Leah Skerry, whose career has ranged from co-founding the edtech startup Eyeread to training as a performance artist, will become the latest of three entrepreneurs-in-residence at Saint Mary's University. 

Skerry will work under the banner of SMU’s RBC Talent Hub, which was created in response to business students’ requests for more hands-on learning. Her job will involve giving lectures and workshops on entrepreneurship, as well as offering students one-on-one coaching.

Skerry left Halifax-based Eyeread several years ago to pursue a career as a performance artist specializing in dance trapeze, but still maintains an ownership stake in the company. She said her experience in the arts world will inform her work at SMU -- the university from which she herself graduated.

“When I was a business student, I took all my electives in fine art design and architecture at [Dalhousie University],” said Skerry. “I felt very passionately about the interdisciplinary studies even as a student, in terms of creativity when it came to new ideas.

“In the performing arts world, I think it's similar in that every artist to some extent is an entrepreneur. They need to understand the logistics of billing and budgeting and making cold calls and networking... To me, the art world and performing arts taps into a part of your brain that forces a new way of thinking and creativity.”

As an artist, Skerry lived in Montreal, where she trained with Cirque du Soleil’s swinging trapeze coach, Victor Fomine. It was the opportunity to become an entrepreneur-in-residence at SMU that enticed her back to Halifax.

“[My former professors and I] caught up and talked about the work that I'd done with Eyeread and Squiggle Park, and then my venture into the performing arts world,” said Skerry.

“And, you know, they thought it would be a great fit to have somebody that kind of straddles the line between the arts world and the technology and education space.”

Skerry will join two other entrepreneurs-in-residence, Gregg Curwin and Shannon Susko. Curwin was the CEO of agtech startup TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture until he stepped down in 2018. He is now the CEO of drink-maker Novagevity. Susko has had successful exits from two companies: Subserveo, Inc. and Paradata Systems Inc., both software startups.

In July, Eyeread sold its Squiggle Park division, which gamefies the teaching of reading to elementary school children, to Bellevue, Wash.-based DreamBox Learning. Eyeread is now planning to focus on developing a platform that can be used to deliver educational content, including games, to students.

Eyeread said at the time the transaction provided the capital the company needed to continue its development work. It also did not dilute existing shareholders, which in addition to Skerry, include Halifax-based Concrete Ventures, members of Saint John-based East Valley Ventures, and Indigo Books and Music CEO Heather Reisman.