Jourdan Hathaway — bridging the gap between learning and work
Jourdan Hathaway has served as the chief marketing officer of General Assembly since December 2023. Working side-by-side with our sales and product teams, she leads brand and product marketing, growth and demand generation, performance, journey nurture, martech operations, admissions, alumni relations, and revenue operations for General Assembly’s product portfolio of bootcamps, short-form courses, and workshops.
Prior to her current role, she accrued valuable experience in a variety of sectors, including marketing, software development, and online program management, where for nearly 12 years she worked on roughly 800 online education programs for around 67 universities.
We recently sat down and got her take on a variety of hot topics…
ON LEARNING
“I’m a lifelong learner who really enjoys not only gaining new skills, but also the process of acquiring said skills.”
Hathaway connects this imperative for learning and growth back to a cherished story from childhood. One day, her third-grade — and favorite — teacher gave her a poetry book, the Random House Treasury of Best-Loved Poetry. On the inside cover, Hathaway found a handwritten note.
“She said, ‘Jourdan, I’ve seen your journals. You really have something there. Please keep reading and writing.’ And it was really, really special to me,” said Hathaway. “That book remains in my room, and I never stopped writing. I had a passion for storytelling and that’s part of what prepared me for all the success I’ve found in marketing.”
ON TALENT DEVELOPMENT
“Past talent development systems won’t produce a sustainable society.”
“I’d echo [Stanford University professor] Mitchell Stevens here, who wrote the forward for General Assembly’s The State of Tech Talent 2024 report: past talent development systems won’t produce the human capacity nor the economic and occupational mobility we’ll need to enable a sustainable society.”
She continues, “To keep pace, educators, business leaders, industries, markets, and governments must work together more closely than in the past. I’m really excited to be at General Assembly because I think we’re uniquely positioned to foster those intersections between learning and work.”
ON WHAT’S NEW AT GA
“There’s plenty of people who don’t have 12 weeks to spare on a full-time bootcamp.”
What’s going on at General Assembly that has Hathaway excited? One example: our new part-time bootcamps spanning 32 weeks, each with live lessons and tons of flexibility. It’s easy to see why — this new part-time approach unlocks access to tech education for more people than ever before.
“There’s plenty of people who don’t have 12 weeks to spare on a full-time bootcamp yet still need to advance their skills to stay in the workforce. I’m thrilled that this new part-time option can empower working adults looking to change their career trajectory to enter the tech workforce.”
ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“With AI, there’s never been a more exciting time to be part of skills gap closure.”
No tech skill is animating today’s business leaders and workers alike quite like artificial intelligence.
“We’ve always been about producing people with real skills that organizations need, and with AI, there’s never been a more exciting time to be part of that skills gap closure.”
ON THE FUTURE OF WORK
“I am the future of work — you are the future of work.”
“I am the future of work — you are the future of work — and part of that means needing to own upskilling. Whether that’s in partnership with your employer or on an individual basis, it’s really important to continually learn and grow so you can be marketable for any number of roles out there.”
Ready to level up your skills and your career? Check out all we offer our students. Or are you an employer needing to upskill your workforce? Check out our portfolio of AI training solutions and other tech talent and training solutions.