Hi! I'm a full-stack software engineer and former Peace Corps Volunteer.

James Holcombe

I live in Virginia with my badass wife, Jess, and our pup, Scout. We moved here from LA via NYC and still consider ourselves New Yorkers at heart.

I’m the oldest of four, and think that big families get even better with age.

Jess and I are TV snobs and audio book lovers (recent favorites are Fleabag, Mindhunter, and Dune). We host a dinner party a month and are constantly on the lookout for new recipes. We met and fell in love on the subway.

I lived in Madagascar for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Right here to be exact! For work, I taught English at the local public high school. Teaching, and public speaking in general, got a lot easier once I learned to laugh at myself. I also helped build a school, dug latrines, and hiked a waterfall only a handful of people have ever visited.

As one of the first employees at Zeel, an early-stage startup, I did a bit of everything. I got my start in sales, then ended up leading a company-wide initiative to expand nationwide. I helped raise two rounds of venture funding and also managed the company’s subscription program. I taught myself to code and transitioned into software engineering.

I’m currently a Software Engineer building the platform that powers business journalism as Industry Dive.

In the Peace Corps, I hoped to give my students the tools to learn how to learn. As a startup employee, I put that into practice by challenging myself each day to evolve and grow.

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