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2022 EB Alumni Spotlight Award Recipient

Laura Spiekerman '00

EB is pleased to award the 2022 Alumni Spotlight Award to Laura Spiekerman, class of 2000. Laura embodies EB values as she continues to build financial services and products with a sense of zeal, integrity and endeavor. 

List of 8 items.

  • 1. What did you enjoy most about your time at EB and why?

    First and foremost, the teachers. I will always think fondly of people like Thierry and Odile, among many others, who gave me confidence and encouraged my learning and growth over the years. Second, growing up in a bi-cultural community gave me an early appreciation for travel and learning about other people, places, languages, cultures, and cuisines. That has shaped who I am, what I care about, and how I view the world.
  • 2. Please describe your current work.

    I’m an entrepreneur in the financial services technology space, having started my company seven years ago after several years at other startups and investing in private equity & venture capital funds. My company, Alloy, helps enable fin-tech (financial technology) companies and financial institutions to better manage user onboarding and identity/compliance requirements.
  • 3. How do you feel EB has influenced you or led you towards your choice of profession?

    EB made me interested in other cultures, and that background was part of what drove me to move to Kenya a few years after college, which was when I discovered my love for building next-generation mass-market financial services and products, first in East Africa and now in the United States. I became interested in that by studying micro-finance in Senegal (during college), a country I chose to spend time in because I could use my French!
  • 4. What would you say to parents just starting out at EB?

    Exposing your kids to as many cultural experiences—whether local or global—has long-lasting, positive effects. Let them access education and new experiences through something tangible and exciting (e.g. cooking) because there are many years ahead (high school and college) where your kids will mostly be head-down in books worried about their grades.
  • 5. Describe your favorite memory from EB.

    One of my favorite memories was our 7th grade Yosemite trip, visiting pitch-black caves and learning to rely on each other and our senses to get through them. It was such a fun trip! 
  • 6. Do you feel that EB adequately prepared you for life after EB? Do you feel you are a citizen of the world?

    It certainly made me feel like a citizen of the world, and even now I travel to new places and feel more at home than I would without my EB experiences. I’m more comfortable talking to new people from completely different backgrounds, as well as navigating new cities, languages, and cultures.
  • 7. Would you consider sending your children to EB? Why?

    Yes! I now have a 19 month old son, Nico, who I am hoping goes to EB starting in 2023. I hope he loves learning languages, exploring other cultures, and develops a lifelong curiosity about the world around him. For now, I’ll settle for learning the French names of trucks! (I never thought I’d so frequently have to talk about camions de poubelles, tractopelles, etc.!)
  • 8. Anything else you’d like to add?

    Decades later, EB still feels like home to me. I will never forget so many people— administrators, teachers, and students alike—who shaped my worldview and helped raise me. 

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Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley does not exclude from participation in, deny the benefits of, or subject any individual to discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or religion. This policy applies to all programs, services, and facilities, including applications, admissions, and employment.