International business and marketing alumna Ella Spillane built a career founded on global connections, a sense of adventure, and appreciation for cultural and natural landscapes. After graduating from Washington State University’s Carson College of Business in 2021, Spillane began her career as a portfolio development principal at Boeing Ventures, where she continues to work today with entrepreneurs and leaders across the aerospace industry. During her early career, she also began developing a vision for founding her own business, Trailbound Yoga, which blends outdoor travel with mindfulness.
Spillane said her time at Carson played a key role in shaping that path. An entrepreneurship course and her participation in the college’s Business Plan Competition, where her team earned second place, gave her early experience building and pitching a business idea.
“I think my training at Carson is a big part of why I felt I had at least the tools to give entrepreneurship a shot,” she said. “Those processes and tools created a really great framework I used to start Trailbound Yoga.”
With an upcoming trip planned in the Italian Dolomites, her work reflects how global business training can shape both professional pathways and entrepreneurial goals.
I think my training at Carson is a big part of why I felt I had at least the tools to give entrepreneurship a shot. Those processes and tools created a really great framework I used to start Trailbound Yoga.
Ella Spillane, alumna
Washington State University
“I was drawn to international business because I knew that whatever I ended up doing for my career, I wanted it to be globally focused,” Spillane said.
Having grown up traveling internationally with her family, Spillane arrived at the Carson College with a strong interest in building a globally focused career. Majoring in international business and marketing, she began developing the tools she now uses to work across cultures and global markets. She said some of the most valuable courses of her academic career focused on intercultural management and global business strategy and helped her understand how communication styles, expectations, and decision-making vary across demographics and regions.
Her experience studying abroad in Barcelona cemented these lessons. She describes her time in Spain as one of the most impactful parts of her undergraduate education because it exposed her to diverse viewpoints in and out of the classroom.
“It opens up your perspective to how peoples’ culture, their history, and the place they live in can shape their worldview and how exposure to other perspectives can shape our own,” she said. “It really taught me humility.”
Trailbound Yoga grew out of Spillane’s connection to the outdoors and her long-standing interest in yoga. Raised in a family that spent significant time in wilderness environments, she saw an opportunity to combine those influences into a community-driven experience.
“I really wanted to bridge the two most healing aspects of my life — the wilderness and yoga — but I couldn’t find a community that was doing that,” she said. “I thought, what could be better than just creating the community I want to be part of and sharing it with others?”
As a founder, Spillane manages multiple aspects of the venture herself, from logistics and marketing to early legal documentation. She said her entrepreneurship training at Carson empowered her to navigate diverse responsibilities and claim a stronger sense of ownership in the venture.
This year marks a milestone for Trailbound Yoga as Spillane prepares to lead her first international group to the Italian Dolomites. She said the trip was built with her commitment to responsible global partnerships in mind — she will collaborate with local mountaineering guides to ensure safety while supporting existing businesses within the region.
She hopes to expand the program, including a future goal of guiding a group along routes in Nepal and introducing new destinations as her venture grows.
