Devyn Moses didn’t always have her sights set on being an entrepreneur. She switched her major four times between the arts, psychology and business before she settled with business management. Along with her brother and her mother, Devyn founded DEMED, a company that manufactures and distributes designer medical wear to nurses and other healthcare professionals. The Moses family launched DEMED in December of 2016. “I do everything from shipping to marketing,” Devyn said. “I’m kind of wearing all hats.”
Devyn and her family started working on DEMED when she was 18 years old. Now at 24 years old, Jefferson Online (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University)’s Bachelor of Science in Business Management has given her the tools and knowledge to step up to the plate and help run and manage the company. She feels confident in making major business decisions after learning and receiving guidance from some of her professors that are seasoned in various different industries. She originally chose Jefferson because it used to be a textile school, and seemed like a natural fit for a company that makes medical scrubs. However, she discovered something unexpected: a way of learning that worked particularly well for her.
“I fell off for a while, falling into a heavy drug addiction,” Devyn said, “I went to community college during my senior year of high school and continued for a year after that, but then I dropped out completely and decided school wasn’t for me. I came from a tough background as an addict,” but Devyn did not let her past stop her. She knew that getting her degree would open opportunities for her and also realized that she needed a degree if she was going to help run a company. “I went back to school when I decided that I couldn’t expect the people that I hire to have a degree if I didn’t have one myself,” she said.
Initially, Devyn went back to school primarily to get the diploma but, as she got further into her studies at Jefferson Online, she started seeing the process as a competition against herself. That competitive spirit was what helped her succeed. “Since I finished my first two semesters with a 4.0, I decided that I now had to graduate with one,” she said. Devyn was the very first online student to be recognized at graduation, where she received the President’s Award for Excellence and graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA. “Up until now, I have never been recognized academically,” Devyn said.
Jefferson’s online modality helped foster that competitive drive. Devyn had trouble learning in a traditional classroom in the past, so learning online allowed her to approach material in a way that kept her engaged. “Every student learns differently and I just don’t learn best in a lecture setting,” she said. “Teaching myself was really the way to go. I feel like I learn better and I’m actually retaining the information; I could tell you what I learned over the past couple of years, which I could never do before.”
As she learned, Devyn enjoyed the fact that many of her classes allowed her to use DEMED as an example in her work. Connecting her academic learning with her professional life helped her engage with and retain the material much more effectively. “One of my projects was about diversification and about standing out,” she said. “During that project, I really got the chance to analyze my company and see what makes it stand out from our competition. Not only was I analyzing DEMED, but I got to evaluate all of our competition as well.”
Devyn’s not done with Jefferson Online yet. “I plan on going back,” she said. “I never thought I’d get my master’s, but I’m pretty motivated now."
Written on Jefferson University Online Student Profile