Carmel entrepreneur makes Orr Fellowship history while building her own company

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At 22 years old, Carmel entrepreneur Jenna Burd is taking a path no Orr Fellow has taken before.

Burd, a 2026 Butler University graduate, is the first participant to enter Orr Fellowship while running her own company as an Orr partner.

She is the founder of Carmel-based Yalla Solutions, a fractional CMO and full-service digital marketing agency that helps early-stage startups and service businesses attract, convert and retain customers.

Burd joined Orr Fellowship’s 2026 cohort in June after initially thinking pursuing entrepreneurship would mean giving up the opportunity to participate in the program.

“It’s surreal to be the first Fellow to enter Orr while running my own company as an Orr partner,” Burd said. “I originally thought choosing entrepreneurship meant closing the door on Orr. Instead, Orr came back and asked, ‘Why can’t you do both?’”

Orr Fellowship is a two-year post-graduate program that connects high-achieving recent college graduates with full-time, high-impact roles at Indiana partner companies. Those companies hire Fellows as full-time, salaried employees while participants also receive access to professional development, mentorship and a network of peers and business leaders.

Through a first-of-its-kind arrangement developed with Orr Fellowship leadership, Burd is building Yalla Solutions while participating in that same Fellowship experience.

“To me, creating this path is bigger than my own experience,” Burd said. “I want the next entrepreneur-minded Fellow to know there isn’t one right path after graduation. Sometimes you have to bet on yourself, and sometimes the best opportunities are the ones that you forge for yourself.”

Turning a college side hustle into a business

Burd’s entrepreneurial journey began while she was still a student at Butler, where she took on marketing and graphic design projects to help pay her way through college.

Through that work, she noticed a recurring problem among small and growing businesses: many understood the importance of marketing but were not yet in a position to hire an experienced, full-time marketing executive, and internal team.

Yalla Solutions was created to help fill that gap by providing businesses with strategic marketing leadership and execution without the traditional overhead associated with building a full in-house department.

Burd also saw businesses trying to adapt to a changing generation of consumers.

“Gen Z and Millennials increasingly make up the customers they need to reach, and those customers discover, research, and build trust with businesses online,” Burd said. “Yalla helps local businesses adapt to that shift and market to the next generation in the way they understand best: digitally.”

Building a company at 22 has also taught Burd that experience and capital are not the only resources available to a young entrepreneur.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that resourcefulness beats resources,” she said. “I don’t have decades of experience or unlimited capital, but I can learn quickly, surround myself with people who are smarter than me, build genuine relationships, and be willing to try things. You don’t have to have everything figured out before you start.”

Building a community for Orr entrepreneurs

Burd’s impact within Orr Fellowship is extending beyond her own business.

In August, she launched the first cohort of the Orr Fellowship Foundry, a peer-led community designed to connect current Fellows and alumni who are building businesses, nonprofits, and other entrepreneurial ventures.

The Foundry has already grown to more than 25 members, including more than 15 founders. Members are pursuing ventures ranging from artificial intelligence startups and creative agencies to skincare brands, real estate investing, tutoring businesses, and nonprofits.

“I came into Orr with a goal of making entrepreneurship a bigger part of the Fellowship,” Burd said. “Once I realized how many Orr alumni had become business owners and how many current Fellows were already building side hustles, nonprofits, and ideas of their own, I thought, these people need to know each other.”

The Foundry is designed to provide entrepreneurs with a community in which they can exchange ideas, learn from established founders, and make connections that can help move their ventures forward.

At a recent speed-networking event, Foundry members met with Indianapolis-area entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders for conversations about fundraising, sales, hiring, partnerships, and scaling.

“I wanted it to feel less like another meeting and more like a community of builders,” Burd said. “Bringing Fellows together, connecting them with founders and alumni, sharing what’s working and what isn’t, and helping each other actually move ideas forward.”

For Burd, that support system is particularly important as a young entrepreneur.

“Entrepreneurship can be incredibly exciting, but it can also be isolating, especially when you’re 22 and most of your friends are beginning more traditional careers,” she said. “Being able to build Yalla while surrounded by ambitious peers, experienced founders and Indiana business leaders really is the best of both worlds. I get the freedom to build something of my own without having to build it alone.”

Burd hopes the path she is creating will make it easier for future Orr Fellows to pursue unconventional ideas of their own.

“Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be something you save for ‘someday’ when you have more money, experience or the perfect résumé,” she said. “You can start building now.”

Her advice to college seniors and recent graduates considering Orr Fellowship is equally simple: “Why not you?”

“One of the most meaningful parts of my experience has been having experienced business leaders take my ideas seriously at 22 and say, ‘Go for it. We’ll help you,’” Burd said. “Having that kind of community this early in your career is rare.”

Applications for Orr Fellowship’s 2027 cohort close Sept. 25, 2026. To learn more about Orr Fellowship and the application process, visit orrfellowship.org.