Alayna Soehlke
Tell us a bit about yourself and your LEND story.
I was born and raised in Plainfield, IL (south-west of Chicago). I went to Northwestern for undergrad and returned for my MBA, so I’m a ‘double dipper’ as some say and lived in Evanston for five years over these experiences. I’ve been involved with LEND since my undergraduate days, both as VP-Finance and as an account manager. For me, LEND played a significant role in shaping my career path: working with LEND clients as an account manager was my first exposure to consulting-like experience where I worked hand-in-hand with clients. Now as a Project Leader at The Boston Consulting Group, my work has a similar flavor but a much larger scale. In many ways, LEND gave me confidence that I, as a young woman, could make an impact.
What inspired you to come back as a board member?
Honestly, I never really left. After finishing undergrad, I stayed in touch with the alumni community. When I moved back to Evanston, I reconnected with LEND and worked to deepen connections between Kellogg and the non-profit. At the time, I got to know some members of the board and the current student president – collaborating with them on how to plug-in Kellogg students in an advisory capacity for the members. After graduating Kellogg, I was contacted about joining the board and it was truly the ‘right place, right time’ for me to continue my LEND connection and give back to the organization.
How has LEND evolved since you’ve known it?
I think the two ways that stand out to me are reputation and magnitude.
LEND has created such a rich reputation and is becoming a staple of the Evanston community. We have relationships with the City and with so many organizations. We are now in a position where we are seen as a partner for economic development and being leveraged in that capacity, especially with response efforts surrounding the COVID pandemic. I think this is truly a testament to LEND’s dedication to the city and trust built over the decade since its founding.
Next, when I think of LEND’s history, we started off as a small, tight-knit organization and supported a handful of loan clients at any given time. To some extent, this was intentional as we built the organization. We did not have a client portfolio as we do now with the official partnership with the City. I think we now are at a transition point where we are asking ourselves – what does the future look like as our capacity to support businesses is 10X what it once was? We’ve become more thoughtful about how we set up the infrastructure of the organization.
From a board lens, how has your own role evolved?
When I was a student member at LEND, we were not a nonprofit and did not have as formal a board as we do now. We did that when we incorporated as a nonprofit. There is a lot of blocking and tackling for which the board provides professional oversight. We take the lending decisions out of the students’ hands, so they can be the advocates of the businesses and build strong relationships in the community. We are also able to take a step back and see what the community needs and allocate funding strategically.
We are now at an interesting point where some of our founding members, Ravi and Gaurav, are transitioning off the board into an advisory capacity. This means we need to think about how to continue to maintain the original “spirit” of LEND alive which is a role I am excited to play given my own experience as a student in the early days of the organization.
What makes LEND uniquely positioned to create impact?
What I love about LEND is that it is for small businesses in Evanston. The city thrives because of these businesses; they enrich this community. Similarly, Northwestern is a big part of the city and I think connecting the resources across these groups is powerful. There is the learning benefit for students but also business owners can access capital and university resources. When I was a LEND member, I fondly remember when we worked with See Jane Sparkle, who was seeking some marketing collateral and we helped organize a photo shoot – bringing together a photography student and some student models to help get the job done. Everyone benefits!
What is your vision for LEND – where do you see the organization five years from now?
I think the vision is the same as we had when the organization was started: To help small business owners succeed and make an impact in Evanston. We are at an exciting point of LEND’s life where we have expanded the presence of the organization significantly and have a substantial amount of capital to take this mission forward. The depth of our impact in the next five years will outweigh what we’ve done in the last five, which is an exciting journey ahead!