Star Catcher

The Ascend Network puts employers in touch with Indiana’s best and brightest

Ascend Indiana helped a talented and hardworking Indiana student, Favour Doumbia, land an Indiana-based internship that led first to a full-time job, then to a high-flying government cybersecurity post. “It was a great way to start my career,” Doumbia said. “I got to be in charge of something, and it felt like I was actually needed.”

All this was accomplished with the help of Ascend’s online job matching platform, the Ascend Network. Doumbia learned about it from another program participant whose own internship led to a full-time job.

“I applied and put in my resume,” Doumbia said. “It was pretty easy. I took a test, got matched with my top five company matches, then interviewed with them and chose the best fit for me.”

During the interview process, Doumbia found herself immediately attracted to the honest and up-front style of Anna Pullman Rainbolt, director of IT operations for CleanSlate Technology Group. “I told her not to undersell herself,” Pullman Rainbolt recalled.
“I liked that,” Doumbia said. “She was already mentoring me.”

Doumbia became an IT system analyst intern for CleanSlate, then transitioned into a full-time position as an IT system analyst upon graduation. The company helped her to further her training by, among other things, letting her spend Fridays during her internship studying for various technical certifications. Later, as a full timer, her flexible work hours allowed her to both serve in the Indiana National Guard and obtain a Master of Science, Cybersecurity and Trusted Systems degree from Purdue University.

Though the goal is to keep Indiana workers in-state, Doumbia recently departed for Maryland to work for the U.S. Department of Defense in cybersecurity. It’s certainly a dream job, but it doesn’t mean she’s leaving the state for good. “As my professors would say, ‘Don’t think of your next role as the place you’ll stay forever,’” she said. “I haven’t ruled out coming back to Indiana.”

Losing Doumbia has felt “like a mom letting her child go on to the next big thing,” Pullman Rainbolt said. Yet she plans to keep using the network to locate bright interns who can help grow the company as they expand their own skills.