Erin Silk, 34

Erin Silk, 34

While Erin Silk was attending Towson University in Maryland for her business management degree, she launched her own nonprofit. What became the Needy Paws Rescue helped roughly 100 animals a year while Silk was in charge. She rescued the animals from kill shelters and made it work through the help of foster homes. 

After handing off the nonprofit to a volunteer and graduating Towson, Silk found a job at pet products firm Caitec Inc. in Baltimore, where she learned a lot about international business. Even though she got to travel to cool places for the job (Las Vegas and Germany), something wasn’t right.