{"683174":{"#nid":"683174","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Jim Pope Fellow Comes Full Circle as an Educator and Entrepreneur  ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECandace Washington never thought she\u2019d one day run her own business or teach the next generation of project management leaders in construction and engineering. But that\u2019s exactly what she\u2019s doing thanks to Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2012, Washington, a seasoned construction veteran with 25 years of expertise and a master\u2019s degree in building construction from Georgia Tech, noticed a shortage of project managers. She oversaw capital improvements and construction buildouts nationally and was consistently getting asked by clients to oversee the construction buildouts. This would spark the idea to start her business and launch Cancave Management \u0026amp; Engineering.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the next decade, Washington built a successful company and yet she continued to see this recurring shortage of project managers. According to Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction sector still grapples with a significant talent shortage that extends beyond the skilled trades to include construction management positions, with a projected need for nearly half a million additional workers in 2025 alone.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe have fewer people entering the industry. With the pandemic, we had a great exodus where a lot of people decided to get out of the industry and retire early, and then you have the emerging housing market and infrastructure needs, creating demand for construction in general \u2014 the perfect storm,\u201d Washington said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDetermined to find more ways to address the problem, she joined Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Building Construction as a part-time instructor and, in 2024, began pursuing her Ph.D. at Tech, where she learned about the Jim Pope Fellowship.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBeing a Pope Fellow has been transformational to my experience as an entrepreneur,\u201d Washington said. \u201cWhen I started my company, I wish I had something like this. Through this fellowship, I was able to dig deeper into my idea, validate assumptions, and shape it into a solution that addresses the pain points of labor shortages and compliance bottlenecks in the underutilization or over-utilization of resources.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a fellow, Washington was also awarded $15,000 in discretionary funds to support her teaching and entrepreneurial efforts. With the resources from Jim Pope, Washington has been able to make meaningful impacts for students and her company.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the last year, she has worked on the next evolution of her business by building Extend the Ladder\u00ae,\u0026nbsp; a workforce resource and compliance platform built around an industrywide shared resource model for construction professionals. One application of her platform would allow general contractors to share resources by enabling them to find and coordinate talent from a single database.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to helping her pursue a construction job-matching platform, the fellowship has reinforced her love of teaching and mentoring entrepreneurial-minded students. As a part of the fellowship, Washington taught CREATE-X\u2019s Startup Lab, which teaches the fundamentals of evidence-based entrepreneurship.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne student, Vivianne Akerman, a rising junior in industrial engineering, became Washington\u2019s mentee after\u0026nbsp;her spring Startup Lab class. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Akerman decided to continue her entrepreneurial journey in CREATE-X\u2019s Idea-to-Prototype (I2P) course. She turned an idea into action with guidance from Washington, building a solution for a problem she identified during Startup Lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCandace is an amazing mentor who pushes students to be their best selves,\u201d said Akerman, who is developing a makeup platform designed \u201cto make makeup practical and less overwhelming.\u201d The platform will enable consumers to compare and review products and ultimately find what brands work best for them, given their skin type and desired look.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI love how positive she is,\u201d adds Akerman. \u201cThis is new for me \u2014 it\u2019s very exciting but also very overwhelming. She helps me stay focused on my priorities and what\u2019s most important.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWashington emphasizes that there is no guidebook to becoming an entrepreneur; rather, the path must be discovered through conversations, relationship-building, and learning from the experiences of others.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis experience deepened my appreciation for the spirit of entrepreneurship \u2014 it\u2019s been invaluable for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI would tell anybody who\u0027s trying to start a business, you need to go through this process.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow, as a mentor herself, Washington credits her fellowship in CREATE-X for giving her the confidence and framework to help others. And she credits her path as a mentor and teacher of entrepreneurship to the home she\u2019s found at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDrawing from her own experiences, both the challenges and the triumphs, she offers a piece of advice that she believes aspiring entrepreneurs should carry with them.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cStart now \u2014 you don\u2019t need all the answers. Focus on the process, stay committed, and be open to real-world feedback.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EApplications are now open for the 2025 Jim Pope Fellowship until Sept. 2. Interested faculty can learn more at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/faculty\/jim-pope-fellowship\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/faculty\/jim-pope-fellowship\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECandace Washington, with 25 years in construction and a master\u2019s from Georgia Tech, founded Cancave Management \u0026amp; Engineering to address a growing shortage of project managers. Her entrepreneurial journey deepened through the Jim Pope Fellowship, which provided funding and support to develop Extend the Ladder\u00ae, a workforce and compliance platform for the construction industry. As a part-time instructor and mentor at Georgia Tech, she inspires students like Vivianne Akerman to pursue their own ventures through programs like CREATE-X. Washington emphasizes the importance of starting early, embracing the process, and learning through real-world feedback and mentorship.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Candace Washington, a seasoned construction professional and Georgia Tech alumna, leveraged her experience and the Jim Pope Fellowship to launch a workforce platform, teach entrepreneurship, and mentor future innovators in construction and engineering."}],"uid":"36436","created_gmt":"2025-07-17 18:59:09","changed_gmt":"2025-07-21 17:06:34","author":"bdurham31","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677448":{"id":"677448","type":"image","title":"Candace Washington","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECandace Washington, Jim Pope Fellow\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1752773290","gmt_created":"2025-07-17 17:28:10","changed":"1752773418","gmt_changed":"2025-07-17 17:30:18","alt":"Candace Washington","file":{"fid":"261345","name":"Candace.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/17\/Candace.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/17\/Candace.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":114111,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/17\/Candace.jpeg?itok=TWYA8Qfq"}},"677449":{"id":"677449","type":"image","title":"Jim Pope Fellow Candace Washington and mentee Vivianne Akerman","body":"\u003Cp\u003EJim Pope Fellow Candace Washington and mentee Vivianne Akerman\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1752773446","gmt_created":"2025-07-17 17:30:46","changed":"1752773826","gmt_changed":"2025-07-17 17:37:06","alt":"Jim Pope Fellow Candace Washington and mentee Vivianne Akerman","file":{"fid":"261346","name":"Candace-Washington-and-Vivianne-Akerman-Jim-Pope-Web-Article--1200-x-630-px-.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/17\/Candace-Washington-and-Vivianne-Akerman-Jim-Pope-Web-Article--1200-x-630-px-.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/17\/Candace-Washington-and-Vivianne-Akerman-Jim-Pope-Web-Article--1200-x-630-px-.png","mime":"image\/png","size":905880,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/17\/Candace-Washington-and-Vivianne-Akerman-Jim-Pope-Web-Article--1200-x-630-px-.png?itok=ETaNKG8P"}}},"media_ids":["677448","677449"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/faculty\/jim-pope-fellowship","title":"Jim Pope Fellowship Website"}],"groups":[{"id":"583966","name":"CREATE-X"},{"id":"655285","name":"GT Commercialization"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"179355","name":"Building Construction"},{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192255","name":"go-commercializationnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by Anne Wainscott-Sargent\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInternal Contact\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBreanna Durham\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMarketing Strategist\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["breanna.durham@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}