How I Got Here: Ex-collegiate volleyball coach Jen Fry wants to keep relationships intact with her movement platform

Starting at Arizona Western Junior College — a decision she deemed “perfect,” especially given her uncertainty about her future at that time — Fry, a 43-year-old Black woman from Arizona, went on to earn a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Montevallo; a master’s in justice administration from Tiffin University; a second master’s in applied arts and sciences from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and, finally, a Ph.D. at Michigan State University. At this last school, she immersed herself in sports geography and focused on subjects she genuinely loves: the experiences of Black women who are professional athletes and maps.

Now, Fry is the founder of Coordle, a B2B tech company with a namesake app coordinating group travel, and cofounder of Hyreable, a Baltimore-based career development company building a database of “5,000 Black or brown people” in sports. In addition to her entrepreneurship, she is a public speaker who completed the 2022-2023 Baltipreneurs Accelerator. Under her leadership, Coordle was an early-stage finalist in DC Startup Week’s annual pitch competition last year and was one of 12 companies chosen for Techstars Detroit this fall.

As Fry prepares for Hyreable’s Q1 launches and a quieter period for professional speaking, Technical.ly checked in with the map-loving CEO. The discussion explored not only her journey to this point but also the strategies she employs to navigate and thrive in the tech industry. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

What are your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities?

I think it’s fascinating because a lot of people, when I talk to them, they assume that there is logical sense [in my day-to-day]. Where some people might say, “I do my calendar for two hours here, two hours here,” and that’s very logical and you can see it. … But I have this [abstract] picture behind me. And one of my friends was like, “So, is that pretty much a reflection of your mind?” And I was like, “Yes, it is.”

Because for me, there’s no real day-to-day, like, normalcy. It depends on what is needed at that point. So if I am speaking somewhere, it might be preparing my slides, understanding what stuff I need to talk about, who my audience is. It might be, if I’m going to a tech event, of understanding who was at the tech event. Who do I need to talk to? What do I need to talk to them about? How can I get on their radar?

How would you describe your job to a 5-year-old?

I get to build cool things and talk about cool topics.

How did your studies prepare you for your role as a founder?

Jen Fry. (Courtesy Jen Fry)

I became a master at juggling a lot of things. … While juggling three companies is difficult, I’ve always been doing this type of thing. And so, for me, it’s a normalcy of trying to manage everything at one time. Having balls in the air, knowing, okay, this one, we can kind of drop the rubber balls but these are glass [and] I need to keep these up. So it really prepared me to be able to multitask well.

What was the first job you ever had?

So I have worked since I was about 14. To me, it’s always been normal to have a job. And so my very first job was working at the Boys and Girls Club — no wait! Parks and Rec, it was Parks and Rec. And I was an announcer for softball and baseball. … I’ve always been involved in sports in some type [of way] and always had to balance multiple things on my, on my schedule.

How did you first get interested in founding a tech company?

So I pretty much jumped off the boat holding the, what is it? The neck life raft? And, like, blowing into it to blow it up as I’m jumping off the boat. It’s literally what it is. I had just an idea and I didn’t, I probably didn’t think of myself as a tech founder ‘til probably like five months ago.

… People would be like, “Oh, you’re [an] entrepreneur.” [And I would say,] “I just am a public speaker.” Like, I’d never put those titles on me. And I just had this idea and I thought I was building an app, not a tech company. And that’s one of the things I think where people go astray like I did: I thought I was building this little app. I didn’t even know what I thought about how it would work. I didn’t even comprehend that it needs to be updated and all those things. I was like, “I want to build this thing,” because I knew that there was a need [for] it.

Why did you establish Coordle with a focus on providing support for group movements? What influenced your decision to make this your primary tech career focus?

I’ve always been a world traveler. I’ve traveled the world. I am going to Bali in a week and a half to go see my sister. Like, travel is very normal for me. Traveling in groups, not abnormal, but I do it decently. My friends are going to meet me over there. And I think it’s a place where there’s a lot of problems, miscommunications and relationships breaking up — “relationships” meaning it can be business, romantic, friendships, families — like you see a lot of problems in moving groups.

Same question, but about Hyrable.

What we’re trying to do is help them with their career development within the world of sports because what we realize is BIPOC people, Black, Indigenous and people of color — Resumes aren’t where [both employers and candidates] hope it is, interviewing skills aren’t where they hope it is. And so we said, “Well, why not? Why not create a platform that can help them have excellent resume skills?”… How can we help them get access to people to help with their interview skills?

Because interviewing is hard, especially when you want the job. You want the promotion. You want the money. So many times, people, when they interview, they lose their mind. They forget their ideas. They forget everything. They just talk and then they get off and they miss a great opportunity because they didn’t have that training that maybe they didn’t know that they need.

What advice would you give to someone interested in public speaking?

Find your niche because once you find your niche, people are gonna look at you as the expert. And also be prepared to not make money. Your first few years [are] not gonna be good, like if you’re not used to speaking in front of [hundreds or thousands of] people, you’re not going to be good. And that’s okay. Work to be great.

What advice would you give to someone interested in building an app?

• “People want experts. They don’t want someone that can talk about everything. So find your niche and then niche down even more.”
• “Understand how you’re going to make money. Just ask yourself, what’s the cheapest way I can solve this.”
• “Interview, interview, interview, interview. You do over 100 interviews, just interview the hell out of people because that’s gonna help you know what’s needed [for your app features].”
• “Be okay with [being] willing to pivot because what [you] thought you were building isn’t actually needed.”

What resolutions are you setting for yourself in 2024?

People don’t understand how critical it is to show up for people. Whether it’s going to their event for five minutes, but like, showing up for people is so valuable and I’ve realized it. … When I see that people have important things going on in their life. I am trying to show up.”

This is How I Got Here, a series where we chart the career journeys of technologists. Want to tell your story? Get in touch.