Former Student Body President Ashton Charles is visiting UF, bringing her work to the United States as well as to The Gator Nation.
The 24-year-old UF graduate has been in Gainesville for the past three weeks to get feedback on Tyba, a European Internet company that allows users to build custom professional websites.
Charles, who was president from Summer 2010 to Spring 2011, led the movement to postpone block tuition at UF.
After graduating in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in management, she moved to Europe.
Charles enrolled in a monthlong program at Vienna University of Economics and Business and then left for Spain, where she planned to teach English.
Only a day after meeting Tyba co-founders Eiso Kant and Philip von Have at a park in Madrid, she was offered a job with their company.
Now she promotes the website and is working to bring it to the U.S. She said she wanted to
give students the opportunity to showcase their accomplishments in a professional manner.
“I did not know I would be lucky enough to find this company,” Charles said.
She has been a director for business development for Tyba since September.
Kant said Charles adds the U.S. angle that the seven-person company needed. Charles will be showing him the American university system this week.
She said she scheduled meetings with administrators in different UF colleges to discuss Tyba and catch up.
She also presented the website to student organizations such as the Student Senate and the Reitz Scholars Program.
Kant said that because Tyba uses people’s names, it appears high in a Google search. Users can edit on the site, which starts outs free. For $3.95 a month, users can create their own domain name.
He said the site currently has about 500 users.
Charles said her experience in Student Government and as associate producer of communications for Gator Growl has helped her tremendously.
“I use skills acquired [at UF] every day,” she said.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
Eiso Kant, 21, of Madrid, Spain, and former Student Body President Ashton Charles pose for a photo in the Reitz Union Amphitheater during their visit to Gainesville to promote Tyba, an Internet company for which Charles works in Spain.
