Jannah Bowen likes to pack lightly. It’s a preference that not only shapes her travel style but her overall approach to life. The world traveler, professional flight attendant, filmmaker, and entrepreneur approaches every experience with an open mind and very few expectations.
What she does carry with her everywhere is an overriding sense of gratitude. For her parents, for her opportunities, and for her UNLV education.
At age 26, Bowen, a 2020 graduate of UNLV’s Honors College with a degree in marketing and international business, has lived in four countries and speaks five languages. During her childhood, she moved every two years. While new cultural and social landscapes were challenging to navigate, she became adaptable and “learned how to learn” – traits that served her well when she enrolled in UNLV’s Global Entrepreneurship Experience (GEE) program in the Lee Business School.
At UNLV, she found a strong, supportive community. She received crucial financial help from the Lee Scholars program and a host of other privately funded sources: Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Scholarship, Bank of America NV Scholarship, Mary Dougherty Honors Scholarship, and Patricia Sastaunik Scholarship. The support not only allowed her to get fully involved in campus life but also gave her the invaluable opportunity to study abroad in China and Germany.
The GEE program, Bowen reflects, helped her to develop lifelong skills.
“Entrepreneurship is important in order to thrive in business, but it’s also important to film, engineering, or psychology – in any field where innovation is involved,” Bowen says. “Yes, GEE teaches you how to write a business plan, but it also teaches other essential skills. How do you turn your idea into a product or system? How can you make a plan that’s sustainable? What are you giving back to the community?”
Paying it forward comes naturally to Bowen. As a recipient of so much financial support, she was inspired to create a scholarship of her own. This spring, she funded the TradeMama Scholarship for Global Entrepreneurs, named for a company founded by her father. The free trade portal provides a database of suppliers and manufacturers, allowing businesses to source products locally – or from any region in the world. Bowen serves as its global marketing director.
The TradeMama Scholarship will support GEE students with a passion to learn.
“UNLV had such an impact on me. I had so many moments of awe and realization. Knowing how much my scholarships changed my life, I want to be a small part of someone else’s experience.”
For Bowen, it was meaningful – and a bit daunting – to give back at such an early stage in her career. But it was a step that is consistent with her worldview.
“I think it’s important to give from what you have now, not carry an expectation that you’ll give in the future.”
Where the future lies for Bowen is an open book. She loves the diversity and open-mindedness of Las Vegas. For now, it is home base for her family and her position as a flight attendant. But she also feels that there are many more business opportunities to seek, people to befriend, and cultures to explore across the globe.
“There’s so much of the world to experience. Wherever opportunity takes me, I will go.”
