The time of my FMS placement is creeping towards the end. The first day of classes and the new semester at MIIS is only a little over a week away. Classmates who have spent their summer breaks all over the world are starting to arrive back in Monterey. While I am a little jealous of all their stories and adventures, I also know that my work for both CloudPay and Village Capital don’t have to end here. One of the things that excited me about the opportunity to stay local was the prospect of being able to carry on my work and contributions after the summer was over.

While CloudPay went live with a soft launch in the past few weeks, there is now the chance to start building out the network of local and independent businesses from Santa Cruz into Monterey. This is a really exciting prospect and one that I am glad to be a part of. Monterey has both a strong non-profit community and core of independent merchants. The CloudPay business model has every chance of being successful here too. While I am going to have a busy and demanding class schedule this time around, I will appreciate the diversion from school work and the chance to contribute in a meaningful way to CloudPay and Village Capital.  Will post another a final update next week!