Discipline, Dedication and a Sprinkle of Luck: Meredith Nakano ’15 Dishes About Decade Since Davidson
May 29, 2025
- Author
- Caroline Roy '20
As a member of the women’s swimming and diving team at Davidson College, Meredith Nakano ’15 learned to juggle personal relationships and rigorous academics with highly competitive athletics. Her college experience prepared her well for a move to fast-paced New York City, where she, like many young professionals, searched for direction and purpose.
Nakano left Davidson without a clear picture of how to use her psychology major, overwhelmed by the possibilities ahead. She found her way to New York through AmeriCorps’ City Year Program, which matches young graduates with a year-long teaching position.
Teaching wasn’t for her in the long term, but that year helped her connect with people across the city and begin to build a new life. When her year in the program ended, she leveraged her new connections to land a position at tech startup ClassPass.
“I’ve been very lucky to have the right people in my circle,” she said. “It feels like I was in the right place at the right time. I would run into so many Davidson people on the street and meet young people all the time who were all doing the same thing — trying to figure it out together.”
After working in operations at ClassPass, Nakano decided she wanted to work for a smaller team that would give her room for growth. She accepted a position with a different startup, a small food company, where she handled everything from supply chain operations to warehousing logistics to food manufacturing.
Davidson prepared me to immerse myself in this entrepreneurial environment. My knowledge of organizational psychology taught me to navigate workplace dynamics, and my time on the swim team showed me the value of making something tangible — the satisfaction of being able to see the direct result of my work.
Nakano’s current employer, Supernatural, makes natural, dye-free baking ingredients like sprinkles and food coloring. The best part? She’s part of the four-woman team that makes everything happen. As director of operations, she handles all of the company’s sales.
It’s the perfect role as she prepares to enter a new and exciting phase of life: motherhood. With a fully-remote schedule, Nakano and her husband, Will, have returned to the Carolinas, where they’re preparing to welcome their first child.
“Everyone on the team is a mom,” she said. “We get to collaborate so closely, and it feels like such a safe environment to balance work and family.”
Along with maintaining close connections to friends, coaches and mentors from Davidson, Nakano is also part of the Fideles Society, which recognizes loyal giving to the college, and she supports the Women’s Swimming and Diving Program annually. Ten years later, being a scholar-athlete remains one of the most challenging and important experiences of her life.
“I loved swimming at Davidson,” she said. “It taught me to be disciplined, work hard and keep reaching for the next goal. It was such a gift to me that I feel obligated to give back and give consistently.”
