In October 2020, Felix Ruano and Michael Vilardo launched Emile Learning. The site is an online education platform aimed at high school students, but anyone can sign up. They offer over 20 AP, Core, and Experimental accredited courses, which can be used to apply for college. 

Both founders are Ivy League-educated and one of their main reasons for creating the site is to allow students of all backgrounds a chance at the education they saw many of their college peers enter with. 

Vilardo explained, “We want to provide [someone from] any socioeconomic status or ZIP code with a top-tier education that is affordable. If we can empower anybody in the country and eventually the world to be able to access the best education, that is a monumental lift to society.”

Ruano is the child of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Los Angeles and went to public school. He attended Harvard University before getting a job at the management consulting company, McKinsey & Company. 

Vilardo’s family also hails from Latin America, more specifically Colombia. He attended seven schools, including community college in only five years, before attending and graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. After college, he worked for Uber and helped them develop Uber Freight. 

His connections at Uber would come in handy when he and Ruano decided to start Emile Learning. They got some of their initial funding from the Uber Alumni Investment Club Syndicate, and 30% of their first 40 employees had also worked at Uber. 

In addition to Uber, they were backed by investors like Softbank, Owl Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins. The company received a $5.3 million angel investment in total. 

Atlanta Falcons’ linebacker, Brandon Copeland joined the platform as an investor and a financial literacy instructor. He teaches similar courses at the University of Pennsylvania.

Emile Learning has billed itself as the “Netflix of education”. One way that it’s heading in that direction is with its instructors. Several of the instructors are educators who have made large platforms for themselves on social media, like TikTok and YouTube. For instance, social studies teacher Rebecca Rogers. Her TikTok page, where she posts humorous videos that revolve around being a teacher, has 2.2 million followers. 

Another way is how the courses are structured. Courses are made up of short segments, 10 minutes or less, designed to make the student want to binge the segments like a Netflix show. 

Memberships for the site start at $10 with unlimited access to the curriculum. As more school districts have begun using the site, more students are able to access it for free. In this case, it is because the memberships are being paid for with money that goes to the schools from public taxes.  

Even after in-person classes fully resumes, online learning platforms like Emile Learning have the potential to help level the playing field with increased access to opportunities.