Reuben Ogbonna

Reuben Ogbonna is the co-founder and executive director of the Marcy Lab School, an innovative alternative to college designed for students who face financial barriers or seek a unique experience better suited to their career interests. Marcy Lab has placed nearly 50 recent high school graduates into software engineering careers at companies such as Spotify, Squarespace, and The New York Times, with graduates earning an average salary upwards of $100,000—and all this in the school's first two years.

Ogbonna was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has family in Imo State, Nigeria, and Shreveport, Louisiana. When he is not trying to disrupt the higher education system, he smokes briskly on his Big Green Egg while playing Afrobeats and Black cookout music. He is currently listening to African Giant by Burna Boy.