Ramona Pierson has lived one amazing life. She started college at UC Berkeley when her peers were learning how to drive, and due to her brilliance in the field of mathematics, she was recruited into the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 18.
But a bright future went dark when at the age of 22, Pierson was struck by a drunk driver during a run, leaving her in an 18-month coma and an 11-year battle with blindness. Her life went back in time: she had to relearn everything, from breathing and eating to walking and talking. She overcame those significant hurdles, and her new life mission is to build companies that focus on the importance of personalized learning and relearning, no matter the task.
Enter Declara, a technology platform that brings “data to life” by using algorithms to develop specific, individualized learning paths for adults looking to strengthen their knowledge in any given topic. Pierson co-founded the company in 2012 as a way to keep learning fun. Her experience with starting life over gave her the idea for a technological platform that keeps learning and education personal, which is what Declara does. No two people learn the same way, and Pierson would not have gotten her life back had she not done things her own way.
Ramona Pierson has a history with founding education ventures, such as The Source, an online social learning platform for educators that was eventually adopted by the Seattle Public School system, and SynapticMash, an education solutions developer.
As CEO of Declara, Pierson is helping companies and individuals accelerate innovation, education and technology in the best way possible: their own way.
