around common goals. She activates people. Jessica is always wanting to enjoy herself in her work and that infects everyone around her in a positive and productive way.
Grant Carlile — Designer & Team Builder (worked together for over a decade)

Recognition & Awards

  • ★CUE Affiliate Leader of the Year 2022
  • ★Nominee for Better Together Award
  • ★Top 20 Startups in Global Startup Battle
  • ★1st Place Winner, Startup Weekend Bloomington
  • ★Sproutbox Sprout Finalist
  • ★Excellence in Cost Savings Award

Certifications

  • ●Community MBA from CMX
  • ●Community Collective Graduate
  • ●Mental Health First Aid from National Council for Mental Wellbeing
  • ●IBM Mental Health Ally
  • ●Performance Marketing from Growth School
  • ●HubSpot Marketing Software from HubSpot Academy

Education

Indiana University Bloomington
Studied Informatics with minors in Instructional Systems Technology and Fine Arts.

Beyond Work

When I'm not building communities…

  • ●Geocaching around the world
  • ●Exploring San Francisco via foot
  • ●Hosting on Airbnb Experiences (since 2018!)
  • ●Hosting community building events
  • ●Supporting early-stage edtech founders as a Reach Capital Roadrunner
  • ●Volunteering to plan professional learning parties with CUE San Francisco
  • ●Planning Edtech Leaders events
Let's Connect

Find me on LinkedIn or book a call.

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