Tressia Hobeika

Tressia Hobeika is a product leader who co-founded Stepful[1][2], a company that participated in Y Combinator's S21 batch[12]. She serves as Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Stepful[1][4]. Hobeika has over 10 years of experience in product strategy, operations, and policy[3]. Prior to founding Stepful, she held the position of Group Product Manager at Triplebyte from July 2019 to March 2021[6], and served as Product Lead at Udacity from January 2018 to June 2019[7]. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Strategy Consultant at Oliver Wyman from December 2014 to January 2018[8]. Hobeika holds bachelor's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from both Technische Universität Berlin[13] and the American University of Beirut[14].

Founded

• Stepful

Insights & ideas

Tressia Hobeika frames Stepful's model around cohort-based learning with fixed start and end dates, arguing that this structure builds community and accountability among students [1]. She emphasizes a blended learning approach that pairs online content, including bite-sized videos, 3D simulations, and group projects, with real-world clinical externships at healthcare sites, positioning the company as "the first online healthcare college that is deeply integrated with applied learning sites across health systems" [1]. She sees the ultimate goal of the externship as conversion into a job, backed by end-to-end career coaching for those who need continued support [1].

A recurring theme in her thinking is that educational systems have historically offered a one-size-fits-all experience regardless of students' backgrounds, and she argues that truly serving underserved communities requires a team that reflects those students' race, ethnicity, and gender [1]. She contends that only people who share students' lived experience can genuinely understand and fit into their daily struggles, which shapes Stepful's hiring and design philosophy [1].

Experience

1. 
   Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

   StepfulMar 2021 to Present
2. Health Fellow

   On DeckMar 2021 to Jun 2021
3. Group Product Manager

   TriplebyteJul 2019 to Mar 2021
4. Product Lead

   UdacityJan 2018 to Jun 2019
5. Strategy Consultant

   Oliver WymanDec 2014 to Jan 2018
6. Young Mediterranean Leader

   European Training FoundationSep 2012 to Oct 2014
7. Program Officer

   European ParliamentSep 2013 to Apr 2014
8. Researcher

   College of EuropeAug 2012 to Aug 2013

Education

• Y Combinator · S21 Batch
• Technische Universität Berlin · Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering
• American University of Beirut · Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering

Media & appearances

• Stepful's Founding Story — Looking Back at 4 Years of StepfulYouTube · May 2, 2025

  This is the founding story of Stepful, told by its co-founders, including Tressia, who was called by her engineering school friend Carl in late 2020 to discuss the idea. She joined as a co-founder, initially serving as a student coach alongside Carl, manually running Zoom classes and even assisting with clinicals. The video recounts the company's growth from 15 students to 20,000 monthly active students over four years.

• Stepful Co-Founder Breaks Down the Learning ExperienceYouTube

  Tressia discusses Stepful's cohort-based learning model, which combines online content including videos and 3D simulations with hands-on clinical externships at healthcare sites across the US. She explains that students work with admissions coaches to select programs, receive end-to-end career coaching to secure jobs, and that Stepful was founded by three immigrants with a focus on serving students from underserved communities.

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