Meet Michael Vilardo | Co-Founder & COO of Emile Learning

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Vilardo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, how does your business help the community?
Emile Learning is an EdTech startup focused on bringing consumer tech and media to the education space. We are building a full tech stack product that empowers digital learning. We are excited because for a long time, students have been married to their school by zip code or based on how much wealth their parents have. With our platform, we are agnostic in terms that we can be a phenomenal resource for wealthy, middle class, and low income families. For $30/month, students can gain access to 20+ classes, including AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, Intro to Coding, Financial Literacy, and Acting courses. We want to empower kids in high school to identify their best skills and passions as early as possible in their journey, to help maximize their chances at adulthood success. Many folks don’t realize this until 25 (if lucky), 30, 40 etc and it is much more difficult to make life a success. We are going to empower students of any city, domestic or international, learn at the most accelerated rate possible by engaging with a tech solution that mimics the UI/UX of other consumer apps such as Peloton, Netflix, and Instagram.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My lifelong goal was to pursue athletics, as I was a very competitive ice hockey and baseball player. I played on the USA U18 and the Colombian Men’s National Teams for ice hockey, and played division 1 baseball at UPenn and Purdue. I wanted to get drafted for either sport, things didn’t turn out that way sadly. This hustle and grit from athletics has never left me as I immediately hustled my way into sales and operations roles by joining a Stanford GSB startup, Dispatcher Inc. We quickly raised a $2M seed round and I was hooked on startup life. We were later acquired by Uber to begin the Uber Freight department. While at Uber I was able to continue my entrepreneurial hustle by launching both Uber Freight and Uber New Mobility. I have always wanted to be known as a hustler, and around the office my Airbnb side business HomeTech LLC became quite the topic of conversation, as I assembled a team of interns, had guests sleeping on patios (willingly of course – unique under the star experiences!), and launching six Chicago properties while working full-time at Uber. When Uber went public in May 2019 I was able to celebrate all my hard work over the past ~3 years. I had to bet on myself and pursue my own startup, which I did by way of the full scholarship I was awarded to attend UCLA Anderson and pursue my MBA. My concentration while at Anderson was Entrepreneurship, and I truly believe you manifest your way into the best possible situations. While in LA I dabbled in quite a bit of ideas, entrepreneurship, venture capital at Supernode Ventures, and Digital Product Management at Nike. There was no doubt I had to jump all the way in with the hustle, adrenaline, grit, and chaos that is entrepreneurship and I met my Co-Founders Felix Ruano and Jon Quiros to start our EdTech company Emile Learning during the heart of the pandemic. None of my path has been easy, and by far the most rewarding chapters have been the ones filled with the most stress and chaotic endeavors. I embrace negativity by having such a high energy, optimistic attitude. Looking forward to pursuing Emile with the best Co-Founders I could ask for.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Little Beach House Malibu is a very special place in the city as I proposed to my fiancé there and it was magical! Other key hotspots I always recommend folks to go to are the places with the most social energy. I feed off of foot traffic! Santa Monica Blvd and Melrose in West Hollywood are my favorite walking streets, in normal times they are buzzing with great positivity. If you are ready to rip out the wallet, I would highly recommend Craig’s on Melrose, incredible vibes. Nice Guy on La Cienega is a must for late night dinners. For pure beauty I would recommend hiking Paseo Miramar, best views of the ocean, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the skyline.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Consortium School of Graduate Management – this is the organization that awarded me a full scholarship to pursue my MBA at UCLA Anderson. Consortium is incredible, focused on empowering Latino, Black, and Native American leadership in the corporate world. I am the first person in my family to achieve a masters degree, and to be able to do so at UCLA was a life changing opportunity as I met my two Co-Founders, Felix Ruano and Jon Quiros, in Los Angeles. Without this opportunity I would have most likely stayed in the Midwest my entire life as my entire family has done – nobody has left Illinois or Indiana. We are so excited to be able to give back further, I am forever grateful for the relationships and opportunities Consortium has afforded me!

Website: hiemile.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtvilardo/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chicagovilardo