For most high schoolers at NA, the thought of not going to college has probably never occurred. After all, college is designed to help you get a job, propel you into the future, and without a degree, earning a decent wage will likely be much harder. Or at least that is what most students believe.

But last week, the business classes were visited by Hannah Phillips — a twenty-one-year-old, two-time entrepreneur — and a college “opt-out.”

Her speech, entitled “Taking the Alternate Route,” was subtitled, “I skipped college, and everything is fine.” It detailed her experiences with alternate education and served as a reminder to students that not every path to the top goes through college.

Phillips’ education started beyond the norm, as she was homeschooled for a number of years before switching to Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Beaver County for 8th and 9th grade. Then, she was cyber-schooled in tenth grade and started her first business, Hannah Phillips (HP) Media, a business primarily focused on art, photography, and graphic design.

From as soon as eighth grade, Phillips said she knew she didn’t want to go to college. Following her graduation, she joined Praxis, an apprenticeship and “professional boot camp” that helps applicants “build a professional brand, develop a portfolio that showcases your talents to the world, and become a content creation machine.”

Through the program, she had a ten-month apprenticeship at a local start-up company but left six months early to continue building her business.

“I realized I was not a 9 to 5 person and had too many opportunities,” Phillips said.

So, she left the program six months early to pursue the path of a “solo”-preneur, establishing a strong online presence for HP media, especially on Instagram.

“Branding yourself early matters,” Phillips stressed. “Seventy-percent of my clients in 2017 came from Instagram. [It] paid my bills for all of 2017.”

During this time, she met Aaron Watson, a young entrepreneur who would eventually become her business partner. She worked with him for several months, providing photos and design for his various events before pitching him her business proposal to create a professional vlogging and documentary service. He accepted her pitch and, together, they launched Piper Creative in February of 2018. Currently, they produce LinkedIn videos, documentaries, and vlogs for their customers, among other services.

Now, at 21 years old, without a formal education or a college degree, she is the Chief Creative Officer for Piper Creative and has founded two businesses, both of which are based on social media and art — two careers traditionally considered to be unsustainable.

“I consider myself an artist first, a storyteller second, entrepreneur third,” Phillips said about her career path.

Her advice for students looking to follow a similar path or for other college “opt-outs” consists of creating a brand and creative skills that will be needed in the workplace.

“Focus on building your personal brand and working to build up skills that you know will be valuable in your workplace,” said Phillips. “It’s important to have a ‘thing.’ My thing was Instagram, when I didn’t have a degree and was being hired by different companies to do their social media stuff. Aaron’s thing was podcasting. So I think it’s important to nail down things you are really excited about.”

The reaction to her presentation from students in both the Marketing and Entrepreneur classes was positive.

“It was interesting, especially since I might want to do something with my artistic ability,” said junior Freddie Medsger. “I’ve thought about maybe starting a business with something to something to do with art. It opened a path I didn’t see before, as to maybe jump start that business venture.”

For said Mrs. Sullivan, the Marketing and Entrepreneurship teacher, the experience for her students to learn from someone off the beaten path was invaluable.“

I had her in last year,” Sullivan said. “It was good to see because not everybody is college-bound, but to have someone in who had been successful and is very determined [lets you see] you still can make it if college isn’t an option for you.”

Hannah Phillip’s journey as an artist and entrepreneur serves as a reminder that the path to success is neither linear nor a series of boxes to check, but instead an ever-changing path. It is an experience that makes defines success, not the degree.

You can find Hannah at HP Media or Piper Creative.