From Massage Table to Market Gap: Why I Built the Experiential Learning Collaborative
- info336919
- Jun 27
- 3 min read
By Megan M., MBA, PMP — Founder, MM Strategic Solutions
One minute I was getting a massage.
The next, I was starting a business.
It began as small talk. My massage therapist — a kind, sharp woman who runs her own practice — casually mentioned that her son, a college business major, might not graduate on time. He couldn’t find a four-credit internship required for his degree.
A little while later, she started venting about her own business — how she wanted to grow, expand her offerings, maybe even launch a product line… but didn’t know where to start. Like so many small business owners, she’s a master of her craft — not necessarily of business strategy.
My brain, which was supposed to be melting into the massage table, went full strategist.
Wait… why couldn’t her son help her business grow? Why couldn’t his internship be building the marketing plan she didn’t have time for?
That moment — half-oiled, face-down, plotting — was the spark for what would become the Experiential Learning Collaborative (ExLC): a smarter, more human way to connect college students and small businesses through project-based, credit-eligible internships.
The Gap Between Talent and Opportunity
That massage wasn’t a fluke — it revealed a pattern too many of us miss:
Students need real-world, resume-worthy experience to graduate and compete.
Small businesses need hands-on help — but don’t have the time or structure to host interns “the traditional way.”
Yes, many colleges have career centers or platforms like Handshake. But in practice, these systems are often overwhelmed, outdated, or disconnected from how small businesses actually operate. Students are left to navigate it all alone — with minimal guidance, unclear expectations, and no guarantee of credit alignment.
Even worse? It gets significantly harder for students who don’t have networks or financial flexibility. A University of Wisconsin study found that 67% of students who wanted an internship didn’t get one — often because they needed to work paid jobs or juggle heavy course loads (ccwt.wisc.edu). Research from the Strada Education Foundation confirms it: Black, Latino, low-income, first-generation students, and women are statistically less likely to access paid internships — even when their qualifications are the same (strada.org).
Why This Equity Gap Matters — to Everyone
Students miss out on critical learning, networking, and career momentum — especially those who need internships to graduate on time.
Businesses miss out on the talent and energy interns bring, simply because they assume it’s too complicated or not “for them.”
And frankly, the system is broken: career centers are overloaded, unpaid roles exclude entire groups of students, and small businesses are left wondering, “Is this even worth it?”
ExLC: Connecting Talent with Opportunity — Equitably
ExLC was born from this truth: talented students are getting left behind, and small businesses are ready to help — but the process needs redesigning.
We’re not another job board or resume pile.We’re a guided, credit-aligned, equity-minded pipeline where:
Interns are matched to real projects with real-world value
Small businesses get structure, support, and credit-aware setup
Barriers are lowered for underserved students through paid, supported pathways
Final Thought
We don’t have a talent problem. We have a connection problem — and I’m solving it, one internship at a time.
If you’re a small business owner who’s been meaning to “someday” bring on a student but didn’t know where to start — or a parent watching your kid struggle to find experience they need to graduate — I built this for you.
Let’s make internships make sense again.
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Megan M., MBA, PMP
Founder, MM Strategic Solutions + ExLC
Strategist | Educator | Connector-in-Chief
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